Why can't I see or use credit on a family's account?

Credit is always used to reduce what a family owes first. It will only appear as available account credit if the family has no outstanding orders or instalments to be paid.

Below are some common scenarios that explain how credit is applied.

1. Adding credit to an unpaid or part-paid order

Credit will reduce the amount owed, rather than appearing as account credit.

Example

Order total: £100
Credit added: £20

Amount still owed: £80

The £20 is already used to reduce the order, so it will not appear as account credit.

2. If the order has unpaid instalments

Credit will reduce the earliest instalments first.

Example

Order instalments:

• Instalment 1: £40

• Instalment 2: £40

• Instalment 3: £40

Credit added: £20

Result:

• Instalment 1 becomes £20

• Other instalments stay the same

3. If there are no outstanding orders

If the order is fully paid and there are no other outstanding orders, credit will appear as account balance that can be used through the checkout or when an automated payment is taken.

Example

Order total: £100
Amount paid: £100
Outstanding fees: £0
Credit added: £20

This is an overpayment for that specific order so the credit will be available on the account balance.

Available account credit: £20

4. When credit is added but another order is still unpaid

Example

Outstanding order (#00002): £100
Credit added to paid order (#00001): £20

Account balance shows: £80 owed

The credit has already been applied to reduce what the family owes.

Ways to resolve this

If you want the credit to appear as account balance, you have two options:

Option 1: Ask the family to pay the order (#00002) in full

If the family pays the full £100, there will be no outstanding orders on the account. The £20 credit will then appear as £20 account balance to be used going forward.

Option 2: Leave part of the order (#00002) unpaid

You could ask the family to pay £80 and record a manual payment in Class Manager, leaving £20 still outstanding on the order.

This keeps the account in the same state as if the credit had been used to pay off the outstanding order.