Payments

The Payments settings section manages your Stripe Connect integration for accepting customer payments. Use this section to connect your Stripe account, monitor verification status, and configure billing preferences once your account is active.

Stripe Connect

The Stripe Connect section shows your payment processing status and provides controls to manage your connection. All payment processing happens through your own Stripe account, and funds deposit directly to your bank account after Stripe's standard processing time.

Connection Status

Your Stripe connection status appears as a badge at the top of the section:

• No Stripe account connected — You haven't connected a Stripe account yet. Click Connect Stripe Account to begin.

• Onboarding in progress — You've started the connection process but haven't completed all required steps.

• Pending verification — Stripe is reviewing your business information and documentation.

• Active — Your account is fully verified and can accept payments and receive payouts.

When active, additional status badges show:

• Charges enabled — You can accept customer payments.

• Payouts enabled — Stripe can transfer funds to your bank account.

Account Information

Once connected, the section displays your Account ID — your Stripe connected account identifier. Use this ID when referencing your account with Stripe support or Chisel Tide support.

Actions

Available actions depend on your connection status:

• Connect Stripe Account — Start the Stripe onboarding process. Available when no account is connected.

• Continue onboarding — Resume an incomplete setup. Use this if you closed the onboarding form before finishing, or if Stripe requires additional information.

• Open Stripe Dashboard — Access your full Stripe account directly. Available when your account is active.

• Refresh status — Sync the latest status from Stripe. Use this after making changes in your Stripe Dashboard to update the connection state in Chisel Tide.

Payment Settings

The Payment Settings subsection appears after you connect a Stripe account. These settings control how and when Chisel Tide generates invoices for your customers.

Billing Cycle Day

Select which day of the month Chisel Tide generates and sends invoices for monthly service plans. The dropdown offers values from 1st of the month through 28th of the month.

For example, if you select the 15th, Chisel Tide generates invoices for all active monthly service plans on the 15th of each month. Customers then receive invoices and can pay through the customer portal.

Billing Model

Choose when invoices are issued relative to the service period:

• Prepaid (bill in advance) — Invoices are generated before the service period begins. Customers pay upfront for the upcoming month's services. This is the default model.

• Arrears (bill after services) — Invoices are generated after the service period ends. Customers pay for services already performed.

How to choose: Prepaid billing improves cash flow by collecting payment before delivering services. Arrears billing may appeal to customers who prefer to pay after seeing completed work, but can delay your revenue collection.

Review recurring invoices before sending

When Review recurring invoices before sending is enabled, Tide holds recurring invoices as drafts on the billing day so you can review, edit, and approve them before they go out. When the setting is off, invoices are sent to customers automatically on the billing day.

Use the invoice review screen from the Recurring drafts card on Invoices to filter drafts (including Visits Below Plan and Duplicate Property), approve them, and send the batch. Approving does not email customers until you send.

Autopay Charge Delay

Autopay Charge Delay sets how many business days after invoice generation automatic charges run for customers on autopay:

• Same day (no delay) — Charge on the generation day

• 1 business day — Wait one business day

• Additional options continue as n business days for longer delays

Use a delay when you want time to void or correct invoices before cards or bank accounts are charged.

Automatic Billing Status

For new organizations, automatic billing is off by default. This means Tide will not automatically generate invoices for recurring service plans until you explicitly enable it. A warning banner appears in this section when automatic billing is disabled, with the message: "Automated billing of recurring service plans is disabled by default. No invoices will be generated or emailed to customers until you go live."

This default-off state gives you time to configure your service plans, pricing, and billing preferences before Tide begins creating invoices. You can connect Stripe, set up your account, and prepare your data without worrying about unexpected invoices going out to customers.

Going Live

When automatic billing is off and Stripe is ready, this section shows the same Automatic billing is off banner as Invoices. Select Go Live when you are ready for Tide to bill recurring service plans automatically.

Confirm to turn automated billing on. Starting on your billing cycle day each month, Tide generates and emails invoices for customers on a recurring service plan. While the request runs, the button shows Going live…. After success:

• Tide includes your organization in automatic billing for active recurring service plans

• Invoices follow your billing cycle, billing model, review gate, and autopay delay settings

• The banner is removed from this page and from Invoices

Accepted Payment Methods

When your Stripe account shows both Charges enabled and Payouts enabled status, the Accepted payment methods section displays the payment options available to your customers:

• Credit & debit cards — Customers can pay using Visa, Mastercard, American Express, and other major card brands.

• Bank transfer (ACH) — Customers can pay directly from their bank account using ACH transfer.

This section is informational and shows which payment methods Stripe has enabled for your account. Customers see these options when paying invoices through the customer portal.

Automatic Suspension for Non-Payment

Automatic Suspension for Non-Payment pauses service for customers who leave an invoice unpaid past a threshold you set. It is off by default, and the controls only appear once you've connected a Stripe account.

Enable Suspend customers automatically for non-payment and set Suspend after to the number of days past due you want to allow. The default threshold is 90 days, with a minimum of 45 to ensure it does not overlap with the standard invoice dunning schedule. Save with the page's Save Changes button.

How it works

Once enabled, Chisel Tide checks your overdue invoices for any customers that are Active, have no scheduled cancellation or suspension, and have at least one qualifying overdue invoice — in Sent, Viewed, Partial, or Overdue status, with an amount due and past its due date. Invoices with a future autopay charge date, and invoices on an active or paused payment plan, are excluded. Qualifying invoices are grouped by customer, so an unpaid balance at one property can suspend the customer and affect all of their properties. Pausing a customer's payment reminders from the customer record holds that customer's warning and automatic suspension while the pause is active, without changing these organization-level settings. See Customers.

About a week before the threshold is reached, the customer gets a warning by email or text (billing notifications) telling them service will be suspended on a set date unless they pay. If the balance is still unpaid once the invoice is past the threshold and the warning has been in place for at least a week, the customer is suspended. The warning marker stays fresh for 30 days, so a still-unpaid customer gets a fresh warning cycle rather than being suspended again immediately.

When a customer is suspended, their status changes to Suspended with a generated reason, today's and future eligible route stops are removed, and recurring billing stops. Service plans are not cancelled and route-template membership is kept, but the plans are treated as inactive while the customer is suspended. The customer receives a final suspension notice, and your team gets an internal Customer Auto-Suspended notification. If the electronic notice can't be delivered, a printed letter needs to be mailed — use Download Letter and Mark letter mailed on the customer record.

Suspension is not reversed automatically when the customer pays. An owner or admin must open the customer record and choose Reactivate to resume scheduling and billing.

For the full lifecycle, see Invoices.

Managing Incomplete Onboarding

If your Stripe setup is incomplete, you'll see a warning message:

• "Complete your Stripe onboarding to accept payments." — Click Continue onboarding to finish setup.

• "Your Stripe account is pending verification." — Stripe is reviewing your information. Verification typically takes 1-3 business days.

During pending verification, you cannot send invoices or accept payments until your account is fully verified. Stripe may request additional documentation via email — check your inbox and the Stripe Dashboard for pending requirements.

Troubleshooting

Next steps

• For complete Stripe onboarding instructions, see Setting up billing.

• To manage invoices and track payment activity, use Invoices and Payments.