Card Payments Troubleshooting and FAQ

This article addresses common issues and FAQs related to card payments in Arbor, including accepted card types, payment visibility on the Parent Portal, account creation, price updates, refunds, and transaction fees. It also guides the setting up of various payment types within the system. If you cannot find an answer to your query in this article, check the Payments FAQ section in our Help Centre here. 

What cards are accepted for card payments?

We accept Visa and MasterCard cards. American Express cards are not accepted.

Can we manage Gift Aid in Arbor?

No, Arbor does not have an in-built feature for managing Gift Aid. However, you can use donations or voluntary payments in Arbor instead.

What is the minimum amount accepted for card payments?

We set a minimum top-up amount to allow Arbor to offer schools a competitive transaction charge rate of 1.275% on all transactions.

The minimum amount for card payments we accept is:

• £1.00 for Clubs and Trips
• £1.00 for School Shop
• £2.00 for Meals and all other Customer Account Types

Can we issue card refunds for amounts less than £1.00?

It is possible to refund any amount under £1.00 for Clubs and Trips, but for all other Customer Account Types, including Wraparound Care, School Shop, and Meals, the minimum refund amount by card is £1.00.

Alternatives for refunds under £1.00 include cash or cheque refunds, where you would then pay the customer back via a means outside of Arbor, absorbing the cost, or implementing a no-refund policy for small amounts.

Can we delete or disable customer account types?

No, it is not possible for school staff to delete customer account types once they have been set up. We can only delete customer account types that have not received payments, so if you need an unused customer account type to be removed, please contact Arbor Support or your Support Partner if you are not supported directly by Arbor and provide the code 1025.

If we cannot delete the account due to payments being attached to it, you can either rename it to indicate that it is no longer in use or prevent it from displaying on the Parent Portal.

Do guardians receive a confirmation email for payments made?

An email is sent to the parent or guardian who made the top-up to confirm when a payment has been made into a top-up type account: Payment accounts and topping up the meal account on the Parent Portal or Arbor App

Please note that they will not receive confirmation for booking/payment of these items:

• Trips
• Clubs
• Wraparound Care
• School Shop
• Rotating Meal Menus

However, they can view bookings in these areas on the Parent Portal and App, as well as their payment history within the Payments > Invoices section.

Can we offer discounts for payments?

Your school may offer reduced prices for paid items, for example, if the student has a sibling at the school.

• Meals - It is not possible to set discounts for custom groups of students. You can only specify different prices for Free School Meals (FSM) students and other year groups.
• Other Customer Account Types - When adding invoices, specify only the amount to be deducted from the account, after any discounts have been applied.
• Trips - You can set up custom groups, one for each price point. When adding trip prices, you can then specify the price for each group.
• Clubs - You can see how to manage this here: Can I offer a reduced or discounted club prices?
• Wraparound Care - You will need to add the siblings to a custom group, then set an additional price for the Wraparound Care Club for this custom group by following step 4 here.

How do I write off or settle debt for leavers?

Guardians can only make payments for students until the end of the academic year in which the student was last enrolled. Due to this, if you need to zero a debt balance for students who have left your school prior to the current academic year, then you will need to log the payment manually.

The best way to do this would be to create a credit note. If you would like more information on adding and deleting credit notes, you can see our guidance here.

Can I change a user account type from guardian to staff for payments?

No, it is not possible to change any account type from guardian to staff or vice versa. If a staff member is also a guardian, they will need both a staff and guardian account in your Arbor site to access the school MIS for staff payments (e.g., staff meals) and the Parent Portal for any expenses related to their child. 

Can we take electronic payments in the school office?

No, it is not possible for school staff to take card payments from guardians. Staff can log cash or cheque payments, and they can manually sign students up for Clubs and Trips. However, card payments must be processed by guardians.

Can we issue refunds in bulk?

No, as a safety feature to prevent large sums of money from being refunded accidentally, it is not possible to process refunds in bulk for Clubs, Trips, or any other Customer Account Types in bulk. 

Why is a payment not appearing on the Parent Portal?

Invoices will not show for purchases made on weekends or holidays. You would need to manually download and provide the invoice to the guardian if this is the case. If a payment is missing on a standard school day, please contact Arbor Support and reference code 1033 if you are supported by Arbor, or your Support Partner.

Why is there an extra £1.00 charge on the card bank statement?

When performing card payments, Stripe sends over a request to the issuing bank for either £0.00 or £1.00 authorisation to verify that the card was issued, and the bank will allow the payment to be authorised. Regardless of whether or not the authorisation is declined, Stripe reverses their authorisation request immediately.

However, even if the bank declines the authorisation, some people may still see an authorisation for £1.00 on their card statement.

This is not a charge, and it will be removed from the statement within a few minutes to a few weeks.

Can we refund leavers?

Yes, it is possible to refund leavers if any card payments were recorded. However, if payments have been made using any other payment method, you will not be able to process refunds through Arbor and will instead have to refund them externally. 

Can guardians pay using barcodes, such as PayPoint or PayZone?

No, it is not possible for guardians to make payments via barcodes. Payments can only be made via cash, card, cheque, or bank transfer.

A newly-created customer account type is not appearing as an available option

This often occurs when the tick box to create accounts for staff and/or students has not been ticked. To resolve this, follow these steps:

1. Go to School > Payments > Setup > Customer Account Types.
2. Click on the customer account type that is not appearing and click Edit.
3. Ensure that the Create Student Accounts and/ or the Create Staff Accounts box has been ticked.
4. Click Save Changes.

