Large treatment costs are one of the biggest barriers to case acceptance. When patients see a $1,200 bill for a crown or a $3,000 treatment plan, many delay or decline care entirely. The practice loses revenue, and the patient misses treatment they need.
Payment Plans solve this by letting you split any payment request into scheduled installments. Instead of asking a patient to pay $1,200 upfront, you can offer 6 monthly payments of $200. Smile Advantage Payments handles the scheduling, reminders, and payment processing automatically.
How Payment Plans Work
Setting Up a Plan
Creating a payment plan takes less than a minute:
- Open any payment request in your dashboard
- Click “Create Payment Schedule”
- Choose how to split the balance:
- By number of payments: Pick from quick-select buttons (3, 4, 6, 12, 24) or select custom to choose up to 24 months
- By monthly amount: Enter the amount the patient wants to pay each month, and the system calculates how many installments are needed. The minimum is $25 per installment or the amount based on the maximum of 24 payments, whichever is higher. Choose Exact to use that precise amount for each installment, with any remainder applied to the last payment.
- Select the payment frequency: weekly, bi-weekly, monthly, quarterly, semi-annually, or annually
- Choose the start date for the first payment
- Optionally set a first installment amount to use as a down payment (this replaces the first scheduled installment)
- Review the live preview showing every installment amount and due date
- Accept Terms and Conditions and confirm
The patient receives an email confirmation with a link to their payment portal. If SMS is enabled and the patient has opted in, they also receive a text notification.
Tip: The preview table updates in real time as you adjust settings, so you can see exactly what the patient will owe and when before finalizing.
Charge Now or Wait
After creating the payment schedule, staff can use the “Charge” button to process the first installment or down payment right away while the patient is still in the office. This gives your team the flexibility to collect immediately or let the scheduled date run on its own.
The Patient Experience
Patients manage their payment plan from a secure link sent by email, SMS, or printed QR code. No login, no app download, no account creation.
From the self-service portal, patients can:
- View their progress with a visual progress bar showing how many installments are paid
- Make the next payment by re-entering card details
- Pay off the full remaining balance at any time by entering their card details
Every payment generates an instant receipt, and the overall payment request status updates automatically as installments are completed.
Automated Reminders
Payment plan reminders run on autopilot, reducing the follow-up work your team has to do for each installment.
Email reminders go out 3 days before each due date. If AutoPay is enabled, the email confirms that the card on file will be charged and includes a button to view their payment schedule. If AutoPay is off, the email includes a “Pay Now” button linking to the secure payment page. If a patient misses a due date, they receive an overdue notice with the amount and a payment link.
Text message reminders are available for offices with SMS enabled. Patients who have opted in receive a text reminder before each due date alongside the email. Patients with AutoPay enabled only get email reminders, since their card will be charged automatically.
AutoPay and Built-in Protections
AutoPay is where payment plans really save your team time. Once a patient enables it, Smile Advantage Payments charges their card automatically on each due date with no manual intervention.
Card on File and AutoPay Setup
The recommended approach is to have the patient’s card on file before creating the payment schedule. When a card is already saved, AutoPay defaults to On and the plan is ready to go with no extra steps.
If the patient does not have a card on file, AutoPay cannot be enabled until one is added. You can still create a payment schedule with AutoPay off, but the plan will rely on the patient paying manually through reminder emails and payment links. This increases the chance of missed or late payments and should only be used in special circumstances where both the office and patient understand the arrangement.
Once a card is added (either by the office or by the patient through an update payment email or SMS link), AutoPay can be turned on and the plan will begin processing installments automatically from that point forward.
Automatic Retry
If an AutoPay charge fails (card declined, expired, insufficient funds), Smile Advantage Payments retries automatically:
- First retry: 24 hours after the initial failure
- Second retry: 48 hours after the first retry
- Third retry: 72 hours after the second retry
If all three attempts fail, the patient receives a final notice email before the office would need to intervene. Staff can see the failure reason and full retry history.
When a Payment Fails
When any payment fails (whether from AutoPay or a manual attempt), the patient is notified with the specific decline reason (for example, “Insufficient funds”) and the installment is marked as failed with that reason visible to staff.
From the patient side, they can click the payment link to try again with a different card. When they pay, their card is saved for future installments.
From the office side, staff can update the card on file and retry the charge, or use the “Charge” button to process the failed installment directly. The failure reason and full history are visible on the installment detail so the team knows exactly what went wrong.
Automatic Card Sync
When a patient updates their payment card (whether through a self-service link or at the front desk), all their active AutoPay installments automatically switch to the new card. No manual updates needed.
This also works with automatic card updates. When a bank reissues a card with a new number or expiration date, the platform syncs the updated details and all active payment plans continue without interruption.
Staff Management Tools
Your team has full control over every payment plan from the payment request detail page.
One-click charging: Find the next due installment (highlighted with a blinking blue indicator) and click “Charge” to process it immediately with the card on file.
Plan adjustments: If a patient’s situation changes, cancel the current schedule and create a new one on the remaining balance. Any payments already made are preserved.
Status tracking: Each installment shows a color-coded status badge. Blue for scheduled, green for paid, red for overdue. The next due installment gets a blinking blue dot to draw attention.
Filtering and navigation: The payment request index includes status filters (Pending, Partial Paid, Overdue, Paid) and a dedicated “Payment Plans” view to see all active plans at a glance.
Works With Your Existing Workflow
Payment plans plug into the tools your team already uses in Smile Advantage.
PMS ledger posting: If your office has automatic ledger posting enabled, each installment payment posts to your practice management system automatically, just like regular membership payments.
Terms and conditions: Every payment plan requires Terms and Conditions acceptance before creation. The acceptance date is recorded and displayed on the payment request detail page.
Print-ready schedules: The installment schedule table is included on the payment request print page, so you can hand patients a printed copy of their payment plan.
Payment request status tracking: When you create a payment plan, the payment request automatically moves from Draft to Sent. As installments are paid, the status progresses to Partial Paid and then Paid when all installments are complete. The payment request due date updates automatically to match the last installment’s due date.
Getting Started
Payment Plans are available now for all offices with the Payment Requests feature enabled. To create your first plan:
- Open any payment request from your dashboard
- Click “Create Payment Schedule”
- Configure your installments and frequency
- The patient gets notified immediately with a link to their payment portal
No additional setup or configuration needed. If you can create a payment request, you can offer a payment plan.