Client portal and paying several invoices

New feature, being rolled out. It may not be available on your account yet. If you don’t see it, write to us and we’ll tell you when it turns on.

The client portal is a personal link per client where they see all their issued invoices, their balance due per currency, download each invoice and pay several at once in a single charge. They also turn on automatic payments there.

In short:

• Where it is created: on the client’s profile (Clients, open the client), Client portal section, with Create portal link. You need the Clients permission.
• What your client sees: Your invoices, the Balance due in each currency, the invoices To pay (with overdue ones marked) and the Paid ones, each with its PDF.
• Pay several: your client ticks invoices in the same currency and clicks Pay selected. Cord splits the payment using each invoice’s real balance.
• Requirement to pay online: an active Cord Payments account. Without it, the portal shows the invoices and asks your client to contact you to pay.
• The link is the credential: no account or password needed. You can generate another one (the previous one stops working) or disable it.
• No extra cost and on every plan.

Create and share the link

1. Open Clients, go to the client and find Client portal.
2. Click Create portal link.
3. Share it with Copy, open it with Open or click Send by email: your client receives “Your invoices with” your business, with the Open my portal button.

Every action is recorded in your business audit log. The portal always lives on cordhq.app, even if you have a custom domain for your quotes.

Rotate or disable

• Generate new link: the current link stops working and you need to share the new one. Use it if the link reached the wrong person.
• Disable link: your client cannot open their portal until you generate another one. Automatic payments do not change.

What your client sees

• Balance due per currency, without adding different currencies together, and how many invoices are left to pay and how much is overdue.
• To pay: number, due date, balance (and the total, if they already paid part), and the Overdue and Payment processing labels. Each invoice has View (its link) and PDF.
• Paid, in a collapsible section.
• The notice that the link is personal and gives access to their invoices and payments, and your contact email for questions.

Only issued invoices assigned to that client appear. A replaced invoice does not appear (its replacement does) and neither does Mexico’s global invoice.

Pay several invoices at once

1. Your client ticks the invoices they want to pay. The portal shows how many and the total (“2 invoices · USD 1,250.00”).
2. They click Pay selected and, in the payment sheet, Continue; they choose the method, enter its details and confirm with the Pay button and the amount.
3. If they tick Save this method for automatic payments, automatic payments are also turned on. It is the only way to save a Bacs Direct Debit account for automatic payments.

Rules Cord applies:

• One currency at a time. Invoices in different currencies are paid separately.
• The server decides the split with each invoice’s real balance when the charge is created; the browser only chooses which ones. Each invoice receives its share as its own payment in its history, and a Mexican invoice issued PPD gets its payment complement.
• Methods: card and, if you turned them on and the currency matches, SEPA Direct Debit (EUR), ACH bank debit (USD), Bacs Direct Debit (GBP) or pre-authorized debit (CAD); with pre-authorized debit, your client first says whether they pay as a business or as an individual. In Mexican pesos the portal charges by card. The portal does not take bank transfers: SPEI (with each invoice’s CLABE) and bank transfer with a reference in EUR, GBP or USD are offered on each invoice’s link, which your client opens with View.
• A bank debit takes days: while a debit is processing, that invoice shows Payment processing, it cannot be charged again or voided, and the portal tells your client not to pay again.
• Account to verify: if your client authorizes the debit with an account that is verified with a small deposit (for example, with Canadian pre-authorized debit), the payment sheet hides the button and shows “Your bank account still needs to be verified…” with the Verify my account link. The invoices stay in Payment processing until they confirm the account.
• No double charges: if an invoice already has a payment in progress from its own link, for example a debit waiting for the account to be verified, the portal doesn’t charge it again: it asks your client to wait for the confirmation and, if the account still needs verifying, shows them the link.

Refund a payment that covered several invoices

From Cord, you request the refund on the detail page of any of the invoices the charge paid, and choose:

• This invoice only: up to what the charge applied to that invoice. The refund goes to that invoice.
• The whole payment: returns what is left of the charge and reopens each invoice for what it paid. An ACH charge only allows this option.

If the refund is issued outside Cord, Cord allocates it from the last invoice applied to the first, each one in full before moving to the next.

Common issues

• My client cannot pay from the portal. Your Cord Payments account is not active, or your country collects online through Mercado Pago: in that case your client pays each invoice from its own link.
• An invoice is missing. Check that it is issued (not a draft) and assigned to that client.
• The link no longer opens. You disabled it or generated a new one. Share the current one from the client’s profile.
• My client sees a “Test portal” notice. It is a test account: online payment is disabled.

Related

• Automatic payments and retries
• Bank debit
• Public invoice link
• Payment methods in the documentation