I have amended the prices on a trip but they have not updated

When you amend the prices on a trip, the price will not update until an Arbor Admin refreshes the invoices. If you require this, please contact the Arbor Support Team if you are supported by Arbor, or your Support Partner if you are not supported by Arbor.

A guardian has made a payment into the wrong customer account type or to the wrong student

You would need to create a cash refund for the value of the incorrect payment in the account it was made into, and then add a Credit Note for the value of the payment in the account where the payment should have been made. Our guidance here provides a step-by-step guide for moving funds between accounts using this method.

My card payments are not verified

Card payment verification is a common issue that schools encounter, and as such, we have included troubleshooting information for this in our Card Payments Setup series.

How do I process a card refund when the payer's card has changed?

You would not be able to process a card refund to the payer if they are no longer using the card with which they made the payment. You would instead need to record a cash payment in Arbor with a narrative or note explaining that it is for a refund that is going to another card, and then process a payment to the payer outside of Arbor e.g. via BACS.

Can I send reminders out reminding users to top up their accounts?

Yes, this can be done by following these steps:

1. Go to School > Payments > Accounts > Balances.
2. Select an account type, such as Meals or Wraparound Care Club, to view a list of all users and their corresponding balances.
3. If anyone has a negative balance, you can select the box next to their name, click Bulk Action, and then choose the options to follow up via email, SMS, or in-app messages.

I have created a customer account type but it is not appearing on the Parent Portal

When creating a customer account type, ensure that the tick box to create accounts for students and/or staff is selected. To check this, follow these steps:

1. Go to School > Payments > Setup > Customer Account Types.
2. Click the account type and click Edit.
3. If these have not been ticked, tick the boxes you need and then click Save Changes.

Can we create and send out Payslips through Arbor?

No, it is not possible to create payslips through the Arbor MIS.

Can we report on past account balances?

No, it is not possible to report on past account balances, as Arbor does not retain the raw value of an account balance on a specific date; only the current account balance is reportable. See our article on reviewing account balances here.

What is the transaction fee for card payments?

Arbor processes payments through Stripe, and the transaction fee for payments is 1.275% + VAT, with no base fee per transaction. This fee is deducted from the money paid into your school's bank account.

It is not possible to switch off the transaction fee.

If I refund a payment, will the transaction fee be reimbursed?

Although refunds are free of charge, please note that when processing the refund, your school has already paid the 1.275% + VAT fee for the corresponding card transaction. You will not be reimbursed for this fee.

Can we make school shop payments with cash, cheque, or bank transfer? 

No, payments can only be made via card.

Parents can pay via the Parent Portal or Arbor App, or your school staff can make the card payment on behalf of the parent.

Why do cardholders need to enter an email address when making card payments?

Our payment processor, Stripe, requires a cardholder's email address for fraud prevention and identity verification.

Arbor does not view or store card details or the provided email address, which are encrypted and sent directly to Stripe.

Stripe uses this information to assess transaction risk and may request further authentication or decline the transaction. Incorrect or omitted details increase the likelihood of triggering fraud checks.

When making a transaction, the cardholder's email is editable to accommodate situations where the cardholder differs from the Arbor account holder. This is because the cardholder's details are needed for verification.

Please note that transaction confirmations are sent to the Arbor account holder's email address, as the cardholder's email address is not accessible to us. 

Are we able to set up monthly or timed payment instalments?

No, it is not possible to set up payment plans for payments to be taken on a monthly or timed basis.

• For Trips, you can set up the ability for payment to be made in instalments, but you cannot choose deadlines for when each instalment must be paid.
• For Clubs, you can set up different periods to group payments together, such as to pay for a day or a whole term at a time. Parents must pay the full amount at the point of purchase; they cannot pay part.
• For Breakfast Clubs, Meals, and other Top-Up account types, funds must be paid in as needed. You cannot set deadlines for when these payments are due.
• For School Shop items, parents must pay the full amount at the point of purchase; they cannot part-pay.

Can we limit or prevent debt for payment accounts?

You can choose whether guardians should be able to register for Wraparound care if this would bring their balance to or below £0.00. You can see how to do this in step 5 of this article.

For meals and other top-up type account balances:

• It isn't possible to prevent account balances from going below £0.00.
• It isn't possible to limit the amount of debt parents can accrue against the account to a certain number.

Is there a limit to the amount of Customer Account Types I can set up in our Arbor site?

No, there is no limit to the number of Customer Account Types that can be set up in Arbor. 

Can Arbor  provide Itemised Nursery Invoicing?

As of January 2026, the DfE requires Funded Nursery Providers to provide parents with clearly itemised invoices by January 2026. This guidance specifies that invoices must show a clear breakdown of Free Entitlement Hours, Additional Private Paid Hours, Food Charges, Non-food Consumables Charges and Activities Charges.

As Arbor’s Management Information System does not currently manage the end-to-end billing and invoicing of nursery hours to parents, we are not in a position to support the creation of a single, fully compliant itemised final invoice that meets this requirement.

However, Arbor can still be used to manage and track the critical data and related charges that contribute to the invoicing process. For example, your school can record and report on a student’s Free Entitlement Hours from their student profile. You can also use Arbor's payment features to charge for associated items, such as Meals and Wraparound Care Clubs.

To ensure full compliance with the statutory itemisation requirement, your school will need to use its dedicated external nursery billing system to consolidate this information and issue the final, legally compliant invoice to parents.

I am unsure whether to set something up as a trip, club, school shop, meal, or another payment account

The table below details the area in Arbor where you should set up a specific topic, such as charity donations and school uniform items: