Payment mistakes can happen, such as accidentally overpaying or paying for only one student. This article provides a step-by-step guide on adjusting and correcting account balances to address these issues.
Account balances are calculated from invoiced (posted) debits. Adjusting the balance on posted and unposted invoices will change students' balances. This may be necessary if an invoice was created incorrectly or needs to be changed for any reason. Click here to learn more about adjusting invoices.
π‘ Debits will be included in the account balance on or after the debit post/invoice date.
Offline Payments and Credits
Offline payments and credits can be used to reduce a guardian's balance.
Offline Payments | Offline payments are additional amounts paid by guardians through methods outside of Playground. These are used to track payments made via check, cash, Zelle, Venmo, and other similar options. |
Credits | Credits do not increase the amount paid by guardians. Instead, they represent funds provided on behalf of a third party for a student's tuition or other charges. Credits are ideal for recording subsidy payments, scholarships, or grant funds received for a student. |
π‘ For steps on creating an offline payment, please reference our article on Offline payments.
Create and Apply a Credit
Navigate to the Statements tab under Billing to locate the balances for your students.
βLocate the student you wish to create a credit for and click on their name.
βFrom the student's profile, click on the blue Create button in the top-right of your screen.
βClick create credit.
βEnter the amount of the credit.
βThe date of the credit.
βOptionally, enter a description for the credit.
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Click the blue save button.
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Correct Overpayment on a Sibling
π‘ To navigate quickly between sibling profiles, click on the Overview tab of the current sibling's profile and scroll down to the Siblings section. Click on the sibling's name to be brought to their Overview tab.
When one sibling is overpaid, it usually means the family's total payment for multiple siblings was applied to just one student. This leads to one student having a credit balance while the others have debit balances.
The best way to resolve this is to create a balance transfer debit on the overpaid student's account and a balance transfer credit on the underpaid student's account.
Follow the steps below to perform a balance transfer:
βPrefer to watch a video? Click here
Navigate to the Statements tab under Billing to locate the balances for your students.
βIdentify any overdue or unpaid student accounts by using either the Overdue or Unpaid tab in Statements.
βFor siblings, check the Family Statements tab or search in the search bar by last name to bring up their accounts and balances.
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Locate the sibling with a credit and click on their name. This will direct you to the student's profile.
Click the blue Actions button in the top-right of your screen.
βMake a note of the amount that is credited. We'll be charging the same amount.
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Click Create debits
βName the item Balance transfer from [Sibling 1] to [Sibling 2].
βThe price should be the amount of the overpayment or credit.
βThe description should list which charge is being corrected
βEx. Overpayment for April Tuition
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Leave the This Charge Should Be dropdown menu set to Paid all at Once.
βSet the invoice and due dates to today's date.
βClick Save item
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Click Continue to progress.
βClick Create debits.
βNavigate to the profile of the sibling with an overdue payment.
Click the blue Actions button in the top-right of your screen.
βMake a note of the amount that is overdue. We'll make a credit for the same amount of the charge we created for the overpaid sibling.
Click Add credit.
βEnter the amount of the charge created on their sibling
βSet the invoice and due dates as today's date
βThe description should be Balance transfer from [Sibling 1] to [Sibling 2]
βClick the blue Add Credit button
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Refunds
Online Refunds
βPrefer to watch a video? Click here
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Admins can process ACH and credit/debit card refunds via Playground.
Navigate to the profile of the student who is owed a refund.
βClick the Billing tab, and then navigate to Credits.
βLocate the payment you wish to refund.
Click on the three dots next to the payment and then click Refund.
βThe Payment Refund window will open. Complete the necessary fields.
βAmount: The amount you wish to refund the guardian(s)
βReason: Use the dropdown menu to select a reason for the refund.
βDetails: Add more details if you would like to leave a memo or note for the refund.
β[Optional] If your guardians are paying the processing fee for charges on Playground, you can refund the processing fee as well.
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Click the blue Save button to process the refund.
π¨ Refunding an online payment will not delete or adjust the corresponding debit. If the debit isnβt manually adjusted or deleted, it may continue to impact billing.
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.
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Adjust the Credit
Navigate to the profile of the student who is owed a refund.
βClick the Payments tab, and then navigate to Credits.
βLocate the offline payment you wish to refund.
