Square Installments FAQs For Business

• Customers can check to see how much they’re eligible to spend at your business.
• Your customers can apply for Square Installments by filling out a short and simple online application.
• If your customer is approved and decides to pay using Square Installments, you get paid the amount of the purchase up front.
• Your customer then repays Square Capital in fixed monthly payments. If your customer ever misses a payment, you’re fully protected from the credit risk.

You will get paid up front on your standard Square deposit schedule.

You’re off the hook if your customer doesn’t repay their plan–just focus on what you do best and Square Installments takes care of the rest.

The only exception is if you don’t deliver the goods or services you promised your customer. See our support article for more information.

Installments is automatically built into your Square checkout and Square Invoices. Setup is easy and it already works with the way you take payments. Once you’re eligible for the program, it takes less than 15 minutes to onboard. You’ll watch a quick introductory video, followed by a short quiz to get you up to speed with everything, and then voila—you’re all set up!

This program is available to eligible merchants, so please contact us if you’re interested.

There are two ways your business may be able to accept Square Installments:

• Square Installments through Square Invoices
• Square Installments at your point of sale

Please review the table below to learn more about which option might be better for your business. Please note that due to program restrictions, the option to sign up for Square Installments is only available to eligible Square merchants.

At this point in time, medical or healthcare businesses can only accept Installments at your Square point of sale. We don’t offer financing on invoices for healthcare businesses.

Now, your customers can send themselves a link to the Installments application from your Square point of sale. Learn more in our support article.

When your customers pay with Square Installments, you pay a simple transaction rate. You’ll still get paid up front on your standard Square payment schedule.

There are no long-term commitments and you can cancel your participation in Square Installments anytime.

Square Installments can be used to help your customers pay for out-of-pocket healthcare costs. This includes dental care, eye care, and other services not covered by medical insurance.

As a healthcare provider, here are a few things to keep in mind that’ll help your customers have a great experience:

• Square Installments should be used for out-of-pocket healthcare costs. We’d like to see your patients take full advantage of coverage they have through their insurance plan (and help you manage fewer refunds).
• We recommend you complete treatment within 30-days of accepting a Square Installments payment plan. Your customer will have to make their first payment (including applicable interest) within a month of using Installments. Providing treatment in a timely manner will help you make sure your customers stay satisfied.
• We recommend your practice maintain a fair and reasonable refund policy. Please let your customers know upfront about any restrictions in your refund policy. If goods or services aren’t actually provided, please honor a refund promptly.

Square Installments is available at your Square Point of Sale only. At this point in time, we do not offer financing on Square Invoices for healthcare businesses.

Due to program restrictions, certain businesses and industries and/or transaction types are not eligible for the Square Installments program. Please review the following for transactions that are not permitted by the program: legal services, including bankruptcy attorney fees, credit repair services, bail bonds services, psychic services, hypnosis, the sale of live animals, insurance companies, the sale of automobiles or motorcycles, purchases involving alcohol, tobacco, or cigarettes, fireworks, plastic surgery, political organizations, non-profit organizations, collections agencies, wholesale transactions, products or services that are sold primarily to businesses, and travel purchases that involve airline tickets and/or hotel accommodations.

If you are interested in learning more about the program, please visit your Square Dashboard to find out whether your business is eligible to participate.

At this time, Square Installments is only available to eligible Square merchants. Square Installments is not available in Hawai, Nevada, and West Virginia. Because of program restrictions, not every Square merchant will have access to enable this payment option for their business.

When determining whether a business is eligible for the Square Installments program, we look at a variety of factors, such as:

• Account activity
  We review processing volume, customer disputes, refunds, etc. Please keep in mind that the program is generally only available to Sellers that are actively processing on Square. If you’re looking to fully transition your business to process with Square and enable Square Installments, we’ll need three month’s worth of previous processing history in order to evaluate whether your business is a good fit for the program.
• Processing history
  Purchases that are eligible for Square Installments must fall between $150 - $10,000, so we check to make sure your business takes a good number of payments that fall within this range.
• Business type
  Not all business types are able to have Square Installments as an option. We review your transactions and business category to make sure it meets our internal program criteria.

Depending on whether your business is signed up to offer Square Installments through invoices or through your point of sale, your customer will either apply directly on the invoice payment page or by visiting a Square Installments application link.

