Below, you'll find answers to frequently asked questions about Online Payments in SimplePractice:

Setting up Online Payments in your SimplePractice account

• My routing number doesn't have 9 digits, how can I add it?
• My Online Payments account can't be verified, what are my next steps?
• I'm part of a group practice, can we connect multiple Online Payments accounts to our SimplePractice account?
• Can I connect an already existing Online Payments account to SimplePractice?
• What information can I change after my account has been verified?

Processing cards using Online Payments 

• What payment methods can I accept?
• How do I keep track of credit card payments?
• How can I find a total of the credit card processing fees I've paid?
• Why are my clients being charged $1 by SimplePractice?
• What does the credit card request form look like?
• How do I know which card to select if my client has multiple cards on file?
• Is there a report I can share with my accountant that includes my card processing fees from the previous year? 
• What is the maximum amount I can charge?
• What will Online Payments charges look like for my clients?
• I tried to charge my client’s credit card, but I chose the wrong payment type. How do I fix it?
• Why did a refund fail?
• What happens if a client’s credit card details change?

Handling disputes

• What happens on a client's Billing page after a dispute is lost?
• How do disputes impact my business?

Note: See Processing Online Payments to learn more about how to use the Online Payments feature to charge client credit cards.

Setting up Online Payments in your SimplePractice account

My routing number doesn't have 9 digits, how can I add it?

If your routing number doesn’t have 9 digits, submit a help request and we'll assist you with entering your bank details in your Online Payments account.

My Online Payments account can't be verified, what are my next steps?

When you create or update your Online Payments account, our payment processor attempts to verify the information you provided with what the IRS has on file for you. It's important to provide the exact information that the IRS has on file, including your name and SSN or EIN, to prevent a delay in receiving your payouts. 

If our payment processor is unable to verify your information, submit a help request so that we can assist you with your account verification.

I'm part of a group practice, can we connect multiple Online Payments accounts to our SimplePractice account?

SimplePractice accounts with multiple clinicians can share one Online Payments account, and each Online Payments account can only connect to one bank account for payouts.

Can I connect an already existing Online Payments account to SimplePractice?

There isn't an option to connect an already existing Online Payments account with your SimplePractice account. You can create a new Online Payments account directly within your SimplePractice account by navigating to Settings > Payment processing > Online payments.

What information can I change after my account has been verified?

Once your Online Payments account is verified, you can update the following details in your account:

• Bank account associated with your Online Payments account
• Statement descriptor
• Payout schedule
• Email or business address

Note: If you need to make any other changes to your Online Payments account, submit a help request for further assistance.

Changing the bank account that's connected to your Online Payments account

To change your bank account:

• Navigate to Settings > Payment processing > Online payments
• Scroll down to Bank details
• Click Change bank account

• In the flyout window, input your new routing and account numbers
• Click Save changes

Note: If you’re having difficulty updating your bank account details, submit a help request for assistance. We recommend having a voided check for the account ready, as we require these to assist you with updating your bank account details

There are different bank account requirements depending on the business type selected for your Online Payments account.

Sole Proprietorships

Your bank account must be registered under either your business DBA or the name of the Business Representative on your Online Payments account. This can be either a personal bank account or a business bank account.

LLCs, Corporations, and Non-Profits

Your bank account must be registered under the company’s legal business name or DBA. This must be a business bank account.

If it's registered under your Business Representative's name instead, it may be flagged by our processor. This can result in delays to your payouts.

Changing the statement descriptor for your Online Payments account

See What will Online Payments charges look like for my clients? to learn how to change your statement descriptor.

Changing the payout schedule for your Online Payments account

To change your payout schedule:

• Navigate to Settings > Payment processing > Online payments
• Under Payout schedule, click Change schedule

• Select the schedule that you’d like to receive payouts: Daily, Weekly, or Monthly
• Click Save changes

Note: For details on each type of schedule, see Keeping track of your payouts.

Changing the email or business address for your Online Payments account

To change the email or business address:

• Navigate to Settings > Payment processing > Online payments
• Under Your details, click Edit email or address

• Update your email and/or business address
• Click Save changes

Processing cards using Online Payments

What payment methods can I accept?

With Online Payments, you can charge almost any kind of credit or debit card, including:

• Visa, MasterCard, American Express, JCB, Discover, and Diners Club
• FSA and HSA cards for client payments
• Link by Stripe can be used for any clients that have signed up to use Link
  • To learn more, see Using Link as a payment method

Note: To learn about using vCards in SimplePractice, see Processing a Vcard or insurance credit card.

How do I keep track of credit card payments?

Note: For more information about payouts in general, see our Online Payments payout FAQs. 

The Payouts report details all of the payouts delivered to your bank account, making it easy to track which transactions have been paid out to you. You can see the following details relating to each payout:

• The Status of the payout
  • If the Status is Failed, hover over the i information icon to learn the details of the failure
• The Bank/Card account it was paid out to
• The Description of the payout
• The date the payout was Initiated
• The Estimated Arrival date of the payout
  • While this is the date your payout is expected to reach your bank account, we often see that banks don’t reflect the payout until the following business day
• The Amount paid out to you

To view the contents of a specific payout, click Transactions.

