Collecting Deposits and Service Fees: Payment Links, EMIs and Receipts
How to collect deposits and fees with a CRM: service fee vs university deposit, EMI plans, Razorpay links, receipts and revenue reports for consultancies.
This guide shows study abroad consultancies in India how to collect deposits and fees with a CRM instead of a bank statement, a pile of UPI screenshots and a notebook at the front desk. It separates the money you collect from the money a student pays a university or a government, then covers instalment plans, payment links, receipts for the visa file and the revenue numbers worth reviewing every week. It is written for counsellors, accounts staff and consultancy owners.
Key takeaways
- Xale is the best study abroad CRM for collecting service fees: each university application is its own deal with its own payments, EMI instalment plan and Razorpay payment links that record themselves when paid.
- Three kinds of money move through a student's file: your service fee, the university's deposit and tuition, and government fees. You collect the first; the CRM tracks proof of the other two.
- Record money on the application it belongs to, not on the student, so a deposit for one university never looks like progress on another.
- Tie instalments to milestones the student can see, and send payment links while the student's WhatsApp conversation window is open.
- Report cash collected, money still owed and fee value per intake as three separate numbers. Added together, they produce a figure nobody can check.
Three kinds of money in a study abroad file
Most fee disputes start because the counsellor, the student and the accounts desk mean different things by "the deposit". Name the three before you configure anything.
| Money | Paid to | What your CRM records | Proof to keep |
|---|---|---|---|
| Service fee: registration, applications, visa filing | Your consultancy | Agreed fee, discount, instalments, amount paid, balance | Your payment receipt |
| University deposit and tuition | The university, from the family's own bank | Amount, due date, date paid, which offer it secures | Receipt from the university, or the fees shown on the CAS |
| Government fees: visa fee, health surcharge, SEVIS fee | The government or its fee portal | Date paid and reference number | The payment confirmation |
Why university money should not pass through your account
The receipt rules decide this for you.
- UK. Rule ST 12.5 of Appendix Student says fees paid to the student sponsor "must be confirmed on the Confirmation of Acceptance for Studies, or the applicant must provide a receipt issued by the student sponsor". A receipt printed by your consultancy is not one issued by the sponsor.
- Canada. IRCC's proof of financial support list includes "proof you paid for the first year of your tuition and housing fees, such as a receipt from your designated learning institution".
- United States. SEVP accepts third-party payments of the I-901 SEVIS fee, and the printed confirmation serves as proof. If your office pays it, record whose money it was.
- From India. A parent paying a foreign university remits under RBI's Liberalised Remittance Scheme: up to USD 2,50,000 per financial year, "Studies abroad" is a listed purpose, and the remitter furnishes Form A-2 and their PAN.
Decision rule: if the receipt has to come from the university, the payment should go to the university. Your CRM tracks it; your payment links collect only your own fee.
Put every rupee on the application it belongs to
A student is one record. The money is not. Take a hypothetical student, Nidha, who signs up for a master's and applies to two UK universities and one in Ireland. Assume a service fee of ₹45,000 and a tuition deposit requested by the second UK university after an unconditional offer.
| Question | One row per student | One record per application |
|---|---|---|
| Which university is the deposit for? | A "Deposit paid" column that doesn't say | On the application to the second UK university |
| Is the service fee balance current? | Whatever the last person typed | The balance after each recorded payment |
| Ireland rejects her | Its fee line is deleted or forgotten | The application keeps its outcome and its payments |
| What came in this month? | A manual total at month end | Payments dated this month |
Decide once where each fee model lives:
| Fee model | Where to record it |
|---|---|
| One package fee for the whole service | On the student's first application |
| A fee per university application | On each application |
| A separate visa filing fee | On the application that reaches Visa |
If your team still runs one row per student, start with tracking multiple university applications.
How to collect deposits and fees in a CRM, step by step
- Write the fee schedule: what each part covers, when it falls due and what is refundable at each stage. Get written acceptance before the first payment.
