Letting Parents Choose How Much to Pay
Famly allows parents to pay their balance in different ways. By default, parents pay their full balance in one go, but you can choose to let them pay custom amounts instead. This can give families more flexibility and can be especially helpful for parents managing tight budgets or payment plans.
This article explains how custom payment amounts work, how to set them up, and when they might be useful.
How Payments Work by Default
When a parent clicks Pay now, Famly charges their full outstanding balance. Once the payment goes through, their balance is cleared and returns to zero. This is the standard behaviour when custom payment amounts are not enabled.
What Changes with Custom Payment Amounts
When you enable custom payment amounts, parents can decide how much they want to pay instead of being limited to paying the full balance.
This means parents can:
Pay less than their balance, allowing them to pay gradually
Pay an amount that fits their budget, such as a fixed weekly amount
Pay more than they owe, creating credit for future invoices
For example, if a parent owes £500:
They could pay £100 now and £400 later
Or they could pay £600 to get ahead on next month’s fees
Set Up Custom Payment Amounts
To enable custom payment amounts:
Go to Settings → Finances → Invoicing and payments
Scroll to Payment settings
Turn on Custom payment amounts
Set a minimum payment amount
Set a maximum overpayment
Save your changes
Choose a Minimum Payment Amount
The minimum amount is the smallest payment a parent can make.
This helps prevent lots of very small payments, such as £5 at a time, which can create extra admin work.
Choose a Maximum Overpayment
The maximum overpayment controls how much extra a parent can pay beyond what they owe. Any overpayment creates credit on their account, which is automatically applied to future invoices. For example:
Minimum payment: £50
Maximum overpayment: £500
Parent’s balance: £300
In this case, the parent can pay between £50 and £800.
How Parents Use Custom Payments
Once custom payment amounts are enabled, parents can choose how much to pay.
Parents will:
Go to their Balance tab
Click the three dots (...) next to their payment method
Select Custom amount
Enter the amount they want to pay
Click Pay
Famly automatically enforces your limits. Parents cannot pay less than the minimum or more than the maximum overpayment you have set, and they will see the allowed range before confirming the payment.
When Custom Payments Are Useful
Payment plans
If a parent has built up a large balance, you might agree on a payment plan. For example, they may agree to pay £50 every week until the balance is cleared. By setting the minimum payment to £50, parents can stick to this plan easily.
Paying ahead
Some parents prefer to pay in advance, for example if they receive a bonus or want to stay ahead on fees. Setting a sensible maximum overpayment allows this without creating excessive credit.
Budget management
Parents with fixed weekly or monthly budgets can pay the same amount regularly, even if their balance changes from month to month.
Tracking Partial Payments
Each payment is recorded separately in Famly, so you always have a clear audit trail.
You can:
View payment history in the child’s Bookings tab
See the balance update after each payment
Filter and review payments by amount in Reports
How Custom Payments Work with Automatic Payments
Automatic payments are designed to clear outstanding balances in full. For this reason:
Automatic payments always charge the full balance
Parents cannot set automatic payments to a custom amount
Custom payment amounts only apply to manual payments that parents choose to make themselves.