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.
In this Article
- Overview
- Setting Up NSF Fees
- How NSF Charges Work In Finalsite Enrollment
- Bank-Revoked Autopay Authorization
Overview
NSF Fees are charged for payments that fail due to insufficient funds. A $25 charge is collected when this occurs. You have the option to:
- Absorb the $25 fee.
- Pass the full charge along to the payer.
- Pass part of the charge along to the payer.
If you choose to absorb the fee, no additional setup is required. If you choose to pass along the full charge or a portion of it to the payer, some setup is necessary. Work with our Support team to set up and manage NSFs.
⚠️ Important Notes
Fees for Insufficient Funds (NSF fees) that you pass along to payers must be set up and managed by the support team. If you have questions about your setup, submit a request to our Support team.
If you are using Autopay and have enabled Retry Failed Autopay Payments on the Billing Setup page, NSF Fees will only be charged for the first failed payment. If it fails again, NSF fees will not be charged again. For more information regarding this feature, please refer to the Retry Failed Autopay Payments article.
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're unsure, please contact support and we'll 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.
Bank-Revoked Autopay Authorization
Sometimes a bank will revoke permission for an account that has been using autopay successfully after 6 months to a year. This is an action taken on the bank's end and results in a failed payment with an error such as Invalid Account Number or Inactive Mandates. This has been seen most frequently with PNC and Chase, but can occur with other banks as well.
What this means for the school:
- The failed payment will post a chargeback and, if applicable, an NSF fee to the parent's ledger as described above.
- Since this is initiated by the bank, there is nothing Finalsite Enrollment can do to prevent it.
- With some banks, the parent will receive an email notification from their bank explaining the situation.
What the parent needs to do:
The only resolution is for the parent to remove and re-add their payment method in the Parent Portal (Billing Management tab). They cannot simply update the existing method; it must be removed and re-entered.
When a payment method is deactivated for this reason, the parent will automatically receive a Payment Method Deactivated email notifying them of the issue and directing them to the portal to add a new payment method. Schools can view and edit this template under Settings > Communication > Email Templates > Billing Emails.
⚠️ Important Note on NSF Fees
Any NSF fees automatically applied by the Payment Processor to the parent cannot be refunded or returned to the school if the school chooses to waive them for the parent. Because the fee is applied automatically by the Payment Processor, it falls outside Finalsite Enrollment's control.
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