Payment plans

Who can do this: Owners, Office Managers, Billing and Front Desk.

A payment plan charges the patient’s saved card a set amount every month (or week, or day) until the total is paid.

Create a plan

Go to Payments, click Collect Payment → Prepare Payment Plan. From a patient card, click Collect → Prepare Payment Plan.

Search for the Patient. Their Phone and Email fill in; you can edit them.
Enter the Total Amount ($) and the number of Installments. The charge per installment is shown underneath.
Pick the First Payment Date and Charge Every (Month, Week or Day).
Under Patient authorization, choose how the patient agrees to the plan (below).

Send to patient to accept

Use this when the patient isn’t in front of you.

Under Send authorization by, pick Text message or Email.
If you already have the card, tick I have the card — enter it now and key it in. The card is saved, but the plan still waits for the patient’s signature.
Click Create & Send Link.

The patient opens the link, sees the total and the schedule, adds their card (unless you already did), and signs. The plan starts when they sign. If the first payment date is today, the first installment is charged when they sign; otherwise nothing is charged until that date.

Until they sign, the plan shows as Pending. Click Send link on it to send the link again. Each time you click it, the previous link stops working. To see what the patient sees, read What your patient sees when they authorize a payment plan.

Plans that start from a treatment plan

A plan can also start on a signed treatment plan. The office offers a payment plan on the treatment plan (months, deposit, first payment date). When the patient signs and ticks the plan, NixDent creates a pending plan and takes them straight to add a card. Nothing is charged by signing, except any deposit when they add the card. If the patient doesn’t finish the card step, find the plan under Payments → Payment Plans with the status Pending and click Send link. If the new link still doesn’t open, cancel the plan and create a new one.

Patient already authorized

Use this when the patient agreed in person or over the phone.

Enter the card number, Expiry (MM/YY), CVV, Billing ZIP and Cardholder Name.
Click Create Plan.

If the first payment date is today, the first installment is charged straight away. If it’s later, the card is checked and saved with no charge, and the first installment is taken on that date.

What happens on each charge

On each payment date NixDent charges the saved card for one installment. The charge appears in Transactions with the method Payment plan. When the last installment is paid, the plan shows Completed.

Manage plans

Go to Payments → Payment Plans. Each plan shows the total, what’s been paid, progress, the next payment date and its status. Click the arrow at the start of a row to see every charge on that plan.

Button	What it does
Pause	Stops charges until you resume it
Resume	Starts charging again on the next payment date, or today if that date has passed while it was paused
Change card	Saves a new card for future installments. The card is checked with no charge, and the schedule stays the same
Authorization	Opens the patient’s signed authorization
Cancel	Ends the plan straight away, with no confirmation. No more charges

When a charge fails

If a card is declined, the plan’s status changes to Failed and it stops charging. NixDent doesn’t retry on its own.

Call the patient, then click Retry. The plan restarts and the missed installment is charged today.
If they give you a new card, click Change card instead. Saving the new card restarts the plan and the missed installment is charged today.

If the saved card no longer exists (for example it was removed from the patient’s cards on file), the plan shows Card removed and Retry isn’t offered, because it can’t work. Click Enter new card.

The Need a New Card tile counts these plans. Click it to list only them.