What this article helps with: Paying medical providers, experts, lienholders, and other vendors electronically from Hona, using the same draft and approve flow you already use for client payouts.

Who this is for: Anyone at your firm with a disbursement permission (Drafter, Approver, or Disbursement Admin), plus whoever handles vendor bills.

Before you start: Vendor disbursements are turned on firm by firm right now. If you do not see a Vendors tab on your Disbursements page, email [email protected] and we will get your firm set up.

Key Terms

What do you mean when you say...

Vendor = any business your firm pays that is not the client. Medical providers, experts, lienholders, co-counsel, and so on.
Vendor disbursement = an electronic payment to a vendor, drafted and approved in Hona and sent from your firm's bank account.
Payment details = the vendor's bank account information. It is stored securely with Confido Legal, Hona's payments partner, and never shared with Hona.
Confido Legal = Hona's payments partner. Confido runs the banking rails that move the money.

How it works

You set up each vendor once. After that, paying them takes about a minute.

Add the vendor in Hona
Get their payment details on file
Draft the disbursement
Approve it, and the money goes out

The big difference from a client payout: a client gets a link and picks how they want to be paid. A vendor's payment details are already on file, so the money goes out the moment the disbursement is approved. There is no link for the vendor to accept.

Step by step

1. Add the vendor

Go to Disbursements, open the Vendors tab, and click Add Vendor. You will need:

Vendor name
Contact name and contact email
Street address, city, state, and ZIP

Contact phone and a second address line are optional.

Paying a medical provider your firm already works with? You can create the vendor from that provider instead of typing everything in. Pick the provider's billing details, and the vendor form fills in for you. Review it and save. You can also link an existing vendor to a provider the same way, and unlink it anytime.

2. Get their payment details on file

Open the vendor and choose one of two options:

Email the vendor a secure link. Best when you do not have their banking info. Hona emails them a secure Confido link, with an optional note from you. They enter their own bank details, and you can see whether the request is pending, completed, or expired.
Enter the details yourself. Best when you already have the vendor's verified account and routing number. You enter them in a secure Confido form inside Hona, and nothing is needed from the vendor.

Either way, you only do this once. The payment details stay on file for every future payment to that vendor. The Ready for payment column on the Vendors tab shows where each vendor stands: Ready, Requested, Not set up, or Link expired.

3. Draft the disbursement

Click New Disbursement and choose Vendor. Then:

Select the vendor
Select the payment method (if the vendor has only one on file, it is picked for you)
Enter the amount
Choose the account the money comes from, trust or operating
Link the case, if the payment belongs to one (optional, but it keeps your records clean)

Save it, and it waits for approval.

4. Approve and send

An Approver or Disbursement Admin reviews the draft and approves it. The payment goes out as soon as it is approved. Hona asks you to confirm first, because once it is approved it cannot be canceled.

The vendor gets an email letting them know your firm sent a payment, with the amount and the last four digits of the account it went to.

Tracking vendor payments

Vendor payments show up in your main Disbursements list alongside client payouts, marked as Vendor. They move through the same statuses as client disbursements, minus the steps where a client opens and accepts a link. See Disbursement Statuses and Notifications for what each one means.

To see everything you have paid a single vendor, open the vendor. Their History shows every payment and change to their record. Each disbursement also has its own audit log.

Who can do what

Vendor disbursements use the same permissions as client payouts:

Drafter, Approver, or Disbursement Admin: add and edit vendors, request or enter payment details, and draft vendor disbursements
Approver or Disbursement Admin: approve and send vendor disbursements
Disbursement Admin only: archive or delete a vendor

See Disbursements Permissions: Drafters, Approvers, and Disbursement Admins to grant access.

FAQs

What does it cost?

Your firm pays $3 per vendor disbursement, the same as a client payout. The vendor pays nothing. See Disbursements Pricing.

How long until the vendor gets paid?

Vendor payments go out by ACH, which typically takes 4 to 6 business days.

Can I cancel a vendor payment?

Yes, while it is still a draft. Once it is approved, the money is on its way and it cannot be canceled. If something is wrong, contact the vendor directly.

The vendor never filled out the secure link. What now?

Check the request status on the vendor. If it expired, send a new one. You will not get a separate alert when a link expires, so it is worth checking back if you are waiting on a vendor.

Does the vendor re-enter their bank info every time?

No. Once their payment details are on file, they stay on file for every future payment.

Do vendor payments need to be tied to a case?

No, linking a case is optional. We do recommend it, since it makes reconciliation easier later.

Can I import all my vendors at once?

Not yet. Vendors are added one at a time today. Start with the ones you pay most often.

Do we need to do anything with our bank first?

If your firm already sends client disbursements, you are set. If not, complete the Positive Pay step on both your trust and operating accounts first. See Positive Pay: Authorizing Confido With Your Bank.

Still stuck? Chat with our support team or email [email protected].

Vendor Disbursements: Paying Providers, Experts, and Other Vendors