Once Rhythm matches a lockbox row to an invoice, as described in How Rhythm Finds the Invoice for Each Lockbox Cheque, it builds a payment from that row. The payment shape depends on whether the cheque amount equals, exceeds, or is recorded as a credit instead of paying the invoice balance.
The Three Payment Shapes
| Shape | When it happens | What it does |
|---|---|---|
| Pay Invoice | The cheque amount exactly matches the invoice balance due. | Pays every line on the matched invoice and closes the invoice. |
| Pay Invoice/Credit | The cheque amount is more than the invoice balance due. | Pays the invoice lines and records the extra amount as a credit on the payer's account. |
| Credit | The row's action is set to Credit instead of being matched automatically to pay an invoice. | Records the full cheque amount as a credit on the payer's account and does not pay any invoice line. |
Rhythm must find an invoice before it can build any of these payment shapes. Even a pure credit needs the invoice because Rhythm uses it to identify the payer and currency, so a row without a matching invoice cannot be processed.
For a Pay Invoice/Credit row, Rhythm calculates the credit from the invoice's remaining balance. It applies the invoice's own lines at their full original totals, rather than the amount still owed. If the invoice already had a partial payment before the lockbox import, the invoice lines and new credit can total more than the cheque amount, but the credit still reflects only the actual overpayment.
Who and What the Payment Is Applied To
A lockbox payment always goes to the bill-to contact or organization already on the matched invoice, not necessarily the name or signature on the physical cheque. Rhythm does not compare the cheque's apparent payer with the invoice's payer, so a cheque from someone else is still recorded as a payment on that invoice. The payment also uses the invoice's business unit, regardless of which business unit the lockbox file is set up under.
Every payment from the same import goes into the batch and bank account chosen when the file was configured. The batch is optional when you set up the file, but the bank account and payment type are required. The Console currently offers only Check as the payment type for a lockbox import.
Date and Reference Number
If the bank's file includes a payment date for a row, Rhythm uses that date on the payment. If the row does not include a payment date, Rhythm uses today's date when the payment is processed, based on the service's own clock instead of your account's local time zone. Rhythm copies the value from the column mapped to Check/Reference # directly into the payment's reference number without reformatting it, so the payment shows the value exactly as the bank provided it.
Email Confirmation to the Payer
Email confirmation to the payer is optional for a lockbox payment, but Rhythm does not save that choice on the lockbox file. You must request it on the preview or on each row every time you want it, because there is no setting that turns it on for future imports from