Overview
This article contains an overview of Payments, including info about what it is, key details and benefits of its use, and answers to frequently asked questions. If you are looking for in-depth steps of the onboarding and setup process, please refer to this article.
Please note that only those designated as System Admins within your site will have access to set up and manage your Payments account.
In this article
What is Payments?
Payments is a simple and powerful way to accept funds inside the Finalsite Enrollment application. It is powered by Stripe and is natively built into the existing Finalsite Enrollment platform experience so that you and your applying or enrolling families can take care of everything within one centralized site. Setup is easy, and no added transaction fees make your reconciliation much easier.
Payments meets and exceeds the most stringent industry standards for security. Stripe is also audited by a PCI-certified auditor and is certified to PCI Service Provider Level 1. This is the highest level of certification available. You can learn more about the technical details of Stripe’s secure infrastructure here and see Stripe’s PCI certification here.
Click here to learn more about setting up your Payments account, including onboarding, identity verification, and adding your banking information.
Benefits of Payments
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All payment and payout information is accessible directly within Finalsite Enrollment
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Easily initiate refunds directly within Finalsite Enrollment
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No transaction fees for ACH transactions
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1:1 convenience fee assessment
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Improved and automated ACH verification process for families that no longer includes micro-deposits for most banks. They can either enter their bank account details manually, or they can choose their bank from a set list through an SSO process.
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Allows families to save and manage multiple payment profiles in their Finalsite Enrollment account
Convenience Fees
Passing Fees on to Parents
Schools may choose to pass their convenience fees for credit card or electronic check payments to the parent. Convenience fees can be applied to the deposit, application, ad-hoc forms, or billing.
They can be in the form of:
- a flat dollar amount
- a percentage
- or a combination of both
A fee description, as well as a fee notification message, can also be configured to show on payment screens. Convenience fee types (percentage, flat fee, or combination) and descriptions/notifications can be configured separately for credit cards and electronic checks.
Fees passed on to parents can be adjusted under Settings > Financial > Payment Setup. Please note that only those designated as System Admin or Admin have access to this page.
Read more about the Payment Setup page within this article: Payment Setup
Convenience Fees with Payments
- Credit Card Convenience Fees: Payments provides 1:1 matching for credit card convenience fees.
- ACH: There are no fee charges for ACH transactions.
Breakdown of all Payments Rates
- Domestic Credit Card: 2.9%
- International Credit Card: 3.9%
- This refers to any card that is issued in a country other than where your school is located.
- ACH (per transaction): No cost.
- Non-Sufficient Funds (NSF) Fee: $25
- Chargeback / Dispute Fee: $15
These rates also apply to schools located in Canada.
Alerts
If your Payments account is in need of attention, the following alerts are designed to notify you and provide direction on what action is needed:
- A red banner will appear at the top of your site letting you know an update to your Payments account is needed. The banner will only be visible to System Admins and will look something like this (the text you see may be slightly different).
- An email will be sent to the account owner. The email will provide the details of the issue and directions on how to correct it.
- The Payments page will also display a note with the details of the issue and directions on how to correct it.
Please note:
- Only the Account owner will be able to make the update. Only account owners have access to "Update Information" on the payments page due to 2 factor authentication.
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The error message on the Payments page and within the email lists the issue two times. This is the way the message comes over from Stripe and not something that can not be altered on our end.
Frequently Asked Questions
In the section below, you will find answers to frequently asked questions about Payments. Use the links below to quickly jump to a specific subsection:
Resources
- You can review the Stripe Connected Account agreement at any time by clicking here.
- You can review Stripe's 2024 Updates to US Verification Requirements here.
Getting Started
You can learn more about the technical details of Stripe’s secure infrastructure here and see Stripe’s PCI certification here.
To sign up for an account, you will need to gather the following information:
- Your type of business and business structure.
- Information related to your school, such as your EIN, address, and website.
- Contact information for the individual at your school responsible for managing Payments. This will likely include their name, email, date of birth, address, phone and the last four digits of their Social Security number OR an official ID document.
Common follow-up requirements include photo identification documents and address verification. Read more about the requirements and what's needed for each step here.
Please note that only those designated as System Admin have access to the onboarding page.
The rates are as follows:
- Domestic Credit Card: 2.9%
- International Credit Card: 3.9%
- This refers to any card that is issued in a country other than where your school is located.
- ACH (per transaction): No cost.
- Non-Sufficient Funds (NSF) Fee: $25
- Chargeback / Dispute Fee: $15
These rates also apply to schools located in Canada.
A dispute (also known as a chargeback, inquiry, or retrieval) occurs when a cardholder questions your charge with their bank or card issuer. An inquiry or retrieval is solely a request for more information about the charge, which may escalate to a chargeback.
To process a chargeback, the issuer creates a formal dispute which immediately reverses the payment. The payment amount and a separate $15.00 dispute fee (for users in the United States) are then deducted from your account balance.
- Click here to read more about managing customer disputes within Finalsite Enrollment.
- Explore Stripe’s documentation on disputes and fraud for more information, or read about overall best practices for avoiding fraud.
