Refunds can be issued or recorded through brightwheel as needed, such as when a student leaves the program early or a deposit needs to be returned. Refunds will return money directly back to the parents.
If the payment was made online in brightwheel, you can issue a online refund to return the funds to the payer's original payment method. If the payment was made offline (e.g. with Cash, Venmo), you can document an offline refund in brightwheel and then send the money to the family by another means.
Note: Another way to return money to a family is by issuing a Credit. Credits do not return the money to the payer directly, but it will remain on their account and go towards future payments.
Issue an online refund
Full or partial refunds can be issued for online payments once the payment has fully processed, and up to 85 days after the payment was made.
Once refunded, payers will be notified, and funds will be returned to the original payment method. It may take up to 10 business days for the refund to appear in the payer's account.
Log in on the web
Click Billing in the sidebar > Students tab > Select the student
Select the Available credits & payments tab under 'Current activity'
Press Actions > Refund next to the payment
Note: There are no additional service fees associated with a refund and any service fees charged at the time of payment are not refunded to the party that paid the service fee (payer or school).
Document a refund made outside of brightwheel (offline)
You can document a refund in brightwheel if it was issued to families outside the platform such as via cash, check, a third-party app (e.g. Venmo), or if you already made a deduction to their paycheck for staff with children enrolled in your program.
This is a great option for returning funds that were originally paid outside of brightwheel, or for refunding an online payment that is greater than 85 days old.
Log in on the web
Click Billing in the sidebar > Students tab > Select the student
Select the All transactions tab > Credits & payments
Press Actions > Refund next to the payment
🚩 Recording an offline refund in brightwheel will not send or mail funds to payers. Once you've documented the offline refund in brightwheel, you'll need to send the cash or check refund to the payer directly outside of brightwheel.
View past refunds issued
One the provider refunds a payment, these can be viewed directly from the child's billing profile.
Log in on the web
Click Billing in the sidebar > Students tab > Select the student
Open the All transactions tab > Credits & payments
Look for transactions with a 'Payment status' of Refunded
FAQ
Why don't I see the option to issue a refund?
Why don't I see the option to issue a refund?
If the payment status column indicates that a payment is Pending, you will not see the option to issue a refund until the payment has been fully processed by the payer's bank.
Card payments are processed instantly, but bank transfer payments can take 5-7 business days to process depending on the payer's bank. We recommend waiting until these days have passed before attempting a refund.
After issuing a refund, the invoice was reopened and/or is past due. How can I correct this?
After issuing a refund, the invoice was reopened and/or is past due. How can I correct this?
If the refunded payment was applied to a paid invoice, the balance that was covered by the payment will be added back as a due balance on the student's account. This is because the invoice is no longer in a paid status after the refund was issued. If the account should not have a balance after issuing the refund, you can reduce the charge or void the invoice completely.
What happens if a payer says their bank account was closed after I issued an online refund?
What happens if a payer says their bank account was closed after I issued an online refund?
Online refunds can take 5-10 business days to process, depending on the payer's bank. If you believe there is a possibility that a refund will fail, please reach out to our Support Team by emailing support@mybrightwheel.com so we can investigate the issue for you.
How do I edit or adjust an offline refund that was recorded in brightwheel?
How do I edit or adjust an offline refund that was recorded in brightwheel?
An offline refund cannot be edited or adjusted once it has been recorded. As a workaround, you can consider logging an offline payment for the amount that was originally refunded. Then, record the correct offline refund against the new offline payment.