If you run a childcare centre, you know what it's like to be busy. Most days, you probably don't even get a chance to sit down until late in the evening when all the children have left for the day!
As a business owner with a lot on your plate, you need to do whatever you can to lighten your load. This includes streamlining your payment collection process with direct debits to make life easier for you and your clients.
If you're still on the fence about accepting direct debit payments, consider the benefits outlined below.
Popular Childcare Centre Payment Methods
There are plenty of payment options available to childcare centre owners. However, not all of them are up to the task.
The following are some of the most popular payment method options childcare centres are currently using:
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Cash: It's simple, but it's also easy to misplace, makes your business more prone to theft, and makes record-keeping more difficult, and can't be used for online payment.
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Cheques: They're convenient and secure, but they're also easy to misplace, require you to go to the bank to handle deposits, and can bounce, which leads to surprise fees for you.
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Credit and debit cards: They're convenient for parents, but they also come with extra processing fees for you; you also may need to purchase extra equipment to be able to accept these payments.
As you can see, all of the payment methods listed above come with potential downsides. If you're using any of them, your business might not be running as smoothly as you'd like.
Direct debit works well for a wide range of payment types, including recurring, variable, and ad-hoc payments.
Unlike these other payment methods, direct debit offers a lot of unique benefits. Here are the top 6 reasons why direct debit is the best choice for your childcare centre:
1. Fewer Late Payments
How frustrating is it when parents are late with their childcare payments?
Of course, this is difficult for you to handle as a business owner, but it also creates extra stress for the parents. Direct debits eliminate all of this frustration and stress by automatically deducting money from the parents' bank account on the same day each month.
With direct debit payments, you don't have to worry about sending out reminder emails or late notices, nor do you have to worry about charging late fees. Parents also don't have to worry about remembering when they need to drop off a check or bring cash, and they don't have to deal with the stress of having to pay outstanding fees. It's a win-win for everyone.
2. Better for Recurring, Variable, and Ad Hoc Payments
Direct debit works well for a wide range of payment types, including recurring, variable, and ad-hoc payments (payments that take place outside of the normal invoicing schedule).
Once you have received an initial authorisation from the parents who pay for your child care services, you can easily and automatically deduct payments of any amount - both recurring and one-off. As long as you notify the customer in advance, you can handle all kinds of payments using direct debit solutions.
3. Lower Transaction Rates
Cheques, debit cards, and credit card can all come with fees that you have to deal with as a business owner. When you're running a small business or are just getting your childcare centre off the ground, these extra fees can easily add up and eat into your profits.
Direct debits still come with a fee. However, the fee is much lower than those associated with card payments or bounced cheques.
Direct debit fees usually range from 1 to 1.5 per cent per transaction. Card payment fees, on the other hand, can range from 3 to 5 per cent per transaction.
4. Reduced Admin Time
Wouldn't it be nice to reduce your admin time and have more room in your schedule for other matters?
When you switch to direct debit payments, you can automate many aspects of the payment reconciliation process. This saves you from having to manually cross-check your payment records with your bank statements and frees you up to focus on other aspects of your business.
It doesn't matter if you want to invest your time in continuing education courses to enhance your child care skills or want to spend time revamping your centre. You'll have room in your calendar to do this when you reduce admin time with direct debit solutions.
Direct debits still come with fees. However, the fees are much lower than those associated with card payments or bounced cheques.
5. Reduced Chances of Payment Failure
Direct debit transactions are less likely to fail compared to card transactions. Research shows that between 3 and 5 per cent of card transactions fail each month because of card expirations or cancellations.
Direct debit uses your bank details instead of a credit or debit card number. This brings the chances of failure down to less than 1 per cent.
6. Easy to Set Up and Use
Direct debit is often perceived as a complicated payment solution suited only for big organisations. With PayChoice, however, this is not the case. We can easily integrate with your existing software and help you streamline your childcare centre operations.
In addition to simple integrations, PayChoice also offers an affordable way to accept online payments. You'll also get same-day customer support and PCI DSS Certification so you can rest easy and know your data (and your customers' data) are protected.
We also make it easy for you to transition from one payment processor to another. Our onboarding team has tons of experience transferring information from one provider to another, and we can get everything set up for your childcare centre in as little as 2 weeks.
Make PayChoice Your Preferred Payment Gateway Today
Accepting direct debit payments is a great way to improve operations at your childcare centre, reduce admin time, and prevent late and failed payments - which makes life easier for you and the parents who trust you to care for their children.
You can experience all of these benefits and more when you use a trusted, expertly designed payment solution like PayChoice for your child care fees.
PayChoice is one of the most popular Australian payment gateway options for a childcare provider. Get in touch for a free demo to find out why.
