Credits are independent transactions that reduce a student's account balance. Unlike charge adjustments, credits stand alone and directly reduce the payer's owed amount, streamlining administrative tasks.
ℹ️ When guardians pay more than the balance owed, their account balance will reflect an automatic credit.
When to Issue a Credit
Credits are useful when you need to reduce a student's account balance, but you do not want to issue a refund. Consider issuing a credit in the following scenarios:
Tracking starting balances when transferring to brightwheel from another system
The program doesn't charge a family for vacation time
The program is closed for a holiday
A referral bonus is offered to families who refer others to the program
The program has a temporary, unexpected closure
The administrator needs to apply a student's security deposit to their final invoice
The program offers a scholarship that reduces the amount of tuition owed by a family
🚩 Issuing a credit does not refund money to the payer's original payment method. You will need to take steps to issue a refund if you wish to return the money to the payer, instead of issuing a credit. You can learn more about issuing a refund in our Help Center.
View Credits
View Available Credits
Providers can view a students' available credits that have not been applied to an invoice.
Navigate to the Billing page on the web
Click on a student to view their billing profile
Under their Current activity tab, click Available credits & payments
View Voided & Applied Credits
Providers can view voided credits, or credits that have not been applied to an invoice.
Navigate to the Billing page on the web
Click on a student to view their billing profile
Select the All transactions tab
Click into the Credits & payments tab
Issue a Credit
If you prefer not to issue a refund, or apply a discount, you can use a credit and apply it directly to a student's account (not a specific payer). Credits issued by the provider aren't immediately applied to invoices, but the credit will automatically apply to the next posted invoice for the primary payer. Credits can be manually allocated to invoices at anytime.
Navigate to the applicable student's billing profile
💡 Open the Billing page from the sidebar, jump to the Students tab, and select the student's name!Click the Select an action drop-down menu, then choose Add a credit
Enter the Credit amount
Select a Reason from the drop-down menu or type in the text box to create a new one
Any add Notes
[Optional] Manually apply the credit to an open, posted invoice by typing the credit amount in the Amount applied field
Click Save & apply
Apply & Unapply a Credit to an Invoice
Apply a Credit to an Invoice
Apply a Credit to an Invoice
Providers can manually apply a credit to an invoice themselves from the child's billing profile!
Navigate to the applicable student's billing profile
💡 Open the Billing page from the sidebar, jump to the Students tab, and select the student's name!Under the Current activity tab, open the Available credits & payments tab
Locate the applicable credit and click the Actions menu on that row
Select Apply to invoices
In the Amount applied field, add the credit amount to apply to an open invoice
Click Save & apply
Unapply a Credit to an Invoice
Unapply a Credit to an Invoice
Navigate to the applicable student's billing profile
💡 Open the Billing page from the sidebar, jump to the Students tab, and select the student's name!Jump to the All transactions tab
Locate the invoice the credit was applied to and click the Actions menu on that row
Select View / Edit
Under Charges & payments, locate the credit and click the Actions menu on that row
Select Unapply
Click Yes, unapply transaction
The credit will then be unapplied from the invoice and will be visible under the Available credits & payments tab on the student’s billing profile.
The credit will be available for admins apply this credit to another posted invoice or it’ll apply automatically to the next posted invoice for the primary payer on the account. Unapplying a credit is not the same as a refund and it will not return the funds to the payers original payment method.
Adjust a Credit
Log in on the web
Open the Billing page
From the Students page, select the applicable student's name to open their billing profile
Jump to the Available credits & payments tab
Locate the credit and click Actions to display options
To adjust a credit, click View/Edit
Make adjustments to the Credit amount, Reason, or Notes
When finished, click Save & apply
To delete a credit, click Void and then Void once more to finalize the action
Void/Remove Credits
If you need to remove the negative balance (aka credits) off a student account, you can Void the credit.
Credits can be voided if it is a stand-alone amount issued by the provider and it has not been applied to an invoice. Voiding a credit will remove the credit amount from the users billing profile and will not refund the credit amount to payer's bank account since it was added by the provider.
Log in on the web
Open the Billing page
From the Students page, select the applicable student's name to open their billing profile
Jump to the Available credits & payments tab
Locate the credit and click Actions to display options
Click Void and then Void once more to finalize the action
Refund Credits
Refunding a credit will return the credit amount either back to the original online payment method, or a different offline method. Steps to refund a credit differ depending on how the credit was added to the account, as outlined below.
Refund a credit added by a payer making a one-time payment
Refund a credit added by a payer making a one-time payment
If you need to refund the credit amount added by the payer making a one-time payment, you can only do so only if the credit was added because a payer made a one-time payment online and the credit was not applied to an invoice.
Navigate to the student billing profile
Click Actions next to the credit
Select Refund to return the payment to the payer.
Refund a credit issued as a stand-alone amount by the provider
Refund a credit issued as a stand-alone amount by the provider
If you need to refund a credit amount added by the provider issuing a stand-alone credit and there are no open invoices to apply the credit to, you will need to apply the credit to a old invoice before you can make a refund. Credits issued by the provider can only be refunded if connected to a online payment via a invoice.
To start you'll need open an old invoice and issue a refund on that invoice for the EXACT credit amount you'd like to send back to the payer.
1. Go to the All Transactions tab in a student’s billing profile
2. Select the Credits & Payments tab under All Transactions History
3. Click the Actions drop-down menu next to the payment that needs to be refunded and select Refund
4. Indicate the amount to refund (this will be the total credit/negative balance)
6. If issuing a partial credit refund, adjust the default refund amount to the amount you’d like to send back to the parent
7.Select a Refund method and a Reason for the refund
Once the refund has been issued, the funds will be returned either back to the original online payment method, or a different offline method. You'll now need to ensure the old invoice you just reopened has been marked as paid and closed:
1. Go to the student's billing profile
2. Go to the Available credits & payments tab
3. On the payment for the old invoice, press Actions
4. From the drop-down, select Apply to invoices
5. Under the Amount applied column, type in how much of the payment should go towards the invoice (this will be the total credit/negative balance you want to remove/refund)
6. Press Save & apply
7. Once you press Save & apply, the invoice will then show as Paid under the All Transactions tab.