Debit Memos

A debit memo records an amount that a customer owes in addition to their regular invoices. The most common use is recording NSF fees when a customer's check bounces, but debit memos can also be used for returned items, billing corrections, or any other charge that needs to be added to a customer's account outside of the normal invoicing process.

📸 Screenshot suggestion: The Open Debit Memos tab showing the debit memo list with columns for customer, DM type, amount, balance, and status. At least one NSF row should be visible.

Open Debit Memos Shows all debit memos that have not been fully paid. The KPI cards at the top give you a quick read on the total outstanding and let you filter to specific categories — NSF/Bounce or largest open balance — with a single click.

Debits by Account Shows debit memo history organized by customer. Click any customer to see all debit memos on their account, including those already paid.

Debit memos follow the same structure as credit memos, with one important difference: you enter the amount directly rather than building it from line items.

When creating a debit memo, you will fill in:

You can also add line items to document the charge in detail. Use Free-form entry to type in a description and amount, or From item list to select from your existing items.

📸 Screenshot suggestion: The Create Debit Memo modal with the DM Type field visible, the Amount field showing an editable entry, and the Add line item button at the bottom of the line items table.

When a customer's check is returned by the bank, there are two steps in CRO Billing.

First, the original payment that was recorded when the check was deposited needs to be reversed or unapplied. This removes the credit that was given to the customer's account when the check came in.

Second, a debit memo is created with type NSF to charge the customer for the returned check fee. This adds the fee amount back to the customer's outstanding balance.

The Debit Memos section handles the second step. Coordinate with your accounting software or your controller for the first step if the payment reversal needs to happen outside of CRO Billing.

📸 Screenshot suggestion: The NSF/Bounce KPI card highlighted at the top of the Debit Memos page, with the filtered list showing only NSF-type memos below.

A customer's check bounced and you need to record the NSF fee. Go to Debit Memos and create a new debit memo. Set the type to NSF, enter the returned check number and the fee amount, and save. The charge will appear on the customer's account and show up in the Open Debit Memos list.

You need to see which customers have outstanding debit memo balances. The Open Debit Memos tab shows all unpaid debit memos across all customers. Use the customer filter in the toolbar to narrow by account if needed.

A customer has paid the debit memo balance and it needs to be cleared. When a customer's payment is applied and covers the debit memo balance, the memo status will update automatically. If you need to manually close a debit memo, contact your administrator.