In-House Dental Payment Plans: How to Offer Installments Without Chasing Payments
In short: An in-house payment plan works when the agreement is written before treatment starts: a down payment, a dated schedule, a receipt for every payment, and one fixed day a week to review late ones. Synora's installment plans and patient wallet are on every plan, Free included, but it does not charge cards for you.
An in-house payment plan fills your schedule, but it also makes your practice the lender. Without a system, some installments quietly turn into bad debt: a payment taken and never recorded, an installment two months late that nobody called about. The problem is rarely the patient. It is usually an unwritten agreement and a follow-up with no fixed day.
Why do in-house payment plans go bad?
Your practice is not a bank or a financing company. You carry the risk of late payment, and you have usually paid the lab and the materials up front. The same causes come up again and again:
- A verbal agreement, so the two sides later disagree on the amount and the date.
- No down payment, so the patient has no real commitment on day one.
- Nobody owns the follow-up, so a late installment sits until others pile on top of it.
- Payments taken but not recorded in one place, so the front desk cannot tell who has paid and who has not.
Installments suit multi-visit treatment that is a lot to pay at once. A checkup or a small filling is simpler paid at the visit.
How do you run an in-house payment plan? Six steps
- Write one policy for the whole practice. Who qualifies, the minimum down payment, the maximum number of installments, and what happens when one is late. A written policy stops each team member from making their own deal.
- Take a down payment before treatment starts. It confirms the patient’s commitment and covers part of what you pay early for lab work and materials.
- Give the patient a written schedule. The total, the cash price if it differs, the down payment, the number of installments, the amount and date of each, and what follows if the agreement is not kept. One copy for the patient, one in their file.
- Tie the schedule to the treatment stages, so treatment does not end with a large balance still open.
- Give a receipt for every payment. It protects both sides and ends any “did I pay or not” argument.
- Review late installments on one fixed day each week. The front desk pulls the list of late installments and calls each patient, politely. The closer the call is to the due date, the easier the collection.
What does an installment schedule look like?
An example with made-up numbers: a treatment totalling 4,800, with 1,200 paid as a down payment and the remaining 3,600 split into six monthly installments of 600. Here is the schedule as it stands on November 15:
| Installment | Due | Amount | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Oct 1 | 600 | Paid |
| 2 | Nov 1 | 600 | Late |
| 3 | Dec 1 | 600 | Not yet due |
| 4 | Jan 1 | 600 | Not yet due |
| 5 | Feb 1 | 600 | Not yet due |
| 6 | Mar 1 | 600 | Not yet due |
Installment 2 is the one that needs a call today, not at the end of the month when another one has piled on.
How do you handle orthodontic payment plans?
Orthodontic payment software has to deal with the longest plans of all, because braces and aligners run for many months. The same rules apply, with two extra habits:
- Agree the down payment and the monthly amount before the appliance is fitted, and write both into the schedule.
- Decide in your policy what happens when a patient stops coming or stops paying part way through, and put that sentence in the written agreement, not in a conversation.
Long plans make the weekly review of late installments even more important, because a small gap grows quietly over a year.
What do the rules say about installment sales?
Rules on charging interest or fees on installments, and on what a written agreement must contain, differ by country and by state or province. Check your state or provincial rules, and ask a local lawyer or accountant before you add anything on top of your cash price. This article is not legal or financial advice.
Whatever the law says, keep a late installment between the front desk and the patient, not in the waiting room or a group chat.
What is in-house payment plan software for dentists, and what does Synora cover?
In Synora, installments are part of billing, and billing is on every plan, including the Free plan. See the billing feature for the full picture.
- Installment plans: spread a treatment over a schedule and see what is due and what is late.
- Patient wallet: take a deposit or prepayment into the patient’s wallet and draw on it visit by visit.
- Split payments: pay one invoice with cash, card, bank transfer, cheque or the wallet, in any combination.
- Invoices from completed work: the invoice is built from the procedures completed in the visit, so you bill what was actually done.
- Daily cash close: close each cash register at the end of the day and record the day’s expenses.
For the rest, see pricing.
What Synora does not do
- It does not charge cards or run autopay for installments. A card payment at the desk is recorded in Synora, not charged through it, and there is no card machine connection.
- It is not a general accounting system, and it does not offer credit notes yet.
So the follow-up stays with your front desk: open what is late, then call or message the patient.
Do deposits help with dental no-shows?
They can. A patient who has put money into a wallet or paid a down payment is more committed to the appointment, and the practice does not lose the whole slot. For the other steps that cut missed visits, see how to reduce no-shows. If you track missed appointments, a dental no show then stands out in your records instead of passing unnoticed.
FAQ
What is dental payment plan software?
It is software that records a patient’s treatment total, down payment and installment schedule, shows what has been paid and what is late,. Look for a clear view of late installments and a place to hold deposits. Synora covers both in its billing, and does not take card payments for you.
How big should the down payment be?
There is no single number that suits every practice. What matters is that it is written in your policy, the same for every patient, and large enough to cover at least what you pay at the start of treatment.
What do I do when a patient is late on an installment?
Talk to them the same week, politely and in private, and remind them of the date and amount from the schedule they hold. If their situation has changed, agree a new schedule and write it down.
Can I offer installments on the Free plan in Synora?
Yes. Installment plans, the patient wallet and split payments are part of billing, and billing is on every plan. See pricing for what the paid plans add.
