Learn how to process online payment refunds, record external refunds, and adjust debits for students in Playground. This article covers full and partial refunds, processing fees, and correcting account balances.
Online Payment Refunds
Online payments are payments made through Playground via Credit Card or ACH. Follow the instructions below to refund these types of payments.
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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 Refund Payment page will open. Complete the necessary fields.
Why are you refunding this payment? Select a reason:
Duplicate transaction
Fraudulent transaction
Requested by customer
Other
How much are you refunding? Select Full payment to refund the entire amount, or select Choose a partial amount and enter the amount you wish to refund.
Do you also want to refund the processing fee paid by the family? Select Yes to refund the processing fee to the family. Keep in mind this amount will be deducted from your next payout. Select No to keep the processing fee.
Click Next: Review changes.
On the Review changes page, select what should happen to the family's balance after the refund:
Yes, they still owe $X.XX: Select this if the family should be charged again. The amount will be added back to their balance and included in the next autopay.
No, they don't owe this amount anymore: Select this if the family should not be charged again. A credit will be created automatically to offset the original debit. Enter a Credit description and, if applicable, an Accounting code. If you choose this option, do not delete or edit the original debit. The credit is created automatically to keep the balance at $0. Editing or deleting the original debit will result in an extra credit on the account.
Review the Balance summary to confirm the refund amount and the family's balance after the refund.
Click Refund $X.XX to process.
💡 Refunds can take 5-10 days to appear on a customer's statement, depending on their bank. And you have to wait until a payment has finished processing before you can issue a refund.
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