---
title: "Charge a late fee"
description: "Set a flat late payment fee and a grace period, then apply fees yourself or let NestliCare apply them each morning."
type: setup
updated: 2026-09-14
canonical_url: https://help.nestlicare.com/owners/billing/charge-a-late-fee
roles: ["super_admin", "center_admin"]
platforms: [web]
---
If your parent handbook charges a late fee, NestliCare can add it to the overdue invoice for you. The fee is a line on the invoice that is already late, so the family keeps one balance and one Pay button. There is no second invoice and no second due date.

<Callout kind="info" title="Late payment, not late pickup">
This article is about invoices paid late. For charging a family when a child is picked up late, see [Charge a late pickup fee](/owners/billing/late-pickup-fees).
</Callout>

Set it up under **Billing & Payments → Billing**, on the **Late Fees** tab.

## Set your policy

The policy is two numbers.

1. **Late fee amount.** A flat amount, between $1 and $500. Setting an amount is what turns late fees on. Clearing the field turns them off entirely.
2. **Grace period.** How many days past the due date an invoice gets before it becomes eligible, between 1 and 60 days.

The panel shows a worked example with real dates as you type, so you can see exactly when an invoice due today would first become eligible.

<ScreenshotWithPointers
  src="/screenshots/owners/billing/late-fees-tab.png"
  alt="The Late Fees tab: policy amount and grace period, a worked example, the Apply automatically toggle, and the Eligible now table"
  pointers={[
    { x: 20.7, y: 35, caption: "Late fee amount. Setting it turns late fees on; clearing it turns them off." },
    { x: 59.4, y: 35, caption: "Grace period, in days past the due date." },
    { x: 19.7, y: 44.4, caption: "A worked example in real dates, so the policy is not abstract." },
    { x: 92.2, y: 54.3, caption: "Apply automatically. Off until you turn it on." },
    { x: 19.7, y: 70.4, caption: "Eligible now: every invoice past the grace period, with days late and the fee it would get." },
  ]}
/>

<Callout kind="info" title="One fee per invoice, ever">
An invoice can receive a late fee once. A fee never compounds and never becomes overdue itself, because it is part of the balance it was added to.
</Callout>

## Apply fees yourself

With a policy set, the **Eligible now** table lists every invoice that is past the grace period, with the family, the invoice, the amount due, and how many days late it is.

1. Tick the invoices that should get the fee.
2. Click apply and confirm.

Nothing happens until you do this. Reviewing the list first is the recommended way to start, especially in your first month.

## Or apply them automatically

Turn on **Apply automatically** and NestliCare adds the fee for you. The job runs each morning in your organization's own time zone, so a fee and its notification land during the working day rather than at midnight. The parent gets a notification in the app when a fee is applied.

This toggle is off until you turn it on. The first fees an organization charges should be ones a person chose.

## What is never charged a fee

The eligible list already excludes these, so you do not have to watch for them:

- Invoices inside your grace period.
- Invoices with nothing left to pay.
- Invoices being paid right now. A bank payment that is still settling shows as processing, and that family has paid.
- Invoices waiting inside the auto-pay charge delay.
- Invoices that already have a fee, or had one waived.
- Sample invoices.

## Waive a fee

The **Applied fees** table below shows every fee you have charged, when, whether it was applied by hand or automatically, and by whom. Use **Waive** to remove one.

Waiving takes the fee off the invoice and puts the balance back. It also marks that invoice permanently ineligible, so the fee will not reappear tomorrow. The ledger keeps the original amount so you can still see what was forgiven.

## What parents see

Parents see your policy on their unpaid invoices before any fee can apply, so a fee is never the first they hear of it. Once applied, it shows as a **Late fee** row in the invoice breakdown on the web, on iOS, and on Android.

## Troubleshooting

**The Eligible now table is empty.** Either no invoice is past the grace period yet, or you have not set an amount. Without an amount there is no policy, so nothing is eligible.

**An invoice I expected is missing from the list.** Check the exclusions above. The most common surprise is an ACH payment still settling, which shows as processing and is deliberately spared.

**I applied a fee to the wrong family.** Use **Waive** on the applied-fees row. The balance goes back to what it was.

**A parent says the fee is a separate charge.** It is not. Open the invoice and show them the Late fee line. There is one balance, and paying it clears the fee too.

Related: [A family is behind on payment](/owners/situations/a-family-is-behind-on-payment), [Create and send an invoice](/owners/billing/generate-and-send-an-invoice), [Enable online payments](/owners/billing/enable-online-payments).