Support
If your school is still completing your onboarding project with Finalsite Enrollment, please contact your Onboarding Specialist directly with any issues. Launched clients, please contact our Support Team, available Monday-Friday from 7 AM to 6 PM Central Time.
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Live Chat: Navigate to Help > Submit a New Request within your Finalsite Enrollment site.
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Email: enrollmentsupport@finalsite.com
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Phone: (512) 520-8660
The Finalsite Enrollment team can help you with supporting most aspects of Payments, including the following:
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Setting up your payment gateway for Payments
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Guiding you through the process of creating your account, onboarding, and adding your bank information on the Payments setup page
For issues regarding the following, please contact Stripe directly:
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Issues completing the Stripe identity verification process (see the Verification section below for more information)
- 1800948598 - Stripe Payments Company
- 4270465600 - Stripe Payments Company
Please refer to this article from Stripe for more information: ACH Direct Debit company IDs for Stripe
Verification
Every country has its requirements that accounts must meet for Stripe to be able to pay out funds to individuals and companies. These are typically known as Know Your Customer (KYC) requirements. Regardless of the country, broadly speaking, the requirements Stripe must meet are:
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Collecting information about the individual or company receiving funds
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Verifying information to establish that we know who our customers are
Finalsite Enrollment collects this information from your school during the onboarding step of the Payments setup process. This information is then provided to Stripe for verification purposes.
In most applications, the account approval process is nearly instantaneous and you can accept payments immediately. If Stripe needs more information about your business or expects a longer delay in approving your account, they will reach out to you immediately.
Verification will fail if the information provided on the form cannot be verified. For example, if the name provided does not match the full legal name on the account, or the business information provided could not be verified with the IRS. Return to Step 2 within the Payments setup page (Settings > Financial > Payments > Step 2: Update Information) to see specifically what additional information is required. See the question below for the next steps.
Whoever completes the verification step will receive an email if verification fails, and you can also monitor the ‘Status’ listed on the Payments setup page on your site.
If your verification fails, your next step will be to return to the Payments setup page and retry Step 2 (‘Update Information’) in the process. You can update the information if there are any mistakes in it. If Stripe is unable to verify your business and/or identity programmatically, you may be required to upload additional documentation.
Accepted forms of identification for identity verification:
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Passport
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Passport card
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Driver license
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State-issued ID card
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Resident permit ID / U.S. Green Card
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Border crossing card
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Child ID card
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NYC card
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U.S. visa card
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Birth Certificate
Accepted forms of identification for company/legal entity verification:
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IRS Letter 147C
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IRS SS-4 confirmation letter
SSN collection is required to comply with the ‘Know Your Customer’ laws passed by the federal government after 9/11. It is not something that we or Stripe can control.
Additional Info on this:
Account Ownership
There are several reasons why you may want to transfer ownership of your Payments account to someone else:
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Transfer account ownership to an existing Administrator
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Transfer account ownership to a current user on the account who does not have Administrator permissions
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Transfer ownership to an individual who does not yet have any access to the Payments account
IMPORTANT: the account owner is the only one with access to make this adjustment.
Return to the Payments setup page (Settings > Financial > Payments) and use the ‘Update Information’ button underneath Step 2. From here, you can remove the existing business representative or update their information.
You can update the business details for your school by returning to the Payments setup page (Settings > Financial > Payments) and selecting the ‘Update Information’ button underneath Step 2. From here, you will have the option to update your business details.
IMPORTANT: the account owner is the only one with access to make this adjustment.
You can edit/update the statement descriptor under Settings > Financial > Payment Setup.
The Statement Descriptor box appears on all of the tabs under payment setup but you only need to edit it on one of the tabs and then save your update in order for it to take effect.
Keep in mind
- You can list up to 19 characters. We recommend using your school name as the descriptor.
To update the associated bank account for your school, please navigate to Settings > Financial > Payments. Select the ‘Update Information’ button underneath Step 2. You should receive a confirmation message. IMPORTANT: the account owner is the only one with access to make this adjustment.
Payment Workflows
Once your account is fully set up and you start receiving payments, payouts of your available account balance will be initiated daily. If you would like to change your payout schedule to weekly (on any weekday M-F) or monthly (on a specific day) instead, please contact Finalsite Enrollment Support.
Payments within those payouts are based on when they are processed.
Processing Time
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1-3 days for Credit Cards
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4-7 business days for ACH payment
Most banks deposit payouts into your bank account as soon as they are received, though some may take a few extra days to make them available.
Please note: You must provide all required identity and business verification information before you can receive payouts. If you are not receiving payouts, your account may be missing information.
Your school's Statement Descriptor is what's used on bank accounts or credit card statements when a payment is made. The Statement Descriptor is set by default to the Business Website provided during the Payments onboarding/verification process. Example: Finalsite Enrollment.COM.
You can edit the statement descriptor at any time within Settings > Financial > Payment Setup.
Refund management is now built into your Payment History report in Finalsite Enrollment. Please see this page for details on issuing refunds with Payments.
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