One-click payments FAQ

Depending on your bank, they may display payments via Direct Debit in different ways. This differs from bank to bank and we are looking into how we may change this. Don't worry though, these are not regular installments or payments!

Yes. The current process for One-click payments relies on this service to build a relationship between your bank and the payments to your school. Without this in place you would need to enter your details in every time.

Yes. By paying through One-click payments you are using a Direct Debit mandate and are covered by the Direct Debit guarantee as a result.

No. Once selected, a payment is submitted to the bank to be processed.  It typically takes 3-5 working days to complete the transaction with the funds being transferred to the school account at the end of this period.

Funds cannot be taken from your bank account until your One-click payments Direct Debit mandate has been successfully set up and authorised by your bank.  If you believe there is an issue with this or if you have set the mandate up incorrectly, you must contact your bank in order to resolve.  Please note that it can take up to three working days to set the mandate up and a further three working days for the payment to complete (up to six working days total).

Pending payments are those that have yet to be processed by the bank.  Until the funds are cleared (normally within 3-5 working days) your school may not provide you with the item or service purchased.

No. You will need to allow the payment to complete before requesting a refund from your school.

This is normally caused by a lack of available funds when the payment is collected. Payment is processed 3-5 working days after you initially make the payment so you need to make sure you have enough money in your bank account to cover the items you have purchased at that time.
You should contact your bank if you have the funds required as there maybe other reasons they have stopped the direct debit mandate.

Should a payment attempt fail, for instance; due to lack of funds in the bank account, you will be notified via email and will receive an alert message the next time you attempt to log in to the ParentPay. Your school will additionally receive notification of the failure and may contact you to arrange alternate payment.
It is not possible for ParentPay or your school to tell you why the payment has failed. We advise you to contact your bank to establish the cause of the failure and resolve any problems they identify.

Yes. The ability to remove your bank details is always available as long as there are no outstanding payments being processed and your account is not in debt.  This is to prevent your schools being put into debt through non-payment. You can remove the bank account by going to Parent Account > Bank Accounts > Select to Replace or Remove bank account. 

No.  Only people logged into your account, using your email address and password, would be able to use your One-click payments service. Additionally, once entered, your full details will not be displayed in your account, so no one could see those details by accessing your account.

Yes.  We do not aggregate or collect the payments so each individual purchase can be tracked separately.  This minimises the risk of grouped payments failing, allowing each one to be processed individually.  There is no extra charge to school for this, it just makes it easier to track for you lowers the risk of payment failure due to lack of funds.

If you have failed to make a payment due to insufficient funds or have asked your bank to cancel your mandate or payment while there is an outstanding payment waiting to be processed, your One-click payment option may be disabled. You will need to contact support to determine if it is possible for this to be reactivated.
If your payment needs to be made urgently, you will need to use an alternative payment method (such as a credit card or manual payment if accepted by your school).

Only one One-click payments service can be set up per account.  If a child has two or more payers associated with their account, each payer can configure their own setup.

If you change your bank account using the switching service (provided by most banks and building societies), your One-click payments Direct Debit mandate will be altered automatically as part of that service.
If you wish to manually change the bank account used by One-click payments, the existing Direct Debit mandate will need to be removed and then a new one added using the details of the new account.  You can remove your existing mandate from Parent Account > Bank Accounts and then when making another purchase, setup a new One-click payments option.

Yes. All other payment options remain available.