Refunds and credits are permanent records. After you record one, you cannot delete it, but you can find it, review it, update certain fields, or move it to another accounting batch when needed.
When to Use This
Use this article when you need to find a refund or credit, review the payment and ledger entries behind it, correct an incorrect date or note, or move it to a different open batch. If you need to issue a new refund or credit, see Refund a Payment.
Prerequisites
- Permission to view refunds and credits, so you can open the refund or credit record.
- Permission to change a transaction's batch, if you plan to move one.
Find a Refund or Credit
- Open the batch where the refund or credit was recorded and review its transaction list, or use transaction search anywhere in Finance & Billing.
- Search by batch, date, transaction number, or amount. To narrow a long list, set the transaction type filter to refund, then enter the amount and date. For a refund, you can also search by the payment processor's transaction reference. An advanced search on the gateway transaction ID finds the original payment, and the refund appears as a related transaction on that payment record. Credits do not have a processor reference, so search for the related refund if that is the information you have.
- Select the refund or credit to open its record.
Result
The refund or credit record opens with its amount and the payment tied to it. For a credit, the record shows the payment the credit came from. You can also review the invoice lines or credit it was applied to, its batch, and any memo or notes.
Tip
Only these fields are searchable. Searching by customer name or memo text will not find a refund or credit, so use the batch, date, number, amount, or processor reference instead.
Review What's Behind It
Open the refund or credit record to review its details in one place. You can see the payment it came from, the ledger entries after its batch posts, and, for a credit, how much has been used and how much remains available. From a refund record, each invoice or credit line it affected links back to that record, so you can follow the money in either direction. You can also start from the original payment, where the refund appears as a related transaction.
A refund's or credit's accounting can land in a different batch, or on a different related record, than the original payment. If you expected a refund to appear in the same batch as its payment and it is not there, check whether it was recorded through a related credit memo in a separate batch. When that happens, the accounting appears in the credit memo's batch instead of the payment's batch.
An overpayment credit and the payment record it came from both show audit details for the user who created them, which helps when you need to confirm how a credit was created.
Tip
If a related credit or refund came from a change memo, its own subledger entries may not appear separately. That accounting activity is included in the parent transaction's subledger activity, so the batch total is still correct even when the credit or refund record does not show its own entries.
Tip
If a refund does not match what you expect and you need Support's help, include the payment transaction ID, the invoice or order number, the expected refund amount, and the actual refunded amount if it differs. Also include where you are seeing the discrepancy. Check the payment transaction's status first, including whether the funds were captured, refunded, or are still pending, because that often shows whether you are looking at a processing issue or a reconciliation or display issue.
Warning
If a refund appears at your payment processor but you cannot find it in the expected batch, and opening the related transaction produces an error, this combination has been linked to a known payment-processing issue rather than an account configuration problem. Contact Support with the details above instead of continuing to search for it.
Tip
Reversing a recurring donation payment can leave what you see afterward looking inconsistent. The gift or its refund may not show on the donor's own profile, and the credit card batch can show a refund entry without the original charge entry next to it. Use the payment's own transaction history, rather than only the donor profile or batch view, to confirm what actually happened.
When you correct a refund that had to be replaced, such as one voided and reissued at the gateway, your next step depends on whether the replacement amount matches the original refund amount. If the amounts match, you can usually resolve it by manually refunding the related transaction to align Rhythm's records. If the amounts differ, review the transaction more closely before making any change, because a simple manual refund may not be the right fix.
Correct a Refund or Credit
You can update a recorded refund's or credit's date, memo, and internal notes. You cannot change its amount, lines, the payment or credit it is tied to, or, for a credit, its type.
- Open the refund or credit.
- Open Refund Options (or Credit Options) and select Edit Details....
- Update the date, memo, or notes.
- Save your changes.
Result
The date, memo, and notes update. The refund's or credit's recorded amount and lines stay exactly as they were.
Move a Refund or Credit to Another Batch
If a refund or credit landed in the wrong batch, you can move it to a different batch in the same business unit before either batch posts. Both batches must be open or in an error status.
- Open the refund or credit.
- Open Refund Options (or Credit Options) and select Move to Another Batch....
- Choose the batch to move it into and confirm.
Result
The refund or credit moves into the batch you chose.
Warning
Both the current batch and the batch you move it into must be open or in an error status. You cannot move a refund or credit into or out of a batch that is closed, posted, or downloaded.
Tip
If you need a refund or credit out of a batch entirely, rather than moved to another open batch, create a new batch, move the refund or credit into it, and archive that batch. Archiving keeps the transaction on record but removes it from routine financial views and books-related workflows. An archived batch is not included when you download batches to your accounting software. This is a useful way to isolate a manual refund after you have processed it, or to work around an unwanted refund record without deleting it.
What You Can't Do
- You can't delete a refund or credit. After you record one, it becomes a permanent part of the transaction history, regardless of what happened to the money.
- You can't void a refund, either. There is no option to reverse a recorded refund the way you might expect to void a payment. If you need to undo a refund, move it out of the way as described above instead of looking for a void option.
- You can't move a credit to a different contact or organization from the Console. The Credit page and its options menu do not include a control for reassigning a credit's owner.
Related Reading
To see every refund and credit recorded in one batch, review the batch itself. To issue a new refund from a payment, see Refund a Payment; to give the customer a printed or emailed copy, see Produce and Send a Refund Receipt.