Write off an uncollectible family account

Issue/Question

Can you point me in the right direction to wipe out the accounts of old inactive students?

Resolution

Sometimes, despite your best efforts, a family’s balance just can’t be collected. Writing off bad debt helps keep your financial records accurate by removing amounts you’re no longer expecting to receive.

Before writing off a bad debt, there’s an important step to take first. Add Transaction Type and Payment Method drop-down options for Bad Debt as a Transaction Type and Write-off as a Payment Method.

Once you have created the new drop-down list values, follow these steps to record a bad debt.

Go to the Family record > click the Payment/Credit button.
From the Transaction Type drop-down, select Bad Debt.
A window will display advising that a Transaction Type that is set to anything other than Payment is considered non-monetary and does not appear on revenue reports, including the Paid Fees report. Click OK.
Select Write-off from the Method drop-down.
Optionally, add a Note.
Enter the uncollectable amount in the Payment field.
To select the fees to write off, click in the Apply Amt field.
Click Save Payment.

The amount written off reduces the family balance, and the bad debt is linked to the appropriate fees. On the Transactions tab of the Family record, the Transaction Type (Type column) and Payment Method (Pmt Meth column) provide visibility into the transaction at a glance.

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