Card payments

Bloom can collect your session fees for you. Connect your own Stripe account, choose when clients are charged, and Bloom handles the rest - charging saved cards automatically, emailing secure payment links, sending receipts, and issuing refunds when sessions are cancelled.

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Set up Stripe

Once Stripe confirms your details, the card shows Active and Bloom can start collecting for you.

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Choose how you get paid

Inside the Card payments card you’ll find How you get paid - the payment method new clients start on. It’s one question: collect card details from new clients, or not?

• Card, charged before the session - the client’s saved card is charged automatically 24 hours before each session. They always receive a reminder first.
• Card, charged after the session - the card is charged automatically once the session has happened.
• Payment link - no card is stored. The client is emailed a secure Stripe link after each session. You may wait a little longer to be paid.
• Bank transfer - your bank details appear in reminder emails and you mark payments by hand, exactly as before.
• Cash - the client pays in person and you mark payments by hand. No payment emails are sent chasing them.

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Per-client payment methods

Every client has their own payment method. When you add a client, the method is pre-filled from your default - change it for that client if you need to. On the client’s profile the overview tile shows their method and saved card at a glance; change the method any time from Actions → Edit details. A few things Bloom takes care of when you change a method:

• Moving to a card method - if the client has no card saved yet, Bloom emails them a secure save-card link straight away. Until they save one, they simply receive payment links instead - there’s never a gap where nothing is collected.
• Moving away from a card method - Bloom asks whether to keep the saved card on file (handy if you switch back) or remove it from Stripe entirely. The choice is yours.
• Changes apply from the next collection onward. Sessions already paid are never touched.

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How clients save a card

Clients on a card method are asked to save a card as a step of their onboarding, right after signing your agreement. For existing clients, choose Request card details from the Actions menu on their profile - Bloom emails them a secure link you can re-send any time. The card entry itself happens on Stripe’s own hosted page - card numbers never touch Bloom. Clear consent wording sits beside the save button, covering session charges and any late-cancellation or missed-session fees under the cancellation policy your client signed.

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Automatic charging

• Charged before the session: Bloom charges the saved card 24 hours before each appointment. The appointment reminder email tells the client their card is about to be charged, so it never comes as a surprise. Sessions booked with less than 24 hours’ notice are charged shortly after booking.
• Charged after the session: the card is charged once the session completes (or is marked a no-show).

Successful payments send the client a receipt with the paid invoice attached, and the session shows Paid everywhere in Bloom.

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If a charge fails

Bloom retries failed charges up to three times over 24 hours. If the card still won’t go through, the client automatically receives a friendly email with a payment link they can complete themselves - which also solves bank-authentication declines, since the client approves the payment on Stripe’s page. You get an email too, and the session appears in Needs your attention on your dashboard with a one-click Retry charge.

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Cancellations, no-shows and refunds

Your cancellation policy - the notice period and fee percentage from Settings - is applied automatically:

• A client cancelling inside your notice period sees a clear warning before confirming: the exact fee, and the card it will be charged to. The fee is charged immediately on cancellation.
• If the session was already paid (charged before the session), refunds are automatic: cancel it yourself and the client is refunded in full; if the client cancels outside your notice period they’re refunded in full; inside the notice period they’re refunded everything above your cancellation fee. The client receives a plain, friendly email either way.
• Marking a no-show offers to charge the full session fee to the saved card. Untick it to be lenient - the fee is waived so nothing chases the client later.

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Your payouts

Practice owners see a Stripe Payouts panel at the top of the Payments page: your available Stripe balance, what’s on its way to your bank, and when the next payout is due - read live from Stripe. Open Recent payouts for the latest arrivals, and use Open Stripe dashboard for anything deeper - disputes, payout timing, statements. Payouts follow your Stripe payout schedule and arrive in the bank account you added during setup. In a multi-therapist practice these figures cover the whole practice and are only ever shown to the owner.