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lovemydaycare0912 07:20 PM 05-14-2016
Hello it's me again! Sorry hope this isn't too long.

I am working on finalizing my new handbook to give to parents on Monday. I have a few things I want some advice on how to word that are giving me a headache. Thanks in advance:

1- Late payment fee. I have parents whose scheduled contracted time is 30 minutes or so before closing. Sometimes they come to pick up their child so they aren't late but then have to go to bank to get my payment. That annoys me even if they bring it before my "closing time". I am also changing my policy because I use to require payments Friday but gave until Monday without late fee.(Dumb I know) I am now requiring it to be paid Fridays by the their scheduled pick up time.

My question is when do I start their late fee? Does 1 minute after scheduled pick up time sound harsh? I didn't want to do it by the time my last kid will be picked up because sometimes kids get picked up early and I do not want to wait around for payment.

2-How long should I give parents to pay fees once they accept their slot? For example, if I have a slot available in 2 weeks and parent accepts, when do I ask for 1st weeks payment and 2 week deposit? 48 hours? Offer payment plan in case they can't do all 3 payments at once?

3-In my state, parents have 60 mins to come pick up their child when we call and say they are sick. I had a parent once come more than 2 hours after and her child had a 102+ fever. In order to avoid this, I wanted to attach my same late pick up policy to avoid liability. Is this too harsh?

Still a newbie who has had a lot of situations that have made me change my policies and become a stronger provider. Thanks for any input.
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Unregistered 07:31 PM 05-14-2016
1. Late fee. I structure mine to be due 1/2 hour after my "all-in" time. All dcks are supposed to be here by 9 am so payment is due no later than 9:30 a.m. That gives them time to run back home or to the bank to get their payment. And if they are a family in good standing, I might give them until nap time, but no later. Nap time is when I do my accounting. If no payment by then (IF I've extended the due time for them) then it's a late fee.

2. No space is held without payment. No space is held without payment. It's all over my paperwork. Nice and clean. I don't hold any space for anyone unless they have paid the fees due (two weeks plus enrollment fee.)

3. I don't have anything for you here - I'm sure someone else will.
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childcaremom 02:50 AM 05-15-2016
1. My tuition fees are due Fridays by 9 am. Late fees start at 9:01. Same as above, if family is in good standing, I may waive the fees once. All of my families use EMT and send it through Thursday night. I do my banking Friday morning when I wake up.

I would change payment to drop off. Pick ups, for me, are busy. And I'm done on Friday afternoon. I don't want the hassle of remembering to get payments and then running to the bank right away.

If you have payment earlier, then you can go to the bank as soon as the last child leaves and you don't have to worry about a parent 'forgetting' and running home to be back to drop it off at 5 pm (or whenever). If a parent forgets, they can bring the payment + late fee at pick up.

I charge late fees (in cash only) and charge $15/calendar day each late day (9:01 Friday is $15, 9 am Saturday is now $30, 9 am Sunday is now $45, 9 am Monday is $60, etc). I turn away on Monday if they are not paid in full and have late fees in hand. Never had that happen but it is what I would do.

2. Once I offer a spot to a family, they are given 72 hours to return all paperwork and pay the holding fee in full. No exceptions. (I don't have any other fees but would still handle it the same way.)

3. I give an hour window to pick up a sick child. I start charging late fees at 61 minutes. Or I term immediately with no refund of fees.

I, too, have this all through my handbook. I have late fees start at 9:01 on my 'reminder' bill. When I offer a spot, the time limit is clear, verbally and in an email with all the info. When a child is sick here, I text for pickup and remind them that they have one hour to pick up.
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Josiegirl 03:32 AM 05-15-2016
I only want to add that you should make your rules for your benefit, dcps will figure out a way to abide by them if they feel they cannot afford the penalties.
Two hr. pick up for a sick child?? Maybe add to your policies that they need to be picked up within ____ or you will call the next contact on the list.
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lovemydaycare0912 06:20 AM 05-15-2016
Thanks for the advice. I don't mind getting payment at pickup. I can't deposit the money until after kids leave so it wouldn't make a difference.

