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Daycare Center and Family Home Forum>Square Cash Was Great... For A Little While. Alternatives?
Crazy8 06:15 AM 08-15-2016
I got the suggestion here to use Square Cash for daycare payments and absolutely LOVED it. It fit all my needs/requirements. Until I got the message that they were changing me to a business account and will now have to pay the 3% fee.

Is there a good safe alternative? I want something that does not take 3-4 days to transfer to my account and without fees.
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Luke25 06:34 AM 08-15-2016
Venmo is good.
Or you can do PayPal and have them choose the friends and family option.
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Unregistered 07:44 AM 08-15-2016
Originally Posted by Crazy8:
I got the suggestion here to use Square Cash for daycare payments and absolutely LOVED it. It fit all my needs/requirements. Until I got the message that they were changing me to a business account and will now have to pay the 3% fee.

Is there a good safe alternative? I want something that does not take 3-4 days to transfer to my account and without fees.
Have them set you up as an online vender and set up a recurring payment through their bank account. If they send it the Friday before, you should get it by Monday.
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organicdclady 08:07 AM 08-15-2016
Originally Posted by Crazy8:
I got the suggestion here to use Square Cash for daycare payments and absolutely LOVED it. It fit all my needs/requirements. Until I got the message that they were changing me to a business account and will now have to pay the 3% fee.

Is there a good safe alternative? I want something that does not take 3-4 days to transfer to my account and without fees.
That happened to me last month. I've paid close to $200 in fees since then. I am also looking for something different.
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Unregistered 08:20 AM 08-15-2016
Originally Posted by Crazy8:
I got the suggestion here to use Square Cash for daycare payments and absolutely LOVED it. It fit all my needs/requirements. Until I got the message that they were changing me to a business account and will now have to pay the 3% fee.

Is there a good safe alternative? I want something that does not take 3-4 days to transfer to my account and without fees.
I use Brightwheel and love it (because it is free!). It does take a few days to process, but my old policy was that if you chose to use it you had to pay in advance in order to have deposit by the time of care. I just revised my handbook and changed that to make it a little less complicated for parents, but nobody seemed to mind and they all used it.

I ran into one issue with a payment, and they were able to trace the issue to a glitch on their end. They felt so bad they compensated the parent for that week's care (they sent me a check directly). I thought that was great customer service.
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LittleScholars 08:21 AM 08-15-2016
Originally Posted by Unregistered:
I use Brightwheel and love it (because it is free!). It does take a few days to process, but my old policy was that if you chose to use it you had to pay in advance in order to have deposit by the time of care. I just revised my handbook and changed that to make it a little less complicated for parents, but nobody seemed to mind and they all used it.

I ran into one issue with a payment, and they were able to trace the issue to a glitch on their end. They felt so bad they compensated the parent for that week's care (they sent me a check directly). I thought that was great customer service.
That was me. I didn't realize I got logged out!
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Crazy8 09:59 AM 08-15-2016
Originally Posted by Unregistered:
I use Brightwheel and love it (because it is free!). It does take a few days to process, but my old policy was that if you chose to use it you had to pay in advance in order to have deposit by the time of care. I just revised my handbook and changed that to make it a little less complicated for parents, but nobody seemed to mind and they all used it.

I ran into one issue with a payment, and they were able to trace the issue to a glitch on their end. They felt so bad they compensated the parent for that week's care (they sent me a check directly). I thought that was great customer service.
I was going to try Brightwheel but have been happy using Tadpoles for my daily reports so didn't want to change on my parents. I heard Brightwheel was going to eventually switch to being a paid service, have you heard anything about that?
How long does it take for the payment to hit your accounts? My parents pay on Thursday, I love that I can go to my bank Friday or Saturday and take the cash out. If I have to wait until Monday I can't get to the bank until the following Friday.
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Crazy8 10:01 AM 08-15-2016
Originally Posted by Unregistered:
Have them set you up as an online vender and set up a recurring payment through their bank account. If they send it the Friday before, you should get it by Monday.
I don't want to have to wait until Mondays for payment to clear because then I can't actually get to the bank to take the money out until Friday. And I loved that I could send invoice with exact amount owed and parents just had to click a button to send payment.
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LittleScholars 10:20 AM 08-15-2016
Originally Posted by Crazy8:
I was going to try Brightwheel but have been happy using Tadpoles for my daily reports so didn't want to change on my parents. I heard Brightwheel was going to eventually switch to being a paid service, have you heard anything about that?
How long does it take for the payment to hit your accounts? My parents pay on Thursday, I love that I can go to my bank Friday or Saturday and take the cash out. If I have to wait until Monday I can't get to the bank until the following Friday.
I've asked about when/if they will charge a fee. They said it is possible that could happen in the future, but they are working hard to keep it free. So, I like it until then! In the terms and agreement it does say they can charge a fee, so I confirmed that there is, in fact, no fee when I signed up.

Brightwheel can definitely be a little slow because it depends on the speed of your bank and their banks. I'd say I get the money in about 3-4 days (because they pay on Friday and there isn't any action until the following week).

