You can make a payment by credit or debit card by clicking or tapping the Pay Now button shown on an invoice. Alternatively, use the Make payment button at the top of the Bills & payments tab.
When payments are collected, the system suggests a few options. If there are any invoices that are past their due date, the system requires at least this amount. Many schools operate on the basis that you will make top-up payments into your flying account and can set their own suggested top-up amount. If this is the case, you can choose this option or choose another amount.
On the next screen you can enter your card number, expiry date and CVC number on the back of the card. If you make top-up payments you might prefer to make all your payments manually like this. But if you usually have a zero or negative balance, and want to pay invoices after they have been issued. In that case, you may be able to have the system remember your card for next time to save you entering the numbers each time. By storing your card details*, payments will be collected on the due date and not before. You will still receive invoices by email to review, and can leave the system to collect payment later.
* A note about how card details are stored
Neither your flight school or Flight School Booking store any card details. That might sound like an unusual thing to say right after talking about a setting that remembers your card details but read on!
Behind the scenes, Flight School Booking uses a payment platform called Stripe.
Stripe was founded in 2010. We chose this company to handle payments because of their low fees, which keeps the cost to the school down and also their attention to detail, support and quality of their API. Stripe collect the card payments and transfer the amount after their fee direct to the school bank account. Stripe is now one of the most highly valued startups in the world at roughly $35 billion and process hundreds of billions of dollars each year (September 2019).
They have been audited by a PCI-certified auditor and certified to PCI Service Provider Level 1. This is the most stringent level of certification available in the payments industry and allows them to process card payments and to securely store details for future charges on the same card.
Because of the elegant way the Stripe API has been designed, no payment information ever passes through our servers. It is instead sent direct from your browser to Stripe, and behind the scenes we obtain a "token" which represents your school's use of your card. If you choose the option to remember your card details, the token is linked to your account in the billing system.
If you chose to store your card and later want to change the card being used, just click Update card shown above your Bills & payments tab. You can remove the card or replace it with another one. If you have stored card details and your card expires, you will be able to update your card this way.