FAQ for Payments and Account Management

You can pay your fees in full or you can pay on a monthly basis from February through to November.

Fees paid in full before the end of January will attract an annual discount if your account is in good standing.

If your school fees for the year are unpaid after January your fees will automatically be processed on a monthly basis from February to November.

For fees paid monthly from February through to November, an email will be issued a week before payment is required to alert you of the amount payable for the month.

Generally, the collection of fees in a month is made on the 15th of that month or the next available business day for direct debit payments.

The monthly courtesy email reminder will contain the following details:

• Amount to be paid for the month;
• Default payment method on the account (if set up);
• When the collection will occur; and
• A link to update your default payment method.

The courtesy email reminder will include a link should you wish to update the default payment method details on your account, as listed in the email.

Please ensure you update your payment method before the day funds are attempted from your default method as we cannot guarantee any changes will be made in time if updating your details on the day of payment capture.

The amount to be paid in the monthly courtesy reminder considers the number of months remaining in the year left to pay, as well as whether charges in the invoice need to be paid before a certain date.

For example, camp fees in your invoice will need to be collected prior to the camp date.

Therefore, some months throughout the year may be higher than other months due to the collection of those charges.

Visa & Mastercards

If you have elected to use a Visa or Mastercard as the default payment method to pay your fees, if it fails on the designated day, the system will email you the failure and the reason behind the failure.

In the same email, the system will also alert you to what will happen next (for example, it may attempt the next day again).

Direct Debits

If you have elected for us to debit your bank account, and should the capture of funds fail, any fees incurred by the school will be added to your school fees for payment and you will be issued with an email alerting you on instructions for when another attempt can be made.

As failed direct debit captures create additional administration charges and costs, CEM reserves the right to remove a direct debit payment method from your account if it continuously fails.

The monthly courtesy reminder calculates the required payment amount for the month to maintain your account in good standing.

Should you miss the monthly payment or pay only a portion of the monthly amount, the missed amount will be added to next month's payment.

The courtesy reminder will let you know if a monthly amount is higher than anticipated because of an outstanding amount from previous months.

The Payment Link Service enables families to make ad-hoc payments towards school fees using a Visa or Mastercard at any time.

Should you elect to pay the monthly amount before the due date, the system will not capture the same amount of funds again on the due date.

If you elect to pay more than the system expects for a given month, the system will not capture any further funds.

Should you pay a portion of the monthly amount before the due date the system will calculate the difference between what you’ve paid and the required monthly amount and will attempt to capture the remaining balance.

For example, if you pay $200 at the start of the month when $550 is required, the system will only capture on the due date the difference, which, in this example, is $550 - $200 = $350.

The default day of the month is the 15th.

You will need to contact CEM Accounts to request these changes.

Other payment frequencies, such as weekly or fortnightly, can be performed but will attract an additional administration fee due to the higher frequency of collection.

Please contact CEM Accounts if you would like to arrange this service.

If you are struggling to make the required monthly payments, please contact the school.

There are a number of reasons why your monthly payment schedule is irregular.

Most of these reasons include:

• Additional items have been added. This may be new siblings or bus usage.
• Payment for an item is due before the end of the year. For example, swimming lessons may require full payment in the first term, whereas other items, such as camps or other activities/resources, are required to be paid upfront or later in the year.
• Deductions received for your account have been applied.
• Payments have been made or missed in previous months.
• When the student started in the year.

Additional charges are only added to invoices that have not been fully paid. If you have fully paid your invoice, you will be sent a new invoice for any additional charges.

If you have fully paid your fees in the year and you are charged with additional items (such as bus or camps, etc) a new invoice will be created and issued to you.

eWay is our card gateway provider for processing credit card payments.

You will receive emails from eWay for successful and unsuccessful card captures or refunds.

Yes. A feature of the Payment Link service is that it generates a public URL for families to share with others who may want to contribute towards the payment of their fees.

However, please be reminded that only those who have signed the enrolment contract are liable for the payment of those fees - not those who have been shared your payment link.

Please also be aware that the school and CEM take no responsibility should you accidentally send the payment link to somebody you do not want.

If your Payment Link does not work, it may be due to a unique payment arrangement on your account or the invoice has been corrected and you are using an old URL.

Please refer your query to the CEM Accounts Team.

