An optional upgrade to the base system is the support for recurring payments. That is to say a check from selected customers will be automatically processed at 12:01am on a specific schedule, and for the amount set in the Manage Recurring Payments section. This allows you to accept scheduled payments from your customers without them, or you, having to re-enter any check data.

When you have this option enabled, an additional field appears on your check form whereby the check submitter agrees to allow recurring payments to be created through the system. Obviously, this would be a separate, previous agreement you have come to with the customer prior to them submitting the initial payment. In essence, you can setup any check to be a recurring payment by clicking on this icon for the check.

However, when the Make Recurring icon is in color (see the red arrow 1 in the image below) (instead of gray scale - see red arrow 2) - it indicates that the customer had indeed checked the agreement to allow recurring payments - and indicates you need to complete the process of setting up the amount and frequency of the recurring payments by clicking on the icon. A gray scale version of the icon means the customer did not check the agreement box, or the check itself is a recurring payment and therefore, already setup.

There are two ways to setup a recurring payment. The first is to wait until the customer has submitted their first or "down" payment. The amount of this first check does not have to be the amount of the recurring payments. If the customer will submit the first check via the secure online check form - instruct them to make sure and check the box agreeing to the recurring payments on the data confirmation screen. As mentioned above, when the new check appear in your control panel, the recurring payment icon will be in color. Simply click on that icon and you will be taken to the page to setup the schedule for the future payments. That page is shown below broken into 3 different images for clarity.

The top of the page will show the customer's pertinent data for you to confirm (which can be edited later if need be):

By default, the field for Check Amount will be the amount of the first check submitted. However, this can be changed to the amount agreed to by the customer or the contractual obligation.

Number of Payments To Make - This field is used to set a specific number of recurring payments to generate. For instance, if someone makes a down payment with their initial check, and owes 23 additional monthly payments, you would select "23" as the number of payments to make. Unless modified, the system will generate 23 new payments according to the schedule you set. If "Unlimited" is selected, recurring checks will continue to be generated until you manual alter the settings or delete the recurring payment.

The first option for scheduling is to have a new check created on either one or two specific dates each month. For instance, on the 1st and the 16th of each month. To enable this option, click the radio button next to the Monthly or Semi-Monthly Payments by Date. To have a check created only once a month, select the appropriate date in the First Recurring Day of Month field. You can select from the 1st through the 28th - or the last day of the month (since this varies with every month). Leaving the Second Recurring Day of Month field blank will restrict this schedule to one day a month. Obviously, to have another check (semi-monthly) created, select the second date in that field.

The other option is to have a new check created on a specific DAY of the week, either every week, or every other week. To enable this option, click the radio button next to the Weekly, Bi-Weekly by Day option. Then select the interval - to have the check created every "1 week" (once a week), or every "2 weeks" (every other week). As soon as you click within the Starting Date entry box, the javascript calendar will appear. By default, it will show the current month with the current date in pink. The drop-down arrows next to the Month and Year can be used to select the appropriate date for the first payment to be created. If that date is a Thursday, then all subsequent payments will be created either every Thursday, or every other Thursday.

When each new check is created, you will received a recurring check creation notification email, and your customer will receive a recurring payment email receipt.

To edit recurring payments, to create a new recurring payment from scratch (without the customer submitting the first check) and to see all upcoming payment set to occur in the next 60 days, use the Merchant - Manage Recurring Payments menu. The critical section of that page is shown below.

As noted earlier, the top section will list all recurring payments scheduled to be created during the next 60 from the current date.

To create a new recurring payment from scratch, meaning you will have to supply all the customer's information, click on the icon as indicated in the screen shot above.

The section below that will show you all the customers you have setup with recurring payments and the schedule for those payments. You can edit those settings or delete the recurring payment by clicking on the icons as indicated in the screen shot.