Manage Auto Charge for a customer

Auto Charge is the easiest way to get paid on time, every time, because invoices get paid in full on their due date, directly from your customer's bank account. There are a couple different ways to set up Auto Charge; read more below to find the one that works best for you.

Tip: Set up recurring invoices to be automatically created by the system then Auto Charge can take care of the rest. See Resources below on how to set up recurring invoices!

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Set up Auto Charge for your customer
Customer sets up Auto Charge on their own
Turn off Auto Charge for individual invoices
Past due invoices with Auto Charge
Email reminder
Things to know

Set up Auto Charge for your customer

If you have your customer's bank account or credit card info (and their written permission to make payments on their behalf), you can set up Auto Charge yourself.

Select Customers in the navigation menu
Select the Customer name
Select More actions
Select Auto Charge
Select Authorized
Select Save & Add a Bank Account or Save & Add a Credit Card
Enter the details for the bank account or credit card
- Note: When entering bank account information, the bank account type will be required. If the account is a Personal Checking or Personal Savings, specify the type of authorization provided by the customer to charge their account.
Select Save
Select Back to Customer
Select More actions
Select Auto Charge
Select Automatically Pay Bills
Enter a Maximum Payment amount
- The Maximum Payment amount is the total amount that will be charged to the customer for each invoice, including convenience fees, if any. If the Maximum Amount is less than the total of the invoice, the invoice will be partially paid.
Optional: Enter Pay on date
- the date the payment is to be debited from the customer's bank account (Credit card payments are processed immediately on the date the payment is scheduled)
Select Save

Customer sets up Auto Charge on their own

The customer can set up Auto Charge themselves, from the portal where they log in to pay their bills to you. They can follow the directions below to turn on Auto Charge.

Log in to the portal where they pay you
Hover over the gear icon and select Auto Pay is Off
Select the edit icon
Select Automatically Pay Bills
Enter the maximum to pay for any individual bill
Enter bank account and/or credit card details
Optional: Pay on date
- Enter how many days before or after the due date the payment should initiate
Select Save

A customer's payment commitments can be locked in by disabling their ability to remove their credit card/bank information or turn off Auto Charge.

To Update your Receivables preferences, so your customers are locked into the billing agreement they made with you:

Select Settings
Select Preferences under Receivables
Select No for Allow Customers to Change Auto Charge
Select Save

Turn off Auto Charge for individual invoices

Having customers on Auto Charge is great! You get paid on time, every time. However, there may be times when an Auto Charge customer will have a one-off invoice that doesn't need to be paid automatically. There's an option to choose if an invoice should be auto-paid or not on a per-invoice basis.

When creating an invoice

When entering an invoice for a customer on Auto Charge, de-select Automatically pay bill at the bottom, before selecting Save.

Recurring invoices, or invoices already saved

Recurring invoices are set to Auto Charge by default and it can't be turned off when you set up a new recurring invoice. You can turn off Auto Pay for any individual invoice, even one created by a recurring invoice rule:

Locate the invoice in BILL
Select the edit icon
Select or deselect Automatically pay this bill as appropriate
Select Save

Past due invoices with Auto Charge

If a customer has overdue invoices when you enable Auto Charge, or if you create an invoice with a due date in the past, we'll initiate a payment for that outstanding invoice, up to the maximum amount set per invoice.

Credit Cards

The card on file will be charged immediately. The record of the payment will appear on the customer's record in Bill.com within 20-30 minutes of enabling Auto Charge.

Bank Accounts

The withdrawal for the payment will be made from the bank account on file on the next business day. The record of the payment will appear on the customer's record in Bill.com within 1-2 hours of enabling Auto Charge.

Email reminder

3 business days before an invoice's pay date (either the due date, or the number of days before/after the due date as specified in the Auto Charge settings), we'll email your customer a reminder and the payment will be scheduled. They need to make sure they have enough money in their bank account (or credit limit on their credit card) to pay, or they should cancel the payment.

The email will include:

Your company name
Invoice number(s)
Invoice amount(s)
Amount to be debited per invoice
Pay on date
Total amount to be debited
Instructions on how to turn off Auto Charge (if applicable)

Note: The email reminder regarding Auto Charge processing doesn't include copies of the invoices, just a list of invoice numbers.

Things to know

Auto Charge is available if you process credit cards through Vantage.
Auto Charge will need to be set up by a bank authorized user.
We email your customer when an auto-payment occurs, letting them know the amount of the payment, the date of the payment, and which invoices were paid
Automatic charges will be withdrawn from your customer's bank account, or charged to their credit card, on the invoice due date by default unless a different pay on date has been set
If a customer has more than one payment option, bank or credit card, choose which payment type to use from the Pay From drop down and, if there's more than one credit card on file, choose which one to use from the menu.
If the due date is a holiday or weekend, the payment will be initiated on the next business day
If a "Pay on" date has been entered, the payment will be pulled when specified ("x" days before/after the invoice due date)
Automatic charges will be made on unpaid invoices with no previous payments (including voided or canceled payments), up to the maximum amount
- Credits are considered a payment, and Auto Charge won't kick in
If there are invoices past due when Auto Charge is enabled, payment for those invoices will be:
- Withdrawn from your customer's bank account on the next business day
- Charged to your customer's credit card immediately
If Auto Charge is enabled, when a new invoice with a due date in the past is created or synced in from the accounting system, payment for the invoice will be withdrawn from your customer's bank account or charged to their credit card on the next business day
Auto Charge isn't available for Network payments
Note: Not all features are available for all accounts. If you have questions on feature availability or the way they work, contact Customer Support by selecting the Contact Us link found on this page.