Paying approved bills
inletAP does not move money. It reads your invoices, routes them for approval, and posts approved, coded bills to QuickBooks Online or Xero. You pay those bills where they land, the same way you pay bills today.
Vendor payments inside inletAP are on the roadmap. There is no date.
Paying in the US
Pay the approved bill in your ledger.
- QuickBooks Online has QuickBooks Bill Pay. It is Intuit's own bill pay; it is no longer run by Melio. You pay the bill that inletAP posted, from inside QuickBooks.
- Xero in the US offers bill payments run by Melio, which Xero owns. You pay the bill that inletAP posted, from inside Xero.
Both have their own plans and fees, which change. Check them with Intuit or Xero before you choose. Two points to check in particular:
- Xero and nonprofits. Xero's bill payment FAQ says nonprofits and trusts are not currently supported. Most HOAs and condo associations are nonprofit corporations, so check with Xero before you plan around it.
- Payment approvals in QuickBooks Bill Pay are on its higher tiers. If you want a second person to release each payment, check which tier you need with Intuit.
Paying in Canada
QuickBooks Online and Xero in Canada do not include bill pay. Pay from your bank, or from a payment app that reads bills from your ledger. inletAP does not recommend a particular app.
Paid status
On paid plans, inletAP reads each bill it posted back from QuickBooks Online or Xero, and shows whether the ledger has marked it paid. It is a read of your ledger. It does not mean inletAP paid anything.
- What it reads. The bill's balance, the amount paid on it, and the date it was paid when the ledger gives one.
- When. Each night, with reconciliation, and when you choose Reconcile now. A payment you make during the day shows after the next nightly read.
- Which bills. Bills posted to QuickBooks Online or Xero. A CSV export posts to no ledger, so it has no paid status.
- Which plans. The plans that include nightly reconciliation: Starter and above. See plans and limits. On Free, the invoice shows no paid status.
The four states
| State | What the ledger shows |
|---|---|
| Paid | Nothing is left to pay. A vendor credit that clears the balance counts too. |
| Part paid | Some of the bill is paid and some is still owing. |
| Not paid yet | Nothing is paid. |
| Voided | The bill was voided or deleted in the ledger. |
The invoice screen shows one line that names the ledger, such as "Paid in QuickBooks" or "Part paid in Xero. $120.00 of $300.00 still owing.", and when the ledger was last read. An invoice split across several companies shows one row per company, and the line counts them: "Paid in 2 of 3 QuickBooks companies". The inbox and the approvals lists show Paid, Part paid or Voided as a small label beside the invoice status. A bill that is not paid yet has no label there, because most posted bills are in that state. The iPhone app shows the same.
How long a bill is read
For its first 30 days a posted bill is read every night, whatever it says. After that it is read each night until the ledger shows it paid or voided, up to 180 days after it was posted. Bills older than 180 days stop refreshing, and the screen keeps the last state it read, with its date.
Changed bank details
Before you pay, check the remit-to. When the bank details or the payment address on an invoice differ from the vendor's earlier invoices, Second Look puts a card on the invoice with both versions side by side. Check the change with the vendor on a phone number you already have, not one in the email.
See also
- Reconciliation — the nightly read that paid status rides on.
- Second Look — the checks on every bill, including changed bank details.
- Plans and limits — which plans include reconciliation and paid status.