Setting Up Recurring ACH or Card Drafts on a BHPH Account

This article walks through enrolling a buy-here-pay-here account in recurring bank drafts (ACH) — storing the customer's Routing Number and Account Number as a payment method, marking it the default, printing the authorization form, and turning the enrollment on. It also covers what amount is drafted, when, and what happens when a draft is declined.

Questions this answers

• "How do I set up recurring ACH payments for a BHPH customer?"
• Where do I enter the customer's routing number and checking account so drafts come out automatically?
• How much does the automatic draft take, and what date does it run?
• Where do I get the customer's written autopay authorization?
• How do I stop or cancel an existing recurring draft?

This article is only about enrolling and cancelling recurring drafts on a buy-here-pay-here account. If the account already shows PendingActive or flipped to Not Active on its own, see the article on the Automatic Payment Processing status. For taking a one-off payment at the counter, use Collect Payment instead.

Before you start

• Your lot must have a payment processor set up in DeskManager Online. The processor name is shown at the top of the Automatic Payment Processing screen next to Payment Processor.
• Not every processor supports bank drafts. When you add a payment method, the Payment Type list shows only what your merchant account is enabled for — typically Credit, Debit and ACH. If ACH is not in the list, your merchant account is not enabled for bank drafts and you will need to sort that out with your processor.
• You need the customer's bank routing number, account number, the name printed on the check, and their authorization. You are responsible for obtaining and retaining a valid authorization before drafting a customer's bank account; DeskManager Online can print the form for you but does not decide what your state or your processor requires.
• The Default column and Set As Default option only appear on buy-here-pay-here accounts.

Steps

1. Open the customer's account and choose More > Automatic Payment Processing.
2. Under Payment Methods, click Add New Payment Method.
3. Set Payment Type to ACH, then click Add New ACH Account. (For a card, leave the type as Credit or Debit and click Add New Payment Type instead.)
4. Fill in Check Category (Personal or Corporate), Account Type (Checking or Savings), Name On Check, Routing Number, Account Number and Check Number, then click Add ACH Account. The bank details are sent to your processor, which returns a stored token that DeskManager Online uses for future drafts.
5. Back on the Payment Methods list, open the options menu at the end of the new row and choose Set As Default. The Default column should now read Y. Only the default payment method is used for drafts.
6. Click Change Status, choose Active, and save.
7. Once Current Status reads Active, click Print Authorization Form and have the customer sign it. Keep the signed copy with the deal.

If you set the status to Active before any payment method exists, the system opens the add-payment-method dialog instead and leaves the account at PendingActive. Add the payment method, set it as the default, then reopen the Automatic Payment Processing screen — the status flips to Active on that reload.

What happens next

You do not choose a separate draft amount or a separate draft schedule. The recurring draft follows the loan itself:

• Amount: the loan's scheduled payment amount.
• Timing: the draft is picked up once the account's next payment due date has passed. Nothing is drafted ahead of the due date.
• Conditions: the account must be open and active, the status must be Active, and the default payment method must be a valid, approved one. If the default method is removed or fails validation, nothing is drafted.

Notifications and declined drafts

When the account becomes Active, the Email Notification For Buyer panel appears. It shows the email address the notices go to (taken from the billing email on the default payment method), and whether the customer is emailed on a successful payment and on a failed one. The retry pattern for a declined draft is one of three: once immediately after the payment failed, every day until it is resolved, or a custom "run every N days, up to a maximum of N times" pattern, which the screen spells out line by line.

These notification choices are set from your dealership's BHPH and Deal Settings and are shown read-only on the account. Use Update Email Notification on the account to change the email address the notices go to.

A declined draft is not retried immediately — the account is held back until its next scheduled retry date, so a failure does not produce repeat attempts on the same day.

Seeing and cancelling an enrollment

The account's Current Status and Status Updated On date on the Automatic Payment Processing screen are the record of the enrollment. Across your portfolio, the AutoPay column on the Current Accounts and Late Accounts Detail reports shows Yes or No per account, and both reports can be filtered to enrolled or not-enrolled accounts.

To stop drafts, click Change Status, choose Not Active, and save. You can leave the payment method on file. Deleting the default payment method also stops drafts — the status drops to Not Active by itself when the last or default method is removed.

When to contact support

Contact support if ACH is missing from the Payment Type list and your processor says your account is enabled for it, or if the status stays Active with a valid default bank account but no drafts are being taken after the due date.