Refunds can be issued or recorded through brightwheel such as when a student leaves the program early or a deposit needs to be returned. Refunds will return money directly back to the parents.
If the payment was made online in brightwheel, you can issue a refund to return the funds to the payer's original payment method. However, if the payment was made externally outside of brightwheel (e.g., cash, check, Venmo), you'll need to send the money to the family by another means and then record the refund transaction on the student’s billing profile.
Note: Another way to return money to a family is by issuing a Credit. Credits do not return the money to the payer directly, but it will remain on their account and go towards future payments.
Issue an online refund
If the original payment was made in brightwheel, full or partial refunds can be issued for that payment once it has fully processed, and up to 85 days after the payment was made.
Once refunded, payers will be notified, and funds will be returned to the original payment method. It may take up to 10 business days for the refund to appear in the payer's account.
Log in on the web
Click Billing in the sidebar > Students tab > Select the student
Select the All transactions tab
Choose the Credits & payments tab
Press Actions > Refund next to the payment to refund
Note: There are no additional service fees associated with a refund and any service fees charged at the time of payment are not refunded to the party that paid the service fee (payer or school).
Document refunds made outside of brightwheel (offline)
Since a payment made with cash, check, or a third-party app is not connected to an online payment method in brightwheel, you will need to refund the family using a similar method outside of the platform.
For staff members with children, you also have the option of making a deduction to their paycheck as a way to refund. These types of refunds are sometimes referred to as an “offline refund.”
Once you issue a refund, you can document it in brightwheel for your records. You can also take these steps for refunding a payment made online in brightwheel that is more than 85 days old.
Log in on the web
Click Billing in the sidebar > Students tab > Select the student
Select the All transactions tab > Credits & payments
Press Actions > Refund next to the payment
🚩 Recording a refund made outside of brightwheel will not send or mail funds to payers. Once you've documented this type of refund in brightwheel, you'll need to send the cash or check refund to the payer directly outside of brightwheel.
View past refunds issued
One the provider refunds a payment, these can be viewed directly from the child's billing profile.
Log in on the web
Click Billing in the sidebar > Students tab > Select the student
Open the All transactions tab > Credits & payments
Look for transactions with a 'Payment status' of Refunded
FAQ
Why don't I see the option to issue a refund?
Why don't I see the option to issue a refund?
If the payment status column indicates that a payment is Pending, you will not see the option to issue a refund until the payment has been fully processed by the payer's bank.
Card payments are processed instantly, but bank transfer payments can take 5-7 business days to process depending on the payer's bank. We recommend waiting until these days have passed before attempting a refund.
After issuing a refund, the invoice was reopened and/or is past due. How can I correct this?
After issuing a refund, the invoice was reopened and/or is past due. How can I correct this?
If the refunded payment was applied to a paid invoice, the balance that was covered by the payment will be added back as a due balance on the student's account. This is because the invoice is no longer in a paid status after the refund was issued. If the account should not have a balance after issuing the refund, you can reduce the charge or void the invoice completely.
What happens if a payer says their bank account was closed after I issued a refund?
What happens if a payer says their bank account was closed after I issued a refund?
Online refunds can take 5-10 business days to process, depending on the payer's bank. If you believe there is a possibility that a refund will fail, please contact the brightwheel Support Team so we can investigate the issue for you.
How do I edit or adjust refunds made outside of brightwheel?
How do I edit or adjust refunds made outside of brightwheel?
If you documented a refund made via cash, check, or externally from brightwheel,
the amount recorded cannot be changed. To cancel out the original refund and document the correct refund amount, you can do a two-step workaround:
Log a new payment in brightwheel for the exact amount of the incorrect refund. This cancels out the original refund on the customer’s account.
Record a second refund for the correct amount. This new refund is applied against the payment you just logged, leaving an accurate record.