> ## Knowledge Base Index > Fetch the complete knowledge base index at: https://help.cloudbridal.com/sitemap.xml > Use this file to discover available pages before exploring further. > Pure-Markdown content can be obtained by appending a '.md' suffix to the content URLs listed in the sitemap (without the trailing slash). # Payment Plans # Payment Plans Payment plans allow you to establish structured payment schedules for your customers, making it easy to track, collect, and manage installment payments over time. When using the Stripe integration, your clients can even make payments directly online either through their client portal or from a payment reminder email. You can also enable auto-charge to automatically collect payments on their due dates. Overdue payments show under **Needs attention** on Home, so you can follow up with the customer. ## Configuring Payment Plans See [Payments & Processing Documentation](https://help.cloudbridal.com/en/article/payments-processing-nuv3ia/#2-payment-plans) for a reference on the settings. ## Creating a Payment Plan To create a payment plan, first make sure you have created an order. See [Making a Sale](https://help.cloudbridal.com/en/article/making-a-sale-ebcs3x/). You can start a plan in two places: - Right after saving a new order, choose **Set up a payment plan** in the **Order saved** prompt. The plan opens on that order. - From the customer's profile: scroll to the **Payments** section of the **Overview** tab and click **New payment plan**. Starting a plan (or a payment) needs permission to manage both orders and customers. Then: 1. Pick the **Order**, if the customer has more than one that still owes money 2. Set the terms: - **Deposit**: the amount due today. Use the 0%, 25%, 33% and 50% buttons, or type a percentage and click **Apply**. - **Payments after the deposit**: pick 1 to 6, or **More** to type any number up to 60 - **Due every**: how often the payments fall due, as a number and a unit (days, weeks or months) - **First payment**: when the first payment after the deposit is due - **Auto-charge their default card on each due date** _(requires Stripe)_: charge the customer's default card on file automatically 3. Check the payments under the terms. They're worked out as you set the terms, and the line above them shows the plan total, the number of payments, and whether anything is left to allocate. You can change any payment's date or amount, remove one, or click **Add a payment**. 4. Click **Create plan**. It's available once the payments add up to the plan total. If you've changed payments by hand and then change a term, CloudBridal asks before it recalculates the payments. Choose **Cancel** to keep your changes; the term goes back to what it was. New plans start from **Starting values for new plans** in [Settings › Payments](https://go.cloudbridal.com/settings/payments); staff can change them for each plan. If you haven't set any, a plan starts with payments every month. Payment reminders are set up in [Communications](https://go.cloudbridal.com/settings/emails). The system will automatically: - Prompt you to take the deposit, either through Stripe or through your external payment processor - Create scheduled payments with **Pending** status for future installments, with their due dates set according to the schedule ## Payment Plan Management ### Viewing Payment Plans Payment plans appear within the customer's payment history, where you can see: - The deposit payment (marked as Paid) - All scheduled future payments (marked as Pending) - Payment due dates - Payment status (Paid, Pending, or Overdue) ### Changing a Payment Plan Open the plan from any of its payments (**Payment plan** in the payment's ⋯ menu). You can mark payments paid, change dates, amounts and methods, add or remove payments, and turn auto-charge on or off. **Save** waits until the payments add up to the plan total. If the plan already didn't add up when you opened it (for example, the order changed afterwards), you can still save changes that don't make the difference bigger. **Delete plan** deletes the plan and all its payments, including ones marked paid. A plan with a payment charged through Stripe or synced to accounting can't be deleted. Deleting a plan needs permission to delete payments. ### Processing Scheduled Payments Payment plan payments can be collected in several ways: - **Automatically by the system** _(requires Stripe)_: If auto-charge is enabled on the payment plan, the customer's default card is charged automatically on each due date. No action required from staff or customer. - **By the customer online** _(requires Stripe)_: Customers can pay via payment link (sent in reminder emails) or through the [client portal](https://help.cloudbridal.com/en/article/client-portal-14n1zn6/). - **Manually by staff**: Process the payment in-person by clicking on the pending payment. You can charge through Stripe or record a payment from an external processor. ### Auto-Charge _Requires the [Stripe integration](https://help.cloudbridal.com/en/article/stripe-integration-payment-processing-1l4t4rx/)._ Auto-charge automatically collects scheduled payments on their due dates using the customer's default card on file. **To turn auto-charge on or off:** 1. When creating or changing a payment plan, tick **Auto-charge their default card on each due date** 2. The customer's default card shows beside it if one is set Changing it on a saved plan applies to every upcoming payment, including one whose earlier auto-charge was declined. If only some of a plan's payments auto-charge, the plan says how many (for example, "On for 2 of 4 payments"). A payment added to the plan follows the plan's setting. **Requirements:** - Customer must have a default card on file with confirmed authorization - If no default card exists, you can still enable auto-charge—payments will be charged once a default card is added > **Note**: The deposit payment is always collected manually at the time of creating the plan. Only the subsequent scheduled payments are auto-charged. ### When the Order Is Cancelled Cancelling the whole order clears up its payment plan for you: - Upcoming pending payments are removed, so the customer stops receiving reminders and their online payment links stop working - The plan re-reads its status from what was actually paid, so it won't turn Overdue for payments that will never be collected - Payments already taken are untouched — you decide what happens to that money as part of the cancellation Cancelling only some items on an order leaves the payment schedule alone; adjust it yourself if the remaining balance has changed. See [Returns, Refunds & Exchanges](https://help.cloudbridal.com/en/article/returns-refunds-exchanges-h6e3zy/) for the cancellation workflow. ### Handling Overdue Payments The system provides several visual indicators for overdue payments: 1. **Needs attention**: the **Overdue payments** alert on Home lists every late installment. Turn it on or off in [Settings › Store alerts](https://go.cloudbridal.com/settings/alerts) 2. **Customer Profile**: Overdue payments are clearly marked in the payments section 3. **Reports**: You can run the payments report to find overdue payments based on a specified date range | Tip: If auto-charge fails (e.g., card declined), the payment remains in Pending status and becomes overdue. Follow up with the customer to update their card on file or collect payment manually.