Refunds
Online Payment Refunds
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Navigate to the profile of the student who is owed a refund.
Click the Billing tab, and then navigate to Credits.
Locate the payment you wish to refund.
Click on the three dots next to the payment and then click Refund.
The Payment Refund window will open. Complete the necessary fields.
Select whether you would like to Refund the entire amount or Refund a partial amount. If you select a partial refund, enter the amount you wish to refund the guardian.
Reason: Use the dropdown menu to select a reason for the refund.
Details: Add more details if you would like to leave a memo or note for the refund
Check the box next to Refund the processing fee if you would like to refund the processing fee to the guardian. Keep in mind this amount will be deducted from your next payout.
Choose what should happen to the original debit:
The family should owe this amount again:
Select this option if the family is meant to be charged again later. This is common when a payment was made with the wrong payment method, the card needs to be updated, or the payment was refunded temporarily. The original debit will remain, and the student’s balance will increase again.
The family should not owe this amount anymore:
Select this option if the family should not be charged again. This will create a credit that offsets the original debit so the balance does not show as overdue and autopay will not run again for this amount. Enter a Credit description and, if applicable, an Accounting code for the credit that will be created.
If you choose this option, do not delete or edit the original debit. This option already creates a credit that offsets the charge so the student’s balance stays at $0. The point is to save you time so you don’t have to go back and adjust the charge yourself. If you edit or delete the original debit after choosing this option, you will add an extra credit to the student’s account.
Either choose this option to create the credit automatically, or choose The family should owe this amount again and then go back and edit or delete the original debit. Do not do both.
Click the blue Save button to process the refund.
💡 Refunds can take 5-10 days to appear on a customer's statement, depending on their bank.
Record External Refunds
If a payment was made by credit card or ACH and the refund was issued outside of Playground (e.g., cash or check), follow the steps below to record the refund in Playground.
🚨 We always recommend refunding ACH and CC payments through Playground. Click here to initiate an online refund instead.
Navigate to your My School -> Students tab and select the student you want to record a refund for.
Click into their Billing tab.
Select the Billing actions button in the top right-hand corner and click Record credit.
Enter the refunded amount and then make sure you indicate that the credit is a refund in the description
Once you have entered the necessary info, click the blue Add credit button to record the refund/credit.
Offline Refunds
If a guardian pays with an offline payment method (cash, check, Zelle, etc) you must process the refund offline as well. However, it is important to update Playground to reflect this refund.
To record an offline payment refund, you must reduce the associated credit by the same amount. If you want the account balance to remain the same, you will also need to reduce the associated debit by the same amount.
Adjust the Credit
Navigate to the profile of the student who is owed a refund.
Click the Billing tab, and then navigate to Credits.
Locate the offline payment you wish to refund.
Click on the pencil icon next to the offline payment to edit it
Adjust the fields in the Edit Transaction window
Amount: Reduce the amount by the total you are refunding to the guardian.
Date: Leave the date as is.
Description: Include that you are issuing a refund for the offline payment
[Optional] Accounting code
Click Save.
Adjust the Debit
If you want the account balance to remain unchanged, you’ll also need to lower the associated debit.
While still in the student’s profile, go to the Debits tab.
Locate the debit that corresponds to the offline payment.
Click the three dots to edit the credit.
In the Edit Transaction window:
Amount: Reduce the charge by the refund amount.
Invoice date / Due date: Leave these unchanged.
Item Description: Add a note referencing the refund.
Click Save