Billing: Insufficient Funds

NSF fees apply when a payment fails due to insufficient funds. The standard charge is $25. Your school can absorb the fee, pass the full amount to the payer, or pass a portion of it. Support handles the setup.

💡Quick Answers

• What are my options for handling NSF fees? Absorb the $25 yourself (no setup required), or pass the full charge or part of it to the payer (Support setup required).
• Where do NSF fees post on the ledger? The failed payment chargeback posts on the original payment date; the NSF fee posts on the date the payment failed.
• Are NSF fees re-charged for retried Autopay payments? No. With Retry Failed Autopay Payments enabled, the NSF fee is only applied on the first failure, not retries.
• What's the best practice for the NSF Billing Category? Set it up as an Account Level charge (not student-level). See Billing Categories.
• Can I customize the NSF amount? Yes. When you contact Support to set up the pass-through, specify the amount. It can be more or less than $25.
• How does the Ledger Lock affect NSF posting? If the original payment date is in the locked range, both the chargeback and NSF fee post with the current date instead of the original date.

Setting Up NSF Fees

• Contact Support with the following information:
  • The amount you'd like to charge for the NSF fee.
    • Full charge = $25
    • You can also opt to charge more or less than the $25 fee. 
  • The Billing Category that you'd like to assign the NSF to.
    • Please note: As a best practice, the Billing Category for NSF fees should be set up as an Account Level charge.

You might already have this set up on your site. If you aren't sure please, contact support and we can let you know!

How NSF Charges Work In Finalsite Enrollment

Example workflow of a failed payment:

• ACH payment made by a parent on 2/21.
• The payment fails on 2/25.
  
  
• The failed payment chargeback will post to the parent's ledger on the original date the payment was made, which was 2/21 in this example. 
• The NSF fee will be post on the day that the payment failed, which is 2/25. 

Ledger Lock Note

The Ledger Lock feature lets you secure your financial records by setting a locked date. Once enabled, it prevents any alterations to the ledger entries dated on or before the set date. It's set up in the Billing Setup page (Settings > Financial > Billing Setup).

Here's how the Ledger Lock affects failed payment behavior

• If the original date is within the locked range, both the chargeback and NSF fee will be posted to the ledger with the current date instead of the original payment date.

Read more about Ledger Lock and how it affects other areas of your site in our Settings: Billing Setup Page article.

Additional Resources

• Office Hours & Past Session Recordings
• Billing Categories