Electronic Payments

[Leigh]

I know this has been asked a lot before, but options are changing all the time, so I'm asking it again.

What system of electronic payment works best? I thought about PayPal, but it looks like it takes a long time to receive payment that way. I've also considered whether I could set parents up on an automatic withdrawl-does anyone do that? I just don't want to count on parents doing the work, and like the idea of me being able to request funds that way. I do take cash and check, but I'd like to have it all taken care of electronically, while still getting paid ON TIME.

Any suggestions?

[daycarediva]

I do square. I made an automatic withdrawal form. If parents pay by CC, I have them sign the form agreeing to be automatically charged every Friday. At rest time, all I do is open an app, punch in their info and done. It sends them an email and/or text receipt.

For an additional 1% the payments can be automatically deposited into your account.

Most of my parents pay this way now. I LOVE it. SOOO worth the (tax deductible) fees. (although I did do a $5/week rate increase around the time I started accepting cc's. Our state doesn't allow the fees to be passed on to the parents, so this was my way of going around that. I do have extra expenses, I just don't stipulate exactly what it IS).

[NillaWafers]

I use the direct deposit that MMK incorporates and it's going great. I love never having to ask for payment. I have one parent who still prefers to give checks but it great knowing that money will be there.

I have had no problems on either end. They do charge a dollar a deposit that you can decide to eat (and write off, apparently) or push to your parents. Worth it to me.

[spedmommy4]

I use the direct deposit that MMK incorporates and it's going great. I love never having to ask for payment. I have one parent who still prefers to give checks but it great knowing that money will be there.

I have had no problems on either end. They do charge a dollar a deposit that you can decide to eat (and write off, apparently) or push to your parents. Worth it to me.

I have been using Childcare pay through Minute Menu kids pro too. I like the system a lot. Parents choose weeks or biweekly and I have the system send out invoices.

All but 3 of my parents have approved auto pay. 2 of those use the online payment system and I have one cash payer. (One stubborn holdout) if it weren't for my one holdout I could skip trips to the bank.

[Indoorvoice]

I also use the MMK system and am happy with it. However, I have a few parents who have tried to be sneaky and say the site was down when they tried to pay or they got a message saying hackers were trying to get in their account so they couldn't pay on time. Also, if they don't close the browser after they pay, it may submit payment twice. All of it is user error, but it gives them something to be unhappy about.

[Alwaysgreener]

I recently heard of an app called popmoney. It says that your money goes directly in to your account.
Is the program fee (for any of these banking apps) tax deducitable?