Client Billing & Payments

Fees and rates, charges, card on file and autopay, cancellation fees, payment plans, refunds, and financial reports.

• Set client fees and ratesEvery visit gets one fee, chosen in a fixed order — the amount typed on the appointment, then the client's rate for that service, then the client's default rate, then the provider's rate, then the practice price in force on the visit date, then the billing code's default. The fee is snapshotted when the visit is booked, so raising a price later never reprices booked visits, and a client's old rate can be kept with an end date. Practice prices carry an "Effective from" date and a price history. Rates are set under Settings → Services, the provider editor, and the client's Billing tab.
  3 min
• The client billing profileThe client's Billing tab opens with a Billing profile card summarising how they pay. Edit it to set the billing type (self-pay, insurance, or sliding scale), their rates, copay, coinsurance and deductible, the card on file and autopay, superbill and statement preferences, a cancellation-fee exemption, and internal billing notes. A Guarantor card records who pays for a minor or dependant and is printed on superbills. The balance strip at the top shows the balance, unpaid charges, and the last payment, with Collect payment and Adjust balance.
  2 min
• Charges and the Billing tabA charge is one billable line on a client's account — a date, a code, a fee, and how much has been paid. FrontDesk captures one automatically when an appointment is marked completed (one per client for a group), priced from the fee on the appointment, or you add one by hand from the client's Billing tab. A charge with no known fee sits as a draft until you price it. Charges are what payments settle, what superbills list, and what the financial reports count as production. Void a charge to remove it; use Adjust balance for write-offs and discounts.
  2 min
• Card on file and autopayA card on file lets you charge a client without asking each time — automatically when a visit is completed, for cancellation fees, and for payment plans. Staff save the card from the client's Billing tab (with the client's consent), or the client saves it themselves in the portal. The card number never touches FrontDesk; it lives in Stripe. Autopay at completion is a per-location switch under Settings → Billing → Payment methods and charges only the client's share (their copay if they use insurance). Declines are recorded on the client and reported to staff; the visit still completes.
  2 min
• Cancellation and no-show feesThe cancellation policy lives under Settings → Billing → Payment methods. Set the notice window (for example 24 hours), a late-cancellation fee and a no-show fee (none, a flat amount, a percentage, or the full fee), whether to charge the card on file automatically, and a first-occurrence waiver. Every way a visit can be cancelled late or missed — a staff edit, a text reply, the AI on the phone, the client in the portal — applies the same policy. The fee becomes a charge on the client's account and, when allowed, is taken from their card with a Stripe receipt. Staff can waive any fee, and individual clients can be exempted.
  3 min
• Set up a payment planA payment plan splits what a client owes into equal weekly, biweekly, or monthly installments. With autopay on, each installment is charged to the client's card on file on its due date; a declined card is retried every three days, four times in all, then the plan stops and the office is told. Without autopay, staff record each payment as it comes in. Clients see the plan in their portal, can pay the next installment themselves, and get a reminder email before each charge. Refunding an installment reopens it on hold rather than charging the card again.
  3 min
• Refunds, chargebacks, and disputesRefund from the Payments page or the client's Payments tab. Card payments taken through FrontDesk are refunded through Stripe and the money goes back to the card; cash, check, and cards run on an outside terminal are recorded as refunded so the books are right. Every refund raises the client's balance and reopens the charge it had paid. When a client disputes a card payment with their bank, FrontDesk marks the payment Disputed, tells the office, and if the dispute is lost books it like a refund. Refunds made in the Stripe dashboard sync back automatically.
  2 min
• Financial reportsThe Financial tab on the Reports page answers how much you produced and collected, who and what it came from, who owes you and how old it is, and whether today's drawer matches. Six cards compare the period with the previous one; tables break it down by provider, service, and location; A/R aging shows open charges in 0–30, 31–60, 61–90, and 90+ day buckets; a payment plans section shows what is scheduled and at risk; and the daily close lists every transaction for a day by method. Every table exports to CSV, and a weekly or monthly digest can be emailed. Owners, admins, and managers see it.
  3 min