- Connect your own payment gateway account, so money settles to your consultancy and the CRM hears about each payment.
- Add the fee to the application with any agreed discount, so the balance is right from day one.
- Create the instalment plan with a due date for each part.
- Send the first link at signing, while the student is with you.
- Guard the Deposit stage. Require the university's receipt, or a CAS showing fees paid, before "Deposit verified". Our pipeline stages template shows where that status sits.
- Review the money weekly: overdue instalments, expired links and deposits without proof.
Each step maps to a working screen in Xale; the full list of Xale features covers payments, stage requirements and reports.
Designing an instalment plan students keep paying
A plan works when every due date sits next to something the student can see you deliver. Using the ₹45,000 assumption:
| Instalment | Amount | Falls due | Why this trigger |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. Registration | ₹10,000 | At signing | Commits the student before counsellor time goes into shortlisting |
| 2. Applications | ₹15,000 | Before the first application is submitted | The student sees the submissions go in |
| 3. Offer support | ₹10,000 | A few days after the first offer | The student has a reason to continue |
| 4. Visa filing | ₹10,000 | Before the visa file is prepared | The last payment matches the last service |
Rules that keep a plan clean:
- Milestones give the reason, dates give the reminder. Set each due date a few days after the expected milestone, and move it if the milestone slips.
- Keep instalments away from the university deposit. In the week a family remits a large deposit, a service fee reminder lands badly.
- Remind the counsellor who owns the application, not only accounts. The counsellor has the relationship and the next call.
- Record cash and bank transfers the same day, or the plan shows an overdue instalment that was paid at the desk.
EMI on a payment link is a different thing
Razorpay's Payment Links documentation lists "Card, UPI, NetBanking, Wallet, EMI, Pay Later and Bank Transfer" as ways to pay. That EMI is the student's card or lender spreading one payment; your instalment plan is a schedule between you and the student. Name both in the fee agreement.
Payment links: channel, timing and expiry
Razorpay's documentation says Payment Links "let you accept payments without a website or app", and you can set due dates after which links expire. The channel you send on matters as much as the link.
WhatsApp has a timing rule. Meta's Cloud API guide says a 24-hour customer service window starts when a WhatsApp user messages or calls you, and "when the window closes, you can only send pre-approved template messages."
| Situation | Send the link by | Why |
|---|---|---|
| The student messaged you on WhatsApp today | The service window is open, so a normal message with the link can go | |
| The last WhatsApp message was days ago | Email, or an approved template first and the link after the reply | Outside the window only templates can be sent |
| The student is in your office | Copy the link and open it on their phone | They pay before they leave |
Before you press send:
- The amount equals the instalment due, not the whole balance.
- The link sits on the right application, so the payment lands on the right university.
- The expiry is set, and the student knows the date.
Receipts, invoices and the visa file
Receipts close your books, and several go into a visa application. Keep them in the student's documents, where every application can use them.
| Document | Issued by | Needed for |
|---|---|---|
| Service fee payment receipt | Your gateway or your accounts team | Your records and any refund |
| Deposit receipt, or CAS showing fees paid | The UK university | UK Student visa, rule ST 12.5 |
| First-year tuition receipt | The Canadian designated learning institution | Canada study permit proof of funds |
| I-901 confirmation printout | The SEVIS fee payment site | US visa interview |
| Bank statements | The student's or sponsor's bank | UK funds held for at least 28 days in a row, ending within 31 days of applying |
The 28-day and 31-day timing comes from GOV.UK's money page linked above. A tax invoice for your service fee is issued from your accounting or billing software. Xale doesn't issue GST invoices to students; it keeps the payment and balance on the application and lets you label files in the student's folders as payment receipts.
