This post is applicable in the Cloud database's Windows App as well as in the Legacy database.
Questions: There are unapplied payments showing as I try to register children and clean up records, but they are just errors. How do I "undo" them?! Is it possible to delete "old" (from a previous club year) unapplied payments?
What do I do when a family has overpaid (either because we at registration calculated the amount wrong or because they paid for something in advance that their child never needed) and I have to refund part of the payment? Usually I end up with the amount in "unapplied payments" but I don't know what to do with it. I have to refund the overpayment in cash from a future night (whether or not the initial payment was made by check or cash), which doesn't allow me to match the database receipts with our church's receipts. I wish there was some way to enter a negative payment or to indicate that the money was refunded. Then the family's balance would be zero instead of showing an unapplied payment. Has anyone else found a way to handle this?
Answer:
You generally shouldn't delete an Unapplied Payment amount, because an Unapplied Payment represents money left over (unspent) from a real Payment. However, there are a couple of options for cleaning up those old payments.
In the case of a small overpayment when a parent doesn't want the extra back, use the unapplied amount as a donation: on the Household Ledger > Unapplied Payments tab, there is a toolbar button (and also a popup menu item) to apply the selected unapplied payment amount as a donation. This will automatically create a Fee record in Inventory using "Donation" as the Item Number (if it doesn't exist), create the 'donation' fee for the household and credit the unapplied amount to the 'donation' fee.
Sometimes the unapplied amounts are duplicates. Review the date of payments and other details, like a check number. If there is a payment that was applied that matches a payment that is unapplied, the unapplied payment can be deleted in this situation. (Note: if there is one that looks like a duplicate, but part of each payment is applied, please contact support for assistance.)
In the case where an overpayment was made that needs to be refunded, there a couple of options:
Delete the original payment and repost a new one for the smaller amount. This works if there is no need to know the original payment & the amount refunded. Many clubs only need to know that all items have been paid for, in which case, this is an adequate solution. Optionally, a Note can be entered with the new payment about the original amount and refund amount.
Another option is to create a Refund fee. First, create a "refund fee" inventory item. Adjust the amount each time you add the 'fee' to a specific household. This will take care of extra amounts and zero out the household balance. For example, a $16 payment for a $12 uniform would have a $4 refund. The ledger will show the family paid $16 and bought two items (a uniform and a refund).
NOTE: for assistance with any of these solutions, or to address unique situations, please contact support. We can help get old data cleaned up so it doesn't get in the way of your current recordkeeping.