Installment plans: let a client pay one invoice over time
In development. Installment plans are not available yet: sign up for early access below and we will email you when they are.
When a client cannot pay the whole invoice at once, you will be able to put the balance on a schedule of weekly, biweekly or monthly payments, with automatic card charges only if your client agrees to them.
Early access
Get an email when installment plans are available
Installment plans are being built now. Leave your email and we will tell you when you can use them. No account needed.
01 / Installment Plans
What installment plans will do
An installment plan, also called a payment plan, splits what a client owes on one invoice into smaller payments on set dates. It is for the client who wants to pay but cannot pay it all now, and for the big job you would rather not lose over a single lump sum.
In Invoice My Clients a plan will sit on the invoice itself: same invoice, same link, same PDF, with a payment schedule added. Every payment, by card, by the automatic charge or recorded by you, counts toward the schedule. For an accepted estimate, you convert it to an invoice as you do today and put the remaining balance on a plan.
- One plan on one invoice: its open balance, split into installments that add up to the cent.
- Your client accepts the plan on the invoice page, or you start it with notice.
- Automatic card charges only with your client’s consent, and they can switch them off.
- No interest and no fees added by the plan: the invoice total never changes.
02 / Capabilities
What a plan will handle
The parts of a payment plan that usually live in a spreadsheet and your memory.
A schedule that adds up exactly
Weekly, every two weeks, monthly or your own dates, with an optional down payment as an amount or a percentage. Choose a number of installments (2 to 60) or an end date. The installments always add up to the balance exactly, and no two differ by more than one cent.
Accepted by your client, or started with notice
Offer the plan and your client accepts it on the invoice page with their typed name, and the acceptance is recorded. Or start it yourself with notice: the schedule appears on their invoice page and PDF.
Your client sees and pays the schedule
The invoice page and the PDF show every installment and its status. The pay page asks for the amount due now and lets your client pay more, or pay off the whole balance early with no penalty.
Automatic card charges, with consent
If your client adds a card and authorizes it, each installment is charged on its due date. A failed charge is retried up to three times (the due date, 3 days later, 7 days later) and you are notified. You pay the card processing fee, as on any card payment, and no surcharge is added to automatic charges.
Pause, skip, reschedule, cancel
Pause a plan, skip one installment, or replace the rest of the schedule. Cancel it and the invoice goes back to its own terms. You are told when an installment is missed, when a plan completes, and when one defaults after the number of missed installments you set.
Aging and reminders that understand installments
Professional+Aging follows the oldest unpaid installment, and the part not yet due stays in Current. Automated reminders ask for the late installment, not the whole balance. Both need the AR dashboard and automated reminders.
03 / Process
How it will work
Build the plan on the invoice
Open the invoice and set up a plan: frequency, number of installments or end date, start date, down payment, whether automatic charges are off, offered or required, and when a plan counts as defaulted. You see every installment, to the cent, before you save.
Offer it, or start it with notice
Offer the plan to your client to accept, or start it now with notice. Nothing is emailed for you: you send or re-send the invoice when you choose.
Your client accepts and pays
On the invoice page your client reads the terms, types their name and accepts, and can add a card for automatic charges if you offered them. Then they pay each installment on the page or let the card be charged.
Every payment moves the schedule
Payments apply to the oldest installment first. You see what is paid, due, late or missed, and the plan completes on its own when the balance reaches zero.
AI
Where AI helps
The assistant does the setup and the watching. You make the decisions, and nothing goes to your client without you.
Create a plan by voice or text
Tell the assistant "put Smith on a six month plan". It shows you the schedule and creates the plan only after you confirm. It never sends anything to your client. Voice works on the plans that include voice mode.
Suggested terms you can explain
Suggested terms come from your client’s payment history with you, worked out by fixed rules rather than a model, with the reasons in plain words, such as "3 of 4 past invoices paid late, average 18 days: 25% down and autopay suggested". You change anything before you save.
A risk signal on active plans
Professional+Each active plan is checked every hour for missed installments, late payments, failed charges and time since the last payment, and rated low, medium or high with the reasons. Medium or high opens a case in your escalation queue.
Reminders drafted for you to approve
For a late installment, AI drafts a reminder for the amount due now. You edit it, send it or dismiss it. Nothing is sent automatically beyond the automated reminders you switched on yourself.
Invoice My Clients is not a lender. A plan is an arrangement between you and your client: we do not extend credit or guarantee payment. There is no interest by default, and no interest setting at launch.
Limits
What it will not do at launch
So you can plan around it now.
- No interest or finance charges on a plan.
- One invoice per plan: a plan cannot span several invoices.
- Automatic charges by card only, not by bank transfer (ACH) or other methods.
- No installment plan screens in the Android app at launch: plans are set up on the web.
04 / FAQ
Installment plan FAQs
When will installment plans be available?
They are in development now and not available yet. We are not giving a date until the feature has passed testing. Sign up for early access on this page and we will email you when you can use it.
Will a plan charge my client interest?
No. A plan never changes the invoice total: there is no interest by default, and no interest or finance charge setting on a plan at launch. Your client pays the invoice amount, split into parts.
Is Invoice My Clients lending my client money?
No. Invoice My Clients is not a lender. The plan is an arrangement between your business and your client to pay your invoice in parts. We do not extend credit and do not guarantee that your client pays.
Which plans will include installment plans?
The plan is to include them on Starter and above, which is every paid plan, automatic charges included, and to say so on the pricing page when they ship. Your clients never need an account to accept or pay a plan.
Can my client stop automatic charges?
Yes. Only your client can turn automatic charges on, after reading the authorization on their invoice page, and they can turn them off there at any time. You can turn them off too, but never on.
What happens when a client misses installments?
By default an installment counts as missed 10 days after its due date, and a plan defaults after 2 missed installments; you can change both, or never default. On default the remaining balance becomes due, automatic charges stop, and you can restart the plan with a new schedule. The remaining balance is not charged to the card automatically.
Installment plans are in development
Not available yet. Leave your email and we will tell you when they are.
Early access sign-up only: it does not create an account or subscribe you to anything else.