Payment schedules in FreshBooks allows you to create a payment plan for your clients, so they can pay invoices in multiple and partial installments on dates of your choosing. This saves you from having to create multiple invoices, or continually editing an existing invoice whenever a new payment is due.
To set up a payment schedule, follow these steps:
- Select the Invoices section
- Then select the New Invoice button, or select an existing invoice, then select the Edit button
- Add your client, line items, and any other information on your invoice
- Select the Add a Payment Schedule link at the bottom of the invoice
- Choose between Percentage or Flat Amount
- Add up to 12 payments, while specifying the percentage or amount, and date of each payment
- Select Add Schedule to finish. The payment schedule will be listed at the bottom of the invoice.
Notes
- Payment schedules do not affect the status of the invoice, if you do not want the invoice to become overdue while using a payment schedule, you can change the due date to the same date as the last payment on the schedule
- Payment schedules only work with invoices, not recurring templates or retainers
Client View of Payment Schedules
When your client views an invoice with a payment schedule on it, they will have the option to pay for one scheduled payment, or they can check off the box(es) to pay multiple payments at once:
FAQs
How do payment reminders work with payment schedules?
If you have activated payment reminders for a client, their invoice will send a reminder out for each scheduled payment instead of based on the invoice's due date. If you have all 3 payment reminders activated, all 3 reminders will send out for each payment that is overdue (past the payment's due date specified on the schedule).
For example, a payment schedule of 5 payments that are all overdue will trigger 3 payment reminders each, for a total of 15 reminders.
If no payment reminders are set up, it's still up to your client to pay on time - no additional emails are sent.
How do partial payments work with payment schedules?
If you’ve activated partial payments with FreshBooks Payments, PayPal, or Stripe Standard, your clients will then have the option to specify a partial amount to pay or pay an installment of a payment schedule in full.
If partial payments are deactivated on the invoice, the client will be prompted to pay the outstanding installment in full only.