Payments are given a Pending status while the bank transfer transaction is being authorised and processed by the parent's bank.  During this period, the parent has committed to making the payment, but the funds have not yet been received into ParentPay or assigned to the school or caterer.

You can see the status of all transactions in the Payment item report found in Payment Items > Reports.

Once a bank has completed processing the request they will send ParentPay a notification indicating the status.  We will then update Pending status to either Paid or Failed.

What should I do with Pending payments?

We advise that items and services should be withheld until the payment has been successfully marked as Paid to avoid having to chase debt. 

Parents should be encouraged to plan ahead for meal balance top-ups to avoid going into debt. Once the initial setup is complete they can make use of the Auto Top-Up (ATU) feature to avoid this problem in the future.

For the first payment using a bank transfer it can take up to 10 working days for the bank to authenticate the payment, however, subsequent payments are normally completed in 3-5 working days.

What should I do with Failed payments?

If a payment has been marked as Failed in the payment item report, the parent will have been notified by email and as a notification the next time they log in. They will be instructed that they will need to make the payment using a different means such as a card or PayPoint.

You may also choose to highlight this with the parent using your prefered communication channel, indicating the consequence of the missing payment (Trip placement not being held, meal balance in arrears, etc.)