Square Cash Was Great... For A Little While. Alternatives?

[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.

[Luke25]

Venmo is good.
Or you can do PayPal and have them choose the friends and family option.

[Unregistered]

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.

[organicdclady]

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.

[Unregistered]

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.

[LittleScholars]

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!

[Crazy8]

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.

[Crazy8]

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.

[LittleScholars]

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!

[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?

[Controlled Chaos]

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.

[Crazy8]

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.

[Crazy8]

Is Venmo as quick as Square Cash for money being available?

[LittleScholars]

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.

[Controlled Chaos]

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.