If you haven’t been receiving any monthly courtesy reminders, it could be due to a couple of factors:

• Your invoice has been fully paid for the year.
• Your invoice is starting later in the year (check the date of your invoice).
• You are on an approved payment arrangement with the school.
• Your emails may be diverted to your spam folder. Drag them back to the inbox folder to whitelist them.

If in doubt, please contact the CEM Accounts Team to investigate further.

From time to time, depending upon when statements are issued, uncleared payment records may appear on your statement.

An uncleared payment record is a record where a payment has not been cleared by our bank.

Once these records have been identified and confirmed as uncleared funds, they may be removed from your account.

Should you have any queries, please contact the CEM Accounts Team.

Currently, we support Visa and Mastercard as well as direct debit from your bank account.

Each invoice contains a unique Payment Link that provides easy access to pay your fees online using a valid Visa or Mastercard.

The payment link option works like purchasing at an online store.

It is a public URL to your invoice and will show the remaining balance for the year as the “Amount Due”.

If you only need to make an instalment toward paying that balance, please ensure you choose the button “Pay other amount” link.

This will allow you to enter the amount you choose to pay at this time. A receipt from the Eway gateway will be emailed to you confirming this payment.

This option does not store your card details, so you will need to add them each time you make a payment.

CEM will email you a monthly payment reminder to prompt you with the amount to keep your account in good standing.

It is not CEM’s Policy to provide bank details for EFT.

We do not support BPAY.

CEM does not have the facility to process American Express cards. Only Visa and Mastercard are accepted.

Expired cards will receive an email notifying you of the expired card, where you can update your details securely online.

If your card has been stolen or reissued please contact the CEM Accounts Team and they can send you an email for how you can update your details securely online.

Yes. A percentage discount is available if your account is in good standing and you elect to pay your invoice in full before the end of January for the school year.

You can pay your invoice in full at any other time throughout the year, but this will not attract the discount provided at the beginning of the school year.

If commencing Distance Education in terms 3 and 4, you are required to pay your invoice in full.

No. These cards don’t automatically qualify you for a discount towards your fees, but in some states, it may attract some financial assistance.

Yes. Permanent staff (full-time & part-time) in the CEM Group do receive a discount on their fees. Please contact CEM Accounts to have your account reviewed.

Ministry discounts are available for families when a spouse is involved in ministry. There are additional requirements, and for further details to see if your family qualifies, please contact the school.

Signatories on the enrolment contract are responsible for meeting their obligations according to the enrolment contract.

It is not CEM’s policy to pursue each signatory for their perceived proportion of payments.

CEM would encourage families to use the Payment Link Service and self-manage their payments by meeting the required monthly payments.

Ultimately, the student's enrolment is dependent on the account being in good standing and will be assessed accordingly.

If your situation has become complicated, please contact the school.

Yes. You may request a statement at any time by sending an email to CEM Accounts. A statement may be issued if your account is not in good standing (for example, if there is significant debt or is withdrawn with a debt owing).

If you would like to receive statements on a regular basis, please contact CEM Accounts to arrange.

Please forward any change of address to [email protected] and the school you attend to update records.

Please check with your enrolment contract that would have been issued to you prior to enrolling your child.

Depending upon the details provided in your enrolment contract you will need to formally notify the school.

Notifying the CEM Accounts Team is not considered formal notice.

If the school is not notified within the designated time frame according to your enrolment contract, you may be charged school fees for insufficient notice.

Any further questions about this process need to be directed to the school.

After pro-rating your invoice according to the withdrawal authorisation from the school, any remaining credit on your account will be refunded. This credit will be returned to the card you used for payment or to the bank account you may have provided for payment purposes.

However, if your card has expired or your bank account has been closed you will need to complete a Direct Credit Form for us to issue your funds to your designated bank account.

The CEM Accounts Team can only discuss details of an account with those who are authorised on the account. These are the signatories on the enrolment contract.

If you would like another person to be authorised on the account this can be done by sending an email to CEM Accounts.

If you need to remove a signatory from the enrolment contract, please contact the school to arrange a new contract.

Complaints about charges, payments, and invoicing can be made directly to CEM Accounts during business hours.

However, more formal complaints need to be made through a particular process detailed on the school’s website.