Once you have raised an invoice in CiviPlus (a contribution with the status “Pending”), the quickest way to get it paid is to let the member pay online by credit or debit card. The payment is taken immediately, the contribution is marked as Completed for you, and nobody has to type in bank details or record anything by hand.

This guide covers the two ways to collect card payment for an invoice: letting members pay their own invoices in the Self Service Portal (Option 1), and sending them a direct payment link — either copied from the contribution or emailed in bulk using a message template (Option 2). If you are not yet familiar with creating invoices, start with Invoicing in CiviPlus.

What can I do in CiviPlus?

Let members log in to the Self Service Portal, see their outstanding invoices and pay them by card, with no staff involvement.
Copy a personal, secure payment link from any pending contribution and share it with the contact.
Email payment links to one member — or hundreds at once — using a message template, with each recipient receiving a link that pays their own invoice.

Before you start

You need an online card payment processor set up, usually Stripe — see Stripe payment processor. The processor must be enabled on the contribution page used for invoice payments (see each option’s requirements below).
The invoice must be a contribution with the status “Pending” — for example one you created manually, or one generated by a membership renewal.
You need permission to view and edit contributions, and to send email from CiviPlus for Option 2b.

Option 1 — Members pay their invoices in the Self Service Portal

If your organisation uses the Self Service Portal (SSP), members can view and pay their invoices themselves — this is the least work for your team, and most useful when members regularly log in anyway. New to the portal? See the Introduction to the Self Service Portal.

What this needs: the SSP with the Invoices area enabled; portal logins for your members (see Creating Self Service Portal Users from CiviPlus Contacts); and a contribution page with your card processor selected as the portal’s payment page — this is set under Configuration > SSP > Invoices settings (“Contribution Page For Payments”). If any of this is missing on your site, contact support and we can help you switch it on.

Here is what the member does:

They log in to the portal and open My Invoices from the menu. The dashboard also shows an Overdue Payments alert with a shortcut to their invoices.
On the Invoice History page, invoices that are waiting for payment show as Due, with a Pay Now button next to them. Paid invoices show as Paid. (They can also download a PDF of any invoice from here.)
Clicking Pay Now opens a secure payment page for that specific invoice, with the amount already filled in. The member enters their card details and confirms.

That’s it — the payment is processed straight away, the contribution flips to “Completed” in CiviPlus, and the member gets an email receipt automatically (see “Checking the payment worked” below).

Note: the Pay Now button appears next to invoices that are still fully unpaid. If an invoice has already been part-paid, collect the remainder using a direct payment link (Option 2) or record the payment in the back office.

Option 2 — Send a direct payment link

Every pending contribution has its own secure payment link. Anyone who has the link can open it — without logging in — and pay that invoice, and only that invoice, by card. This works even for contacts who never use the portal.

What this needs: an online contribution page with your card processor enabled, chosen as the Default invoice payment page under Administer > CiviContribute > CiviContribute Component Settings. The link contains a personal security code (a “checksum”), so it can’t be used to see or pay anyone else’s invoices.

2a. Copy the link from the contribution

Open the contact’s record, go to the Contributions tab and click View on the pending contribution.
The contribution opens with a Pay Online Link shown under the payment details. Copy it and share it however you like — paste it into an email you are writing anyway, a letter, or a support reply.

When the member opens the link they land straight on the payment page for that invoice — the amount is fixed, their billing name is already filled in, and they simply enter their card details and confirm.

2b. Email the link — to one member or hundreds at once

Rather than copying links one at a time, you can set up a reusable email template that builds each member’s personal payment link automatically using tokens. You can then send it to everyone with an outstanding invoice in a couple of clicks.

Step 1 — create the template (one-off). Go to Administer > Communications > Message Templates and add a new template along these lines:

Subject: Pay your invoice {contribution.invoice_number} online

Dear {contact.first_name},

Please find below the link to pay your invoice {contribution.invoice_number} for {contribution.total_amount} online by credit card:

https://www.yourwebsite.org/civicrm/contribute/transact?reset=1&id=PAGE_ID&ccid={contribution.id}&cid={contact.contact_id}&{contact.checksum}

This link is personal to you and takes you straight to a secure payment page for this invoice.

Kind regards,
The Membership Team

Two things to replace with your own values: yourwebsite.org (your site’s address) and PAGE_ID (the ID of your invoice payment contribution page — the same page you chose as the Default invoice payment page).

How the tokens work: {contribution.invoice_number} and {contribution.total_amount} fill in the invoice number and amount; {contribution.id} and {contact.contact_id} point the link at the right invoice and contact; and {contact.checksum} adds the personal security code. Note that the checksum token already includes the “cs=” part, so it follows an & on its own — don’t write “cs={contact.checksum}”. Tip: the easiest way to get the link format right for your site is to copy the Pay Online Link from any pending contribution (Option 2a) and swap the three numbers in it for the three tokens.

Step 2 — find the invoices and send.

Go to Contributions > Find Contributions and search with Contribution Status = Pending. Tick the invoices you want to chase (or select all), then open the Actions menu and choose Email - send now.
On the email screen, pick your template under Use Template — the subject and message fill in with the tokens showing. Click Send Email.

Each member receives their own email, with the tokens replaced by their invoice number and amount — and a link that pays exactly that invoice:

Checking the payment worked

However the member pays — portal or link — CiviPlus takes care of the bookkeeping. Open the contribution afterwards and you should see:

The contribution status is now Completed.
The card payment is recorded against it, with the payment method and transaction ID from your payment processor.
A receipt has been emailed to the member automatically.

That’s it. The invoice is paid, your records are balanced, and nothing needs recording by hand. If something goes wrong — a member pays twice, or pays the wrong invoice — see How to issue a refund in CiviPlus.

Invoicing in CiviPlus — creating invoices and sending them as PDFs.
Stripe payment processor — setting up online card payments.
Introduction to the Self Service Portal — what else your members can do online.
Creating Self Service Portal Users from CiviPlus Contacts — giving members portal logins.
How to issue a refund in CiviPlus — putting it right when a payment needs to go back.

How to get your invoices paid online by Credit Card