Click on the pencil icon next to the offline payment to edit it
βAdjust the fields in the Edit Transaction window
βAmount: Reduce the amount by the total you are refunding to the guardian.
βDate: Leave the date as is.
βDescription: Include that you are issuing a refund for the offline payment
β[Optional] Accounting code
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Click Save.
Adjust the Debit
If you want the account balance to remain unchanged, youβll also need to lower the associated debit.
While still in the studentβs profile, go to the Debits tab.
βLocate the debit that corresponds to the offline payment.
βClick the three dots to edit the credit.
βIn the Edit Transaction window:
βAmount: Reduce the charge by the refund amount.
βInvoice date / Due date: Leave these unchanged.
βItem Description: Add a note referencing the refund.
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Click Save
Discounts
Discounts can be applied to invoices after they are created. If the invoice has already been posted, adding a discount will reduce the total account balance.
Add a Discount to a One-time debit
Navigate to the profile of the student who you would like to apply a discount to.
βClick the Payments tab and locate the debit you want to edit.
βClick the three dots next to the debit and then click Edit.
βIf you are editing a single installment of a billing plan, open the billing plan, and then select the blue edit button.
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The Edit Transaction Window will open.
βClick the blue + Add Discount button.
βSelect the discount you would like to add or create a new discount. Then click the blue Save button under the discount.
Click the blue Save button at the bottom of the Edit Transaction window.
Add a Discount to an Existing Billing Plan
π¨ A discount applied to a billing plan will be applied to every installment in the billing plan, including installments that have already been paid. If you want to apply the discount to a single installment, follow the instructions above.
Navigate to the profile of the student who you would like to apply a discount to.
βClick the Billing tab and locate the billing plan you want to edit.
βClick the three dots next to the charge and then click Edit.
βThe Edit Payment Plan window will open.
Click the blue + Add Discount button.
βSelect the discount you would like to add or create a new discount. Then click the blue Save button under the discount.
Click the blue Save button at the bottom of the Edit Payment Plan window.
Reapply Credits to Debits & Reconcile Student Payments
Playground automatically applies all new payments and credits to the oldest unpaid charges for families. When deleting old invoices or editing amounts, credits will remain attached to the debits they originally covered. This can occasionally cause past debits to appear overdue while applying existing payments to future, unposted debits.
Reapplying credits to debits will impact your reporting, as debits will show as paid for by the date on the credits to which they are applied.
π¨ This feature is currently in beta. Please message us through the Playground support chat if you need access to this feature
Reapply credits in bulk
Reapply credits in bulk
Prefer to watch a video? Click here.
Navigate to My School, then hit the Students tab.
βNavigate to the student's profile who's payments you want to adjust by clicking on their row in the table.
βUnder the Billing tab, click the Credits tab.
βSelect the Checkbox on on the top of the table.
βClick on Reapply all credits in the menu at the top of the table.
βYou will need to confirm that you do want to reapply all credits
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The screen will refresh, you can now go to the debits tab to see that the oldest debits should be paid for first
Reapply credits one-by-one
Reapply credits one-by-one
Prefer to watch a video? Click here.
Navigate to My School, then hit the Students tab.
βNavigate to the student's profile who's payments you want to adjust by clicking on their row in the table.
βUnder the Billing tab, click the Credits tab.
βSelect the Three dots on on the top of the table.
βClick on Reapply to oldest on the dropdown
βYou will need to Confirm that you do want to reapply the credit.
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You will need to refresh the page to see the changes take affect.
Remap to specific debits
Remap to specific debits
Prefer to watch a video? Click here.
π‘ This is currently in beta. Please message us through Playground support chat if you need access to this feature
Navigate to My School, then hit the Students tab.
Navigate to the student's profile who's payments you want to adjust by clicking on their row in the table.
βUnder the Billing tab, click the Credits tab.
βSelect the Three dots on on the top of the table.
βClick on Apply to invoices on the dropdown.
βOn the modal that pops up, you will be able to see a list of debits
βGray rows have no outstanding balance
βOrange rows have some amount of the credit applied to them
βRed rows means there is an error. This is one of 3 reasons
βIt includes non numerical characters
βIt is a negative number
βThe amount is greater than the total amount unpaid
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Enter in the correct amounts that the credit should be applied to for each debit.
βOnce completed, press the Confirm button on the modal.
βYou will need to refresh the page to see the changes take affect