A payment plan cancels itself, instead of charging, when the registration it pays for was canceled (a transfer counts), the registration is paid in full, or the family's account doesn't owe anything. A payment fails when the card on file can't be charged: it shows Failed, the family gets an email with the reason, and a payment that failed for insufficient funds or a bank decline is tried again automatically. A failed payment never cancels the plan.

Applies to: Org admins with the Payment Plan permission · Enhanced, Elite and Enterprise plans · Card payment plans

Where: Customers > Account Management > Search > (customer) > Account Overview > Payment Plans

See what happened

1. Go to Customers > Account Management > Search, find the customer and click the name to open Account Overview.
2. Scroll to Payment Plans and expand the plan.
3. Check each payment's Status: Pending, Processed, Failed or Canceled.
4. To read the email the family got about a failed payment, go to Communications > Communication Logs > System Log, set the Date Range and choose the Message Type Payment Plan Failure.

What you'll see: each payment's Scheduled Payment Date, Payment Amount, Status and Order #. A plan without the red X (Cancel Payment Plan) is canceled or fully paid. To list failed payments for every family at once, run Reports > Report Exports > Payment Plan Detail with Failed checked under Include.

Why a plan canceled by itself

Before a scheduled payment is charged, TeamSideline checks the account and cancels the plan instead of charging when:

• The registration was canceled, including when it was moved to another program with the Transfer tab, which cancels the original registration. If it was canceled on the Cancel tab with Cancel Payment Plan set to Yes, the plan was canceled right then.
• The registration is paid in full, for example because the family paid the rest with Pay Balance or you took it with Add Balance Payment. A payment that pays off the registration at checkout cancels its plan right away.
• The account doesn't owe anything: its balance is $0 or a credit, for example after a Misc - Credit, a discount or an early payment.

If the account owes less than the scheduled payment, the payment is lowered to what's owed and charged, and the plan cancels at the following payment. Unless it was canceled right away as described above, the plan keeps its Pending payments until its next Scheduled Payment Date and is canceled on that date. TeamSideline doesn't email the family when a plan cancels, and Account Overview doesn't show a reason: the red X disappears and the unpaid payments change to Canceled. A plan added on Account Overview without a linked enrollment cancels only when the account owes nothing.

Why a payment failed

The email, "Payment Plan Payment was not processed", goes to every adult on the account who has an email address. Addresses in Payment Plan Copy To on Programs > Configurations > General get a copy; the field is shown when your site has payment plans.

Get a failed payment paid

1. Have the card changed. The family signs in, goes to My Account > Payment Plans and clicks (change) next to the card. Or, if your role has the Edit Payment Plan permission, click (change) next to the card under Payment Plans on Account Overview, enter the new card and click Update Payment.
2. The next daily payment run charges the plan's most recent failed payment to the new card, if it failed in the last 14 days.
3. If it can't be retried, collect the amount another way. The family can pay with Pay Balance when Enable Pay Balance is Yes, or you can charge their card with Place Order > Add Balance Payment, or record a check or cash with Add Transaction.
4. Then cancel the failed payment so a retry doesn't charge the card again: expand the plan, click the Edit Payment Plan icon (pencil) on the payment, click Cancel Payment and confirm "Are you sure you want to cancel this Payment?".

What you'll see: "Payment Plan payment method updated." after a card change, and "Subscription Payment has been canceled." after you cancel a payment.

If it doesn't work

• There's no (change) link next to the card. The plan is canceled or has no Pending payment left, for example because its last payment failed. Collect the rest with Pay Balance or Add Balance Payment. A grayed-out link means your role doesn't have the Edit Payment Plan permission.
• A retry charged the family after they paid the failed amount another way. A retry doesn't look for payments made in between, and the account balance still includes the plan's later payments, so the retry takes a later payment early. The family doesn't pay more in total: the last payment is lowered or canceled. Cancel a failed payment as soon as it's paid another way (step 4 above).
• A payment was charged for less than its Payment Amount. The account owed less than the scheduled amount, so the payment was lowered to the balance.
• You changed a Failed payment's date and it wasn't charged on that date. A new date doesn't make a failed payment Pending again. It's tried again only under the rules above: after insufficient funds or a bank decline, from the new date for up to 9 days; after Invalid or Expired Card on file, only once the card is changed. Otherwise collect it another way.
• You can't change a payment's amount. Payment Amount can't be edited. On the Edit Payment Plan page you can change the Scheduled Payment Date of a Failed payment or of a Pending one after today, or cancel the payment. To change amounts, cancel the plan and add a new one.
• An earlier Failed payment now shows Canceled. When a later payment fails, earlier failed payments on the same plan change to Canceled. Their amounts are still owed on the account.
• Two plans were charged as one payment. Payments due the same day for the same family on the same card are charged together, as one order.
• Several families' payments failed on the same day with "Invalid or Expired Card on file". That reason is also used for declines that have nothing to do with the card, so the cause may be your organization's payment account. Contact TeamSideline Support.
• A payment still shows Pending a day or more after its Scheduled Payment Date. Contact TeamSideline Support.

Good to know

• A failed payment doesn't stop the plan. Later payments are still charged on their dates.
• To spread out what a family still owes after a plan was canceled, for example after a transfer, add a new plan with Add Payment Plan on Account Overview. You enter the family's card again; the old plan's card isn't reused. Add Payment Plan needs a balance on the account.
• Payments on a plan that isn't canceled, whether Pending or Failed, don't count toward Balance Block. Once the plan is canceled, what's still owed does.
• If your organization passes processing fees on to families, each payment includes the fee.

Related articles

• Payment Plan FAQs
• How do I cancel a Payment Plan?
• How to Setup Payment Plan on Customer's Account
• How to set up or update your Payment Plan as a Customer
• How do I make a payment using a credit card for my customer?
• How can I pay my account balance?
• What is Balance Block?