The starting point: envelopes, instant payments and an inherited spreadsheet

The CEIP Rosalia de Castro PTA brings together 380 member families at a two-form entry state school in Vigo. For years, collecting the annual fee of 25 EUR per family was a small ordeal: some families made a bank transfer, others sent an instant payment to the treasurer's personal phone and many sent an envelope of cash in their children's school bags.

Beatriz, the treasurer, cross-checked the bank transactions every week against a spreadsheet inherited from three previous boards. By the end of November, close to 30% of families still had not paid, and nobody knew for sure whether it was forgetfulness or a payment gone astray.

"It was work that added nothing. Just chasing people who wanted to pay but did not know whether they already had. And all in my free time, after work and once the children were in bed", Beatriz recalls.

The decision: direct debit of the fee per family

After seeing it at another PTA nearby, the board chose Fustibus for one specific reason: it included SEPA direct debit at no extra setup cost and with the whole process solved: collecting mandates from families, prior notification and handling returns.

The rollout took 2 working days. The Fustibus team migrated the register from the spreadsheet, organised the data by family and pupil (with year and class) and set up the communication templates. Beatriz did not have to touch a single import file.

The first automated collection went out in October, at the start of the school year. Each family received their prior notification by email and the SEPA batch was generated with a single click.

The result: October stopped being a horrible month

In the first week 90% of the fees had already been collected. Bank returns were handled automatically with a second notice, and only a handful of cases needed a personal message.

Beatriz went from spending 5 or 6 hours a week on payments to practically zero. On top of that, any family can check in the portal whether they are up to date, so the "has my payment gone through?" questions disappeared. And when the board changes, the next treasurer will inherit a tidy register and tidy accounts, not a spreadsheet with mysterious tabs.