Understanding the billing balance is crucial for effective management of a member's account. The billing balance provides a clear and immediate picture of the financial status between the service provider and the client. The most accurate and up-to-date record of the billing balance can be found on the Balance tab within the Billing Activity Summary.
The balance reflects a real-time calculation of all financial transactions, ensuring that both the amount of money the client owes to you and any credits or payments you owe the client are accurately represented. By regularly reviewing the Balance tab, you can stay informed about outstanding balances, upcoming payments, and any discrepancies that need to be addressed.
You can access the customer's billing profile to view the balance by clicking on either the billing icon or the billing tab.
Up-to-date Balance
Ideally, the balance should always be $0.00, indicating that the client's payments are up to date. To verify that the contact is meeting their financial obligations to your facility, ensure their balance is $0.00. This reflects a healthy financial relationship between the contact and your location.
Past Due Balance
When a client is past due, their balance will appear in red, indicating that they owe money to the facility. This negatively impacts your revenue and financial income. It's important to collect the past due amount as soon as possible to avoid losing or postponing your revenue.
Past Due Balance Pro-tip: When there's a negative balance, the system will automatically apply any incoming payment to the oldest past-due invoice first.
For example, if your client has a past due amount of $200 and then purchases a membership for $150, the system will use the $150 to partially cover the $200 past due. The remaining balance will be $50 past due.
Let's imagine that the same client then purchases another membership for $100, now the balance is not going to be past due, but they will even have a positive credit in their balance for $50:
As you can see the past due balance is updating according to the income, a past due will be fulfilled by the income:
Exception to the Rule: In the case of automatic payments, the payment will be allocated to the intended invoice rather than the oldest past due balance. Only manually added payments will be applied to the oldest past due balance.
Credit Balance
A credit is a financial benefit provided to the client by the facility. It can take the form of a prize, gift card, birthday gift, or similar reward. Additionally, a credit can also result from an invoice paid in advance by the client, often due to a cash payment made before the actual payment date.
Credit Balance Pro-tip: Make sure to keep track of the credit on the balance to ensure that it is valid and that you are not losing any revenue.
E.g.: Let's say that your client got his/her CC stolen, while they wait to get the new one the transactions have to be paid by cash. Your client attends classes on Monday afternoon but their payments are scheduled to be charged on Friday, so on Monday, they pay the invoice for $75 on Friday by cash.
You can grant them credit on Monday and until Friday they'll have a positive balance:
