Playground's goal is to help you get paid on time every time. The first step to accepting online payments is ensuring your payment settings are properly configured - giving you maximum control over your billing process. Reviewing your settings before you start invoicing families and collecting payments is crucial. This article explains each available Payment Setting in your admin dashboard.
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Add Taxpayer Identification Number
In the Settings tab of the admin dashboard, under General, add your Taxpayer Identification Number (TIN or FEIN). This number can be found on various government documents, including tax returns and forms filed with the IRS.
This number will be shown on guardian tax receipts in Playground.
Navigate to Payment Settings
Navigate to the Settings tab of the Admin Dashboard.
Click on the Payments tab.
Each setting has a description below the bolded setting name. As you toggle the setting, the description will change accordingly. Green indicates the setting is turned on.
🚨 You must click the large blue Save button in the very top right corner of the Payment Settings tab in order to save your changes every time you make edits.
Payout Bank Account
This is the first field you will encounter on the Payments tab. This field is used to enter the bank account you would like all payments to be deposited into.
The first step in accepting online payments through Playground is to connect a deposit account. This is the account into which all payments made by families will be deposited.
For instructions on managing your payout deposits account, click here.
Payout Days
Use the dropdown menu to select the days of the week you would like deposits to your bank account initiated. You can select up to two days per week, from Monday to Sunday.
Click here to learn about optimizing your payout days so you receive your money as soon as possible.
🚨 Due to Stripe's "Know Your Customer" Laws, the first payout from Playground to your bank account can take up to 14 business days. After this initial payout, payouts will be deposited into your account on your two payout days.
Default Billing Frequency
Select the frequency at which parents pay you (weekly or monthly). This will be the default cadence for your center; however, you can update this on a per-student basis.
💡 If you bill bi-weekly, select the Weekly option here. If you bill weekly and monthly, choose your center's most common billing frequency.
Weekly and Monthly Billing Settings
Customize your weekly and/or monthly billing settings so that invoices are created correctly. See below for a description of each setting.
Weekly billing invoice date | Select the day of the week on which guardians should receive their invoice. |
Weekly billing due date | Select the day of the week that the payment will be due. |
Default weekly service dates | Select the period that the guardian is paying for. The service date options are listed below.
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Monthly billing invoice date | Select the day of the month on which guardians should receive their invoice. |
Monthly billing due date | Select the day of the month that the payment will be due. |
Default monthly service dates | Select the period that the guardian is paying for. The service date options are listed below.
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🚨 If you utilize accrual-based accounting principles, please be sure to carefully select the service dates as this will directly affect all billing reports. Service dates will be calculated based on the due date.
You will also want to run all payment reports by Service Start Date.
Processing Fees
When families pay their balances through the Playground app, a small processing fee is applied to the transaction. There are two types of fees: credit card fees and ACH fees.
As a billing administrator, you can decide for each fee type whether your program or the families will cover the costs. This allows you to specify whether the program or the families pay the credit card fees and whether the program or the families pay the ACH fees.
🚨 Regardless of whether all processing fees are paid by families, the processing fees for an application fee through an enrollment listing will always be charged to the program.
If autopay is enabled, processing fees will still apply, so it’s important to understand the fees involved before enabling autopay or completing a payment. Processing fees are not refundable, even if the payment is refunded.
Processing fees by payment method:
Credit or debit card: 3% + $0.30 per transaction
ACH: flat $1.00 per transaction
Offline payment: zero fees
Offline fees can range from cash and check to Venmo transactions—basically, any payment that isn't processed directly by Playground. To learn how to record an offline payment, refer to this Help Center article.
💡 Playground does not charge for refunds, sweeps, or failed payment fees.
Reminders & Notifications
Parent statement email
Choose how many days before the due date you'd like a guardian to receive an email statement. Ensure the billing invoice date above is set to post the balance before this date. If no balance is posted, the email will show a zero balance. Select "None" to avoid sending an email.
Parent statement minimum amount
Set a minimum balance amount for guardians to receive an automated statement email. For instance, if you want families with a balance of $100 or more to receive a statement, enter $100 in this setting.
Overdue reminders
Choose how many days after a missed due date you want a guardian to receive an overdue reminder email. Set it to "None" if you don't want to send overdue reminders.
Overdue reminder minimum amount
Set a minimum balance amount for guardians to receive an automated statement email. For instance, if you want families with a balance of $100 or more to receive a statement, enter $100 in this setting.
Successful payment notifications
If you want to be notified via email every time a payment is processed, you can enter an email into this field to receive a notification. Multiple emails can be entered.
Failed payment notifications
Enter an email address to be notified if a guardian's credit card declines or bank account overdrafts. Playground also emails the guardians for failed payments. We highly recommend entering an email here.
🚨 Reminders are not sent to guardians of inactive students. The student must be active for them to be sent out.
Autopay
Jump deeper into autopay by clicking here.
Mandatory autopay
Enable this setting to automatically draft from a bank account or charge a credit card on file on future due dates. If disabled, guardians can still enable autopay when adding a payment method.
🚨 If guardians enable autopay after entering a payment method, they must manually activate it on their device. If no payment method has been entered, guardians will be notified that they will be enrolled in autopay. Autopay requires an active payment method and an active student status.
Minimum autopay amount
Enter the minimum family balance necessary for autopay to run. For example, if $50 is entered in this setting, any family that owes less than $50 will not be included in the autopay run.
Payment Methods
Select which payment methods guardians can use to pay their invoices. The online payment options are ACH and credit card. Offline payments can be recorded from the billing tab.
Advanced Settings
Books closed date: You will not be able to make changes or delete any payments made before this date
Show service dates to parents: If enabled, guardians will see the dates of care that they are paying for for any particular invoice.
Show unposted payments in parent app and statements: If enabled, guardians will see all future debits/charges created. By default, this setting is toggled off so that guardians only see one charge at a time as it comes due. Guardians see a new balance on their account on the invoice/post date.
Center Invoice Information
The information entered here shows up in the top right corner of every Playground statement.
Accounting Codes
Create your Playground GL codes.
When creating Saved items, be sure to add the "Accounting code" field with your GL code. This will allow you to run the Playground Revenue Summary report with your GL codes.
Edit Student Billing Frequency
Before creating billing plans, ensure students are set up for the correct billing frequency (weekly, bi-weekly, monthly).
From the Admin Dashboard, click on a student from the Students tab.
Click on the Settings tab from the student's profile page.
In the Billing section of the settings, select the drop-down menu to the right of the Billing frequency setting.
Select the correct frequency.
Edit student billing frequencies in bulk
From the Admin Dashboard, click on the Billing tab
Click Overview.
Click Create charge.
Select all the students you'd like to switch billing frequencies for by clicking the checkmark to the left of their name.
Once selected, click Edit billing frequency at the top of the table.
The Bulk update billing frequency window will appear. Select the correct frequency from the drop-down menu and click Update.
Next steps
Once you've configured your Payment Settings, you can start billing your guardians.