Sometimes payments in brightwheel don’t automatically apply to invoices. This is usually due to a mismatch between the payer and the invoice.
Common reasons
No invoices selected: Payers selected "other amount" when making a payment without selecting a specific invoice to pay.
Timing: The payment was made after the invoice posted and wasn’t applied to a specific invoice. Payments only auto-apply if posted before the invoice, although it will apply to future invoices assigned to that payer
Wrong assigned payer: The payment was made by a different payer than the one assigned to the invoice.
Agency vs. family payer mismatch: Agency payments can only apply to invoices assigned to the specific invoice (not family invoices), and vice versa.
How to fix it
Apply the payment manually
If the payment was made and it never applied, you can manually apply the payment to the invoice. Follow steps here to Allocate a payment and credits to an invoice.
Or, you can wait and it will automatically apply to future invoices assigned to that payer.
Encourage paying specific invoices
Encourage payers to select a specific invoice and avoid selecting "other amount" when paying. You can learn more about payer options here: How payments are made.
They can pay in full or partially. To ensure invoices appear, we recommend assigning them to the payer or split the balance so each payer has their own invoice.
Update the payer (for future payments)
Make sure billing plans and one-off invoices are assigned to the person who will actually pay, so payments apply correctly. By default, invoices go to the primary payer. If the wrong person keeps getting assigned, it could be you need to update the primary payer to the correct one.
For agency payments
Make sure the invoice is assigned to the agency if you wish for an agency payment to automatically apply.