To pay a bill, click Pay in the sidebar, find the bill and click Pay on its row. Choose whether the money comes from your Cleo Pay balance or your linked bank, check the amount, and click Pay. The bill has to be approved before you can pay it.
Before you pay
- The bill needs to be approved. While it's waiting for approval you'll see Approve instead of Pay.
- New accounts can't send payments until a quick call with our team. Until then, the Pay buttons are greyed out with "Finish setup to send payments".
- If your business requires categories, every line needs one. Otherwise you'll see "Categories required".
How to pay
- Click Pay in the sidebar.
- Find the bill and click Pay on its row. You can also open the bill and click Pay at the bottom.
- Under Bank Account, pick Cleo Pay balance or your linked bank. See Where does the money for a payment come from?
- To send it on a later date, turn on Schedule for Later and pick a date. This only works from your linked bank. See How to schedule a payment.
- Check the summary. It shows the amount and the vendor's bank it's going to.
- Click Pay.
What happens next
You'll see one of these messages:
| Message | What it means |
|---|---|
| "Payment started" | The money is on its way. The bill moves to Paid once the payment reaches the vendor. |
| "Invoice paid" | The payment is complete. |
| "Payment scheduled" | It goes out on the date you picked. |
| "Payment held" | The vendor isn't ready to be paid yet. See below. |
| "Payment failed" | The payment didn't go through. Open the bill to see why. |
While the money is moving, the bill shows "Processing Payment". For timing, see How long do Cleo Pay payments take?
If the vendor hasn't added a bank
If the vendor hasn't accepted your invitation or hasn't added a bank account, you can still pay. You'll see "Initiate Held Payment" first. Click Continue and pay as normal.
A held payment comes from your linked bank, not your balance. The money waits in your Cleo Pay balance and is released to the vendor on its own once they accept or add their bank. The bill shows "Payment Held" until then. If the vendor is connected but hasn't added a bank, you can open the bill and click Request Bank Account to ask them for one.
If you see "[Vendor] does not have a bank account connected", Pay stays blocked until a bank account is on file for that vendor. If you already paid them another way, use Mark as Paid Manually.
Paying someone without a bill
Click Quick Pay in the sidebar to create a bill and pay it in one step. If you pay from your linked bank there, you'll see an "ACH debit authorization" box. Tick I authorize this debit. before you pay.
If something goes wrong
If you see "Payment Failed", the window shows the reason. Fix what it says, then try again. If you're not sure what went wrong, email support@cleo-pay.com with the vendor name, the bill number and the amount.
Learn more: Accounts payable with Cleo Pay
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