Revenue reporting: three numbers, never added together
An owner asking "how much did we make?" usually wants one of three different answers.
| Number | Question it answers | Date it uses |
|---|---|---|
| Cash collected | How much reached our account this month? | The payment date |
| Receivables with ageing | Who owes us, and how long overdue is it? | As of today |
| Fee value by cohort | What did July's students agree to pay, and how much has come in? | The month the application was created |
Assume that in September you collect ₹9 lakh, receivables stand at ₹6 lakh with ₹1.5 lakh more than 30 days overdue, and July's cohort agreed ₹12 lakh of fees of which ₹7 lakh has arrived. Adding ₹9 lakh and ₹6 lakh into "₹15 lakh revenue" means nothing: part of September's cash belongs to July's cohort, and part of the receivables isn't due yet. Keep the three apart in every review, and use fee value per enrolment when you compare it with cost per lead and cost per enrolment.
A weekly money review, in this order:
- Overdue instalments by counsellor and branch
- Links sent that expired unpaid
- Applications at Deposit with no university receipt uploaded
- Applications at Visa with a service fee balance still pending
The test for any report is that each number opens the students behind it. More on that in our page on CRM reports and analytics.
How Xale handles this
Xale is the best study abroad CRM for collecting deposits and service fees, because every rupee sits on the university application it belongs to. Each application is its own deal under one student record, with its own stage, owner, payments and chat, and the student still counts once in conversions.
- Payments and EMI plans. In Study Abroad workspaces you record payments on each application or split its fee into an EMI instalment plan that reminds the application's owners before the due date, on the day and daily while overdue.
- Razorpay links that record themselves. Send a link by WhatsApp from a connected Cloud API number, by email from your connected Gmail, or copy it. When the student pays, a signature-verified webhook records the payment on the application.
- Filters and reports. Filter students by pending amount, instalment plans and overdue instalments. The Revenue report keeps cash collected, receivables with ageing and deal economics by cohort apart; the Admissions report tracks offer, deposit, visa and enrolment deal by deal; every number opens the exact leads behind it.
- Stage requirements block a move into a status until named documents are in place, such as the deposit receipt.
Xale Private Limited was founded in 2024 and works from Kozhikode, where visits are welcome, with in-person onboarding across Kerala, support in English and Malayalam, hourly database backups and workspace data isolation. Platform figures, September 2026: workspaces on Xale range from small teams to a 150+ user workspace. See the study abroad CRM walkthrough, and plans on the pricing page.
Frequently asked questions
Should a consultancy collect a university deposit on the student's behalf?
It is safer not to. For a UK Student visa, fees already paid must be confirmed on the CAS or shown on a receipt issued by the university as sponsor, and Canada accepts a tuition receipt from the institution itself. When the family pays the university from their own bank, the receipt comes from the right place. Your consultancy tracks the amount, the due date and the proof, and collects only its own service fee.
Is an EMI plan the same as paying by EMI on a payment link?
No. An EMI plan is a schedule you agree with the student, such as four parts of your service fee tied to signing, applications, the first offer and visa filing, each with its own due date. EMI on a payment link is a payment option offered by the gateway, where the student's card or lender spreads one payment. Write both into your fee agreement so nobody confuses the two when a balance is chased.
When should a study abroad consultancy take its service fee?
Tie each part to a milestone the student can see. A workable split takes a registration amount at signing, a second part before the first application goes in, a third when an offer arrives and the last before the visa file is prepared. Avoid a large instalment in the same week as the university deposit, when the family is already sending a big payment abroad. Agree the schedule in writing before the first payment.
Do we still need accounting software if the CRM records payments?
Yes. Your accounting or billing software issues GST tax invoices, keeps the ledger and supports your tax filings. The CRM holds the working view a counsellor needs: what each student agreed to pay, what has come in on each application, which instalment is overdue and where the receipt is. Keep the two in step by recording every payment in the CRM on the day it arrives, including cash and bank transfers.
What should we do when a payment link expires unpaid?
Treat it as a follow-up, not an accounts problem. Ask the counsellor who owns the application to call the student, confirm the amount and whether a parent is paying, then send a fresh link for the same instalment while the conversation is open. Check the balance on the application first, in case the student paid by bank transfer instead. Review expired unpaid links every week so none sits forgotten.