• Customers apply for Installments by filling out a simple online application.
• Many of your customers will get a real-time decision on the status of their application. Any exceptions will be reviewed and notified of eligibility. Typically, this takes 1-2 business days.
• Approved customers can choose from one of three monthly installment plans.

Approved customers can choose to pay over 3, 6, or 12 months with rates from 0-30% APR*. APR is based on credit and other factors. Eligible Square businesses may offer longer term lengths.
We clearly show your customers the total cost of paying in monthly installments with no surprise service fees, prepayment penalties, or deferred interest.

Yes. When customers apply for Square Installments, they can find out exactly how much they’re prequalified to spend at your business. They’ll simply check their eligibility and we’ll let them know what their maximum spending amount is, for amounts starting as low as $150. Keep in mind they’ll still need to apply for a loan through Square Installments as they normally would—prequalification does not guarantee approval. Additionally, this feature is not currently available on Square Invoices.

Consumer lending is highly regulated; let Square Installments do the heavy lifting for you. Don’t get into loan specifics like APR, payback length, or fees with your customers. If your customers have any questions about Square Installments, our program requires that you have them contact us directly at installments@squareup.com so we can provide them with the most accurate information.

All installment plans are subject to approval based on credit and other factors. This information is clearly covered in the application so your customers will have the information they need before they choose to apply. If your customers have further questions about credit, please direct them to installments@squareup.com.

Many of your customers will get a real-time decision on the status of their application. Any exceptions will be reviewed and notified of eligibility. Typically, this takes 1-2 business days.

Square Installments purchases are subject to your business’s refund policy as usual. In a full refund, we cancel the payment plan in full. For partial refunds, we will apply a credit to the customer’s account.

If your customer has a Square Installments plan and claims they never received the item or service promised to them at the time of purchase, they can initiate a dispute claim with us. We have a process for sorting these out and will communicate with you throughout.

Please review the Square Installments Terms of Service for full details on refunds and disputes. If your customers have questions about refunds, please have them contact us at installments@squareup.com.

If you run into issues when attempting to charge your customers digital card, try looking into the following:

• Purchase price
  The amount you’re charging should fall between $150 - $10,000.

• Expiration date
  All cards have an expiration date and must be used within the designated time frame.

• Required fields
  You must enter all required fields from the digital card—exactly as shown on the card.

• One time use
  The digital card can’t be used more than once. If it’s already been charged (for any amount), then it can’t be processed again. If the full amount was not initially used, unfortunately the remaining funds can no longer be accessed. Once a loan is originated, it can’t be adjusted or increased.

Square Installments can be used for purchases between $150 - $10,000 only.

If your customer wishes to spend more than $10,000, take the following steps:

• With Square Installments for your point of sale, you can use split tender in your Point of Sale app to divide their payment into two transactions. With split tender, they can pay for part of their transaction with Square Installments and the remaining amount can be paid with a debit card or credit card.

• For Square Installments through Square Invoices, you’d need to create two separate invoices to split a transaction.

Note: Your customers can only have one installment plan at a time.

When you send an invoice that requires a deposit, your customers won’t see an option to finance the deposit amount. However, they’ll be able to finance the remaining balance of the purchase. They’ll see the option at the time they go to pay off the remaining balance.

• Check transaction size
  At this time, Square Invoices that fall outside of the range of $250 to $10,000 are ineligible to be financed through Square Installments. Please check your Square Invoice to make sure the price falls within this range.

• Disable tips
  At this time, Square Invoices that have tipping enabled are ineligible to be financed through Square Installments. To check and see if your invoice has tipping enabled, simply follow the steps listed below:

  1. Open the invoice in your Square Dashboard or POS application.
  2. Select to Edit the invoice.
  3. At the bottom right-hand corner of your invoice, you should see a field which states Allow Customer to Add a Tip. If this section is checked, uncheck the field in order to disable tipping from your Square Invoice.

• Explore our Support Center
  Review our article for more information on why your customer isn’t seeing the option to pay with Square Installments.

• Contact us
  If you’re still having issues with Square Installments, feel free to contact us. We’re happy to troubleshoot the issue with you.

Certain program restrictions and terms apply. For example, you, your employees, your business, and affiliates are not permitted to apply for Square Installments.

No—the digital card is a one-time use card. For example, if your customer is approved for $1000, but you charge the card for only $500, then you will not be able to charge the card again at a later date for the remaining $500 and their financed amount will be for $500.

We are eager to hear from you! Please contact us to send us any questions or concerns, and we’ll get back to you right away.