It sounds like Brightwheel might be slower than what you are looking for, but if you did use it I bet you could keep using tadpole, too. Parents have to log-in online to pay on Brightwheel (they do everything else on the app), so it isn't super connected to the daily reports anyway. I could see using it only for billing.

I hope that helps!
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organicdclady 11:29 AM 08-15-2016
From what I understand about Brightwheel, bank transfers are free but they charge a 3.25% transaction fee for each debit/credit card. Is that correct?
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Controlled Chaos 01:58 PM 08-15-2016
I have one dcf who's bank mails me a check. They like it because it it automatic for them, I don't really care.

I have used Venmo.

Paypal only lets you withdraw so much each month, so I would worry about money getting stuck in there and being unable to get at it. That was a few years ago, maybe its not a problem anymore?

I think I need to check out Brightwheel Sounds great.
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Crazy8 08:38 AM 08-16-2016
Originally Posted by LittleScholars:
I've asked about when/if they will charge a fee. They said it is possible that could happen in the future, but they are working hard to keep it free. So, I like it until then! In the terms and agreement it does say they can charge a fee, so I confirmed that there is, in fact, no fee when I signed up.

Brightwheel can definitely be a little slow because it depends on the speed of your bank and their banks. I'd say I get the money in about 3-4 days (because they pay on Friday and there isn't any action until the following week).

It sounds like Brightwheel might be slower than what you are looking for, but if you did use it I bet you could keep using tadpole, too. Parents have to log-in online to pay on Brightwheel (they do everything else on the app), so it isn't super connected to the daily reports anyway. I could see using it only for billing.

I hope that helps!
Thanks for all the info!

I am not sure I'm going to find another payment option that is available as quick as Square Cash so I will look into Brightwheel more. Being a Dave Ramsey cash envelope user I like to be able to go take my cash out on Saturday mornings but technically I can wait and do it at the end of the month.
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Crazy8 08:47 AM 08-16-2016
Is Venmo as quick as Square Cash for money being available?
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LittleScholars 09:16 AM 08-16-2016
Originally Posted by organicdclady:
From what I understand about Brightwheel, bank transfers are free but they charge a 3.25% transaction fee for each debit/credit card. Is that correct?
That's exactly right. I don't take cards, just directly from the bank. My invoices change pretty drastically each week, so I like that I have that flexibility, but if parents are in the habit of using a card that would be tricky.
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Controlled Chaos 09:33 AM 08-16-2016
Originally Posted by Crazy8:
Is Venmo as quick as Square Cash for money being available?
3-4 days I think...not positive. I have only used it for the registration fee when parents want to email me contracts and other documents since they aren't physically coming anyway. Once they are enrolled I don't typically use it.
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Crazy8 11:03 AM 08-17-2016
Originally Posted by Controlled Chaos:
3-4 days I think...not positive. I have only used it for the registration fee when parents want to email me contracts and other documents since they aren't physically coming anyway. Once they are enrolled I don't typically use it.
Thanks! I want a method they can use every week, many of them mentioned they prefer doing it that way over paying by check. I'd like something where I can send them the payment request/invoice. I have given up on finding something where the funds are avail as quick as Square Cash, I am just going to have to redo how I budget/fill my cash envelopes.
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Meeko 06:07 AM 08-19-2016
Originally Posted by Crazy8:
Is Venmo as quick as Square Cash for money being available?
My clients Venmo on Thursday and it's in my account on Friday.
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Meeko 06:10 AM 08-19-2016
Originally Posted by Crazy8:
Thanks! I want a method they can use every week, many of them mentioned they prefer doing it that way over paying by check. I'd like something where I can send them the payment request/invoice. I have given up on finding something where the funds are avail as quick as Square Cash, I am just going to have to redo how I budget/fill my cash envelopes.
The only time I haven't got my money the next day with venmo is if the client waits too late in the day. So I tell them to Venmo by 3PM and I always get it the next day. And I get an email notification from Venmo the second they do the transaction to let me know money is on the way. I absolutely love it.
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Crazy8 02:33 PM 08-19-2016
Originally Posted by Meeko:
The only time I haven't got my money the next day with venmo is if the client waits too late in the day. So I tell them to Venmo by 3PM and I always get it the next day. And I get an email notification from Venmo the second they do the transaction to let me know money is on the way. I absolutely love it.
Great to know. My first venmo payment was made late Thursday night because dcm had to wait till she got home from work to set it up so it said it would be available Monday. It would be great if they make payments earlier on Thursdays if I can pull it out Friday or even Saturday morning works for me just fine.
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Unregistered 02:19 PM 11-07-2016
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Meeko 07:09 PM 11-07-2016
Originally Posted by Crazy8:
Is Venmo as quick as Square Cash for money being available?
I use Venmo. Get my money in my account the next day.

Oops...just noticed this is an older thread and I already put my 2c in!
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mom2many 02:19 PM 11-08-2016
I've been having parents pay me using PayPal and love it.
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Tags:brightwheel, payment methods, square card reader, square reader, venmo
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