Aiwyn deducts the processing fee from each payment before the money reaches your bank. This is called sweeping. It is why your deposit is often smaller than what your client paid, and why Aiwyn reports the two amounts in separate files.
What gets swept
Every payment made through Aiwyn has a processing cost. Instead of depositing the full payment and billing your firm for fees later, Aiwyn sweeps the fee from the transaction when it is processed. Sweeping applies to every payment method: credit, debit, and prepaid cards, and ACH.
Your firm's rates are set in your contract with Aiwyn and are not published in the help center. All rates and amounts below are for demonstration only.
Who pays the fee depends on the payment method
The sweep is the same for every payment. Who ends up paying the fee is not, because only credit cards can be surcharged.
| Payment method | Can the fee be passed to the client? | Who absorbs the fee |
|---|---|---|
| Credit card, with surcharge | Yes, at your full contracted card rate | Client |
| Credit card, surcharge waived or not allowed | No | Firm |
| Debit or prepaid card | No (prohibited by federal law) | Firm |
| ACH | No (prohibited by federal law) | Firm |
A surcharge must match your full contracted card rate. You cannot pass part of the fee to the client; you either surcharge the full rate or absorb the full fee. International credit card payments carry an additional 1% fee.
Examples on a $100 invoice (illustrative rates: 3.5% for cards, 1% for ACH)
| Scenario | Client pays | Aiwyn sweeps | Firm receives |
|---|---|---|---|
| Credit card with surcharge | $103.50 | $3.50 | $100.00 |
| Credit card, surcharge waived | $100.00 | $3.50 | $96.50 |
| Debit card | $100.00 | $3.50 | $96.50 |
| ACH | $100.00 | $1.00 | $99.00 |
Accepting credit cards can be cost-neutral for a firm that surcharges. Debit, prepaid, and ACH acceptance never is.
How the sweep shows up in your daily files
Each morning you receive a deposit, Aiwyn emails three files. Two report cash; one reports fees.
| File | What it contains | Treat it as |
|---|---|---|
| Invoice payment file | Payments applied to invoices, at the full amount the client paid | Cash (importable into most practice management systems) |
| Non-invoice payment file | Payments made without an invoice, late fees, finance charges, and any refunds or failures as negative amounts | Cash (manual reconciliation) |
| Transaction fee file | Fees swept from that deposit | A subtractor: your cost of doing business that day |
The cash files are always gross. They never include the swept fee, because they are what you reconcile against invoices, and every invoice was raised for the full amount. If the cash files were net of fees, no payment would ever match its invoice.
The three files tie to your bank with one formula:
Invoice payment file + Non-invoice payment file − Transaction fee file = Bank deposit
Example: one ACH payment
A client pays invoices 61001 ($1,000) and 61002 ($2,000) in a single ACH payment. At an illustrative 0.8% ACH rate:
- Invoice payment file: two rows totaling $3,000
- Transaction fee file: one row for $24
- Bank deposit: $3,000 − $24 = $2,976
The payment is split into two rows in the invoice payment file because two invoices were paid, but it appears as one row in the transaction fee file because it was one transaction. The first part of the Ref number is the same in every row, so you can tie them together.
Example: a full day
| File | Total |
|---|---|
| Invoice payment file | $4,700.00 |
| Non-invoice payment file | $320.00 |
| Transaction fee file | $69.56 |
| Bank deposit | $5,020.00 − $69.56 = $4,950.44 |
Refunds and failed payments
Refunds through Aiwyn are always full refunds to the original payment method; partial refunds are not supported. An ACH payment cannot be refunded until it has been deposited into your bank.
When a payment is refunded, disputed, or fails, the amount is subtracted from your payout on the day it clears. If that day's payout is not large enough to cover it, the remainder is withdrawn from your connected bank account.
What happens to the swept fee depends on the payment method:
| Payment method | Swept fee on a refund or failure |
|---|---|
| ACH | Returned to your firm. It appears as a negative amount in the transaction fee file. |
| Card | Kept by Aiwyn. The card network charges Aiwyn to process the transaction whether or not it is later reversed. |
Example: a failed ACH payment
A client pays a $1,000 invoice by ACH. Aiwyn sweeps $8 (0.8%) and deposits $992. Three days later the payment fails.
- Invoice payment file: a row for −$1,000
- Transaction fee file: a row for −$8
- Effect on that day's payout: −$1,008
The negative row is your cue to unapply the payment from the invoice in your practice management system. Refunds and failures cannot be imported, so this is a manual step. In Aiwyn, the invoice automatically returns to unpaid.
Example: a refunded credit card payment with surcharge
The client paid $103.50 ($100 invoice plus a $3.50 surcharge). Your firm received $100. On refund, the client gets back the full $103.50, and your payout is reduced by $103.50. Your firm ends up absorbing the $3.50 fee it never received.
What this means for your books
A swept fee is an expense, not a discount on revenue. Record the payment at its gross amount (the cash file figure) and the fee as a separate expense line. The bank deposit is the difference.
For example: $5,500 in payments, $211.50 in fees, $5,288.50 deposited. Booking $5,288.50 as revenue would understate both your revenue and your processing costs.