Does Chip Away have you Unsure? Excited? Confused? It's a helpful feature for Installments that you can choose to use on our Premium Plans. Read on for more details on how it works!
NOTE: To ask for this to be turned on for your account and for more background details on what Chip Away is, read our help article:
Is Chip Away like a customized Installment plan?
- In a way, yes! While this is not a formal custom Installment plan, with a bit of clear communication with your Travelers, you can achieve the same result!
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YouLi's payment system doesn’t enforce INSTALLMENT DUE DATES, so you have to agree with your Traveler and they have to enter the right amount due.
- All of your Travelers will be on the same Installment/Payment Plan, but they'll be able to pay smaller amounts if you allow them to, via CHIP AWAY. Therefore, they can pay INSTALLMENTS at their own pace, so it's like a custom Installment Plan.
- This can be enabled for ALL of your Travelers or you can choose to enable it per Traveler.
TIP: You can configure the Chip Away prompt to be something like: "Pay discussed Installment amount" so your Traveler knows to enter the amount that was agreed upon.
Can a Traveler "Chip Away" at their deposit?
No! Chip Away payments can only be made following the first payment, paying the deposit in full.
Is a Traveler able to pay more than what they owe on an Installment?
Yes! For example, if grandma wants to pitch in for half of your Traveler's TRIP, and the INSTALLMENT is $400 and the (Chip Away) minimum is $200, she could use CHIP AWAY to pay $600.
If a Traveler makes a Chip Away payment, how does that work?
- See the image below for this example
- In this example, you can see that this Traveler has already paid $3005, which covered their Deposit, so they are now making a CHIP AWAY payment towards Installment No. 2 for $200 (which is the minimum amount this Planner has set for Chip Away).
- Now see the 2nd image (below)
- Once that $200 CHIP AWAY payment is made, it marks Installment No. 2 as semi-paid
- Instead of a green checkmark, the Traveler will see a yellow pending icon for that INSTALLMENT
- And the remaining amount is visible (in this case it's US$28.75) on that INSTALLMENT is still owed and the Traveler can return to pay it once they're ready
So, is the Traveler still sent Automated Email Reminders if they only "Chip Away" at an Installment?
- See the example above. Once the CHIP AWAY payment for $200 is made, the reminders are turned off.
- This is because once Chip Away is turned on for a Traveler, we consider this an agreement between you, the Planner and the Traveler, that they can pay what they can. Therefore, we don't want to badger them with email reminders saying that an INSTALLMENT is overdue.
- So if the INSTALLMENT was overdue (and the AUTOMATED PAYMENT REMINDERS were turned on), your Traveler would have received an email reminder (or more than one!), but once that CHIP AWAY payment is made, the subsequent reminders for that Installment would then end.
If the Traveler owes $150 but the Chip Away minimum is set to $200, can the Traveler still pay via Chip Away?
No, they cannot. If the CHIP AWAY minimum is greater than what the Traveler owes, the Chip Away entry will not be an option on the INVOICE, they will only have the option to PAY ALL AMOUNTS DUE.If someone pays an Installment late, what happens? Are they still able to use Chip Away?
- See the image below
- For any payment that is late, your Traveler will see the INSTALLMENTS as separate amounts that are "DUE SOON," "DUE" or "OVERDUE," but we roll them up in the total amount that is due (labeled "PAY NEXT AMOUNT DUE").
- In this example, the Traveler owes $600 (for Installment No. 1 and Installment No. 2), however, they are able to use CHIP AWAY since the minimum is set to $200
With Chip Away enabled, is anything forcing the Traveler to pay the balance due?
- No. Via CHIP AWAY (and even if you do not have it enabled), we are trusting that your Travelers will pay their final balance due so that they can go on your trip.
- The AUTOMATED EMAIL REMINDERS in YouLi (if turned on) will help remind Travelers that their INSTALLMENTS are due/overdue, but see the question above on reminders.
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