The holding period. I'm not necessarily holding a spot if the spot won't open for another 2 weeks, etc. I just want to secure it. But I like the idea of 72 hours.

Thanks again. Any other input is greatly appreciated.
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childcaremom 11:31 AM 05-15-2016
Originally Posted by Josiegirl:
I only want to add that you should make your rules for your benefit, dcps will figure out a way to abide by them if they feel they cannot afford the penalties.
Two hr. pick up for a sick child?? Maybe add to your policies that they need to be picked up within ____ or you will call the next contact on the list.
To address the issue of someone else picking up, I created a contact sheet. I have parents list in order of contact 4 people. I request a reply back so that I know that they have gotten my message. So I start at the top of the list. They have 3-5 mins to get back to me. If they don't, I move down the list. 1 hour starts when I first reach out. So they know that they need to give me a number where they are absolutely reachable.

I've never had this be an issue so not sure what I would do if I made it through the list and can't reach anyone. I have mostly teachers now so there is always a way to reach them.
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lovemydaycare0912 12:31 PM 05-15-2016
Originally Posted by childcaremom:
To address the issue of someone else picking up, I created a contact sheet. I have parents list in order of contact 4 people. I request a reply back so that I know that they have gotten my message. So I start at the top of the list. They have 3-5 mins to get back to me. If they don't, I move down the list. 1 hour starts when I first reach out. So they know that they need to give me a number where they are absolutely reachable.

I've never had this be an issue so not sure what I would do if I made it through the list and can't reach anyone. I have mostly teachers now so there is always a way to reach them.
I typically don't have an issue either. However, after the family I termed 2 months ago took forever to pick up dcb, I said this cannot happen again. But thanks for the idea. Maybe I can do something like that.
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Nurse Jackie 02:28 PM 05-15-2016
You guys have a lot of great ideas. I think I'm gonna change my payment time to the beginning of the day also. I use to have a family that would forget payment at pick up. At the time they were one of my last pick ups. Since I didn't officially close for another 1 1/2 hours later and my contract says payment is due by closing they would sometimes take their time to come back with payment. This would solve that problem.
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lovemydaycare0912 02:53 PM 05-15-2016
Originally Posted by Nurse Jackie:
You guys have a lot of great ideas. I think I'm gonna change my payment time to the beginning of the day also. I use to have a family that would forget payment at pick up. At the time they were one of my last pick ups. Since I didn't officially close for another 1 1/2 hours later and my contract says payment is due by closing they would sometimes take their time to come back with payment. This would solve that problem.
Yes, that is what I am trying to stop as well. However, I am trying to make changes small. Since I am going from Fri/Mon payment, I didn't want to make a drastic change right now.
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Unregistered 03:28 PM 05-15-2016
By receiving payment at drop off I can record everything and prepare receipts at naptime. Then I'm ready to go to the bank that evening. No time to do that if payment is received at pick up.
When I made the change I just explained to parents that I have book keeping time scheduled for naptime.
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LysesKids 09:53 AM 05-16-2016
Originally Posted by Unregistered:
By receiving payment at drop off I can record everything and prepare receipts at naptime. Then I'm ready to go to the bank that evening. No time to do that if payment is received at pick up.
When I made the change I just explained to parents that I have book keeping time scheduled for naptime.
If you receive checks you can just do a mobile deposit & save some gas... I'm cash & credit only due to having checks bounce one too many times; my credit card payments go directly in my account within 24 hrs, the cash I use for groceries & bills that I can pay in person. I work odd hours so mobile deposits work well for transferring funds between 2 different banks too
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lovemydaycare0912 10:09 AM 05-16-2016
Originally Posted by LysesKids:
If you receive checks you can just do a mobile deposit & save some gas... I'm cash & credit only due to having checks bounce one too many times; my credit card payments go directly in my account within 24 hrs, the cash I use for groceries & bills that I can pay in person. I work odd hours so mobile deposits work well for transferring funds between 2 different banks too
I use mobile deposit for my checks as well although I don't get them too often. I use to accept debit/credit, but it took sometimes more than 2 days to get in my account. I also didn't want to deal with the fact you are not allowed to charge them the processing fee. That was $7 I wasn't willing to lose out on a week. Cash is so much easier.
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thrivingchildcarecom 10:45 AM 05-16-2016
I'm not quite sure what do say regarding them having to run to the bank for the late fee $. I will have to think about that. I do have late fee verbiage but its a little long to put here. If you send me a PM with your email, I would be happy to share that with you.

