Automatic Payment (Autopay)

What is Automatic Payment?

With Automatic Payment, a customer saves a card or bank account once. After that, every invoice you send them is paid automatically. They don’t have to click a Pay button.

Automatic Payment works only with HWIT Invoicing and Stripe. If you invoice through QuickBooks or Zoho, you won’t see it.

Your customer saves their card or bank account on Stripe’s own secure page. You never see or type their card or bank details.

Step A: Turn it on for your company

You only do this once.

1. Go to Settings → Integrations → Accounting Integration.
2. Make sure Stripe is connected. If it isn’t, see Home Watch IT Invoicing.
3. Turn on Use automatic payment (autopay).

Only an Admin can change this switch.

Step B: Send the customer a setup link

1. Go to Properties and open the property.
2. Click the Billing tab.
3. In the Automatic payment box, click Send setup link.
4. Tick the people who should get the link. The invoice contacts are ticked for you.
5. Click Send.

Each person gets their own email. The link works for 14 days.

Step C: The customer saves a card or bank account

The customer clicks the button in the email and enters their card or bank account on Stripe’s page.

When they finish, the Automatic payment box on the Billing tab shows Active, with the card or bank account (for example, Visa •• 4242).

A bank account can take a few days for the bank to check. Until then, the box says Waiting for the bank to verify.

What happens next

• When you send an invoice, it is charged within about 10 minutes. If the invoice is dated in the future, it is charged on that date.
• The invoice email tells the customer which card or bank account will be charged. It has no Pay button, so they can’t pay twice.
• When the charge goes through, the invoice is marked paid and the customer gets a receipt.
• A card payment is paid right away. A bank payment takes a few business days to clear. You’ll see it as Processing until then.

Only invoices dated on or after the day the customer set up Automatic Payment are charged. Older invoices are paid the usual way.

Prepayment invoices are never charged automatically.

If a charge doesn’t go through

If a card is declined, the customer gets an email with a link to save a different card or bank account. Once they save a new one, the invoice is charged with it automatically.

To see what happened:

1. Go to Invoicing and open the invoice.
2. Look under Autopay. It lists each charge with its date, amount, status and the reason it failed.

If the customer tells you the problem is fixed (for example, they called their bank), click Retry charge to try again now.

Turning it off for one property

1. Go to Properties, open the property, and click the Billing tab.
2. In the Automatic payment box, click Turn off.
3. Click Turn off again to confirm.

The saved card or bank account is removed. Future invoices go out with a Pay button again.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can I enter the customer’s card for them? No. The customer always enters it themselves on Stripe’s page. This keeps their details safe and shows they agreed to be charged.

Can a customer pay by bank account? Yes, if your company bills in US dollars and Stripe has bank payments turned on for your account. If customers only see the card option, email support@homewatchit.com.

The customer wants to use a different card. Click Send setup link again. When they save the new card, it replaces the old one.

Can I change the wording of the emails? Yes. Go to Settings → Email Templates and edit Autopay setup link or Autopay failed.

What if I turn off Automatic Payment for the whole company? No more invoices are charged automatically. Customers’ saved cards stay on file. If you turn it back on, charging starts again, and that includes unpaid invoices you sent while it was off. You can’t turn it off while a bank payment is still processing. Wait a few days and try again.