This will take you to the Card transactions report, where you can view a breakdown of every transaction that contributed to that payout amount. This report includes the following details for each charge:

• The Date of the charge
• The Client charged
• The Type of transaction
• The Status of the charge
• The Net amount charged
  • This is the amount that will be included in your payout
• The Gross amount charged
  • This is the full amount that you charged your client
• The Fee associated with the transaction

Note: You can also navigate to your Card transactions from your calendar by clicking Billing > Card transactions.

Clicking Details will allow you to view the Transaction Details for each charge. This includes:

• The Payment ID associated with the transaction
• The Statement descriptor sent with the transaction
  
  • This is pulled from the information listed on Settings > Payment processing > Online payments
• The Amount charged
• The Fee associated with the transaction
• The Net amount that’ll be received in your payout for this transaction
• The Date the transaction was processed
• The Payout this transaction was included in, and what day it arrived
• Payment method details related to the specific card charged

How can I find a total of the credit card processing fees I've paid?

If you want to see the total of all card processing fees you've paid for a certain time period:

• Navigate to Billing > Card transactions
• Expand the date range of the report as needed
  
  • You can export this report as a CSV file by clicking Export transactions

You can open the file in a spreadsheet program (Microsoft Excel, Google Sheets, etc.) to quickly add the values in the Fee column to find your total.

Why are my clients being charged $1 by SimplePractice?

When a client’s credit card is added or updated in SimplePractice, they may see a pending authorization charge for $1 on their credit card statement. This isn’t an actual charge, but a temporary authorization held by our payment processor to verify that a client’s credit card account is active and valid for future transactions.

A transaction may be listed as pending on your client’s bank statement, but they aren’t being charged and no amount is collected by our processor. The pending charge should automatically be reversed and removed from your client’s bank statement after 7 business days.

If the charge doesn’t reverse after 7 business days, submit a help request so that our team can assist you further.

Note: This pre-authorization may be declined by the client's bank, preventing you from processing the card. In this case, the client will need to reach out to their bank to allow the pre-authorization. To learn more, see Handling credit card declines.

What does the credit card request form look like?

How do I know which card to select if my client has multiple cards on file?

You can add a card nickname to easily keep track of multiple cards stored within a client's file. This makes it easier to quickly distinguish between multiple cards without needing to review the full credit card details.

This can be especially useful when working with couples, minors, or clients with FSA/HSA cards.

Is there a report I can share with my accountant for tax purposes that includes my card processing fees from the previous year?

You can generate a Tax Report for the previous year that includes your total processing fees. To access this, navigate to Analytics > Reports, and click on the desired year-end report. Your total processing fees will be listed as ​​Stripe processing expenses.

Note: To learn more about our Tax Report, see Tax Report FAQs.

What is the maximum amount I can charge?

There is no limit on how much you can charge your clients through your Online Payments account.

What will Online Payments charges look like for my clients?

You can customize the statement descriptor that appears on your clients’ bank statements when you charge their cards.

To edit your statement descriptor:

• Navigate to Settings > Payment processing > Online payments
• Under Business details, click Edit details

• Customize the Statement descriptor field to what you would like to appear on your clients’ bank statements
  
  • The statement descriptor field only supports between 5-22 characters 
  • If your business name is longer than 22 characters, we recommend creating a short-hand version of it that your clients will still recognize
    
• Click Save changes

Note: For every transaction you process in your Online Payments account, our processor sends your statement descriptor and business details to the client’s bank. However, banks are free to truncate, format, or re-order this information when they show it to their cardholders. As a result, there may be instances where the information that appears in a client’s bank statement is different from your statement descriptor.

I tried to charge my client’s credit card, but I chose the wrong payment type. How do I fix it?

If you selected the wrong payment type when trying to add an Online card on file payment, you can delete the payment and re-add it with the correct payment type.

To do this:

• Delete the payment
• Re-add the payment as a Stripe Credit Card payment

Why did a refund fail?

There are times when a cardholder's bank won’t accept a refund, and the refund will fail. When a refund fails, the funds from that transaction will be returned to your Online Payments account and included in your next payout. 

We aren’t able to reverse this action, and the refund can’t be processed through your Online Payments account. We recommend refunding the client outside of SimplePractice, and then marking the payment as refunded via Cash, Check, or External card. To do this:

• Navigate to the client’s Billing page
• Use the Transactions by client filter
• Locate the Refund reversal and click View

• Click Refund in the top right corner
• In the refund flyout, use the Method dropdown and choose Cash, Check, or External card
  • The Stripe credit card option will be blocked to prevent additional refunds from failing

• Enter the Refund Amount
• Click Refund

For more information, see Refunding a client.

What happens if a client’s credit card details change?

Online Payments uses an Account Updater feature that allows card issuers to send updates when a cardholder’s account information changes. The Account Updater maintains accurate card data, which in turn helps you:

• Avoid unnecessary failed transactions
• Minimize payment disruptions
• Reduce the need for manual updates to your clients’ card information

Whether or not a card can be updated using the Account Updater is dependent on the cardholder’s bank participating with this feature. If a client’s card is outdated and gets declined, we recommend requesting new credit card information from the client.