I typically will give parents about a week to return the enrollment application and deposit after accepting the spot and if they ask I will allow them to split up the fees. That is at your discretion so I don't know if I would put all of that in the contract. Maybe just a date when the total is due.

About picking up a sick child; you might want to indicate that if you don't hear back from the parent is X amount of time, you will move on and contact the next person on the emergency call list. That is what it is for.

Hope that helps.
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LysesKids 11:39 AM 05-16-2016
Originally Posted by lovemydaycare0912:
I use mobile deposit for my checks as well although I don't get them too often. I use to accept debit/credit, but it took sometimes more than 2 days to get in my account. I also didn't want to deal with the fact you are not allowed to charge them the processing fee. That was $7 I wasn't willing to lose out on a week. Cash is so much easier.
Actually there are some states you can legally charge the fee, I checked, but there are a lot of rules that go with it... or you could just raise your rates across the board and give a small discount for Cash pay lol. I did that for years before the law changed - thinking about going back to it
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AmyKidsCo 08:05 PM 05-16-2016
Originally Posted by lovemydaycare0912:
Hello it's me again! Sorry hope this isn't too long.

I am working on finalizing my new handbook to give to parents on Monday. I have a few things I want some advice on how to word that are giving me a headache. Thanks in advance:

1- Late payment fee. I have parents whose scheduled contracted time is 30 minutes or so before closing. Sometimes they come to pick up their child so they aren't late but then have to go to bank to get my payment. That annoys me even if they bring it before my "closing time". I am also changing my policy because I use to require payments Friday but gave until Monday without late fee.(Dumb I know) I am now requiring it to be paid Fridays by the their scheduled pick up time.

My question is when do I start their late fee? Does 1 minute after scheduled pick up time sound harsh? I didn't want to do it by the time my last kid will be picked up because sometimes kids get picked up early and I do not want to wait around for payment.
You need to figure out what will work for you. When do YOU want to start the late fee?

I changed my policies to allow a 15 min grace period after closing for emergencies and occasional pre-approved late pick-ups. I don't mind the extra 15 min once in a while and never charged the late fee so I changed my policies to reflect actual practice.

The thing is that you need to figure out what you'll be happy with.

Originally Posted by lovemydaycare0912:
2-How long should I give parents to pay fees once they accept their slot? For example, if I have a slot available in 2 weeks and parent accepts, when do I ask for 1st weeks payment and 2 week deposit? 48 hours? Offer payment plan in case they can't do all 3 payments at once?
Again, do what you'll be happy with.

I've had parents say they're going to enroll their child, do a no-show no-call on the first day. So now I charge an enrollment fee and the first week's tuition upon enrollment, and the last 2 weeks' tuition is due within the first month of care.

Originally Posted by lovemydaycare0912:
3-In my state, parents have 60 mins to come pick up their child when we call and say they are sick. I had a parent once come more than 2 hours after and her child had a 102+ fever. In order to avoid this, I wanted to attach my same late pick up policy to avoid liability. Is this too harsh?

Still a newbie who has had a lot of situations that have made me change my policies and become a stronger provider. Thanks for any input.
My policies say that if a parent can't be reached, don't respond promptly, or don't pick up their sick child promptly I'll call the emergency contact person to pick up the child. (I don't put a time limit on it because I know some parents will wait until the last minute to arrive, even if they work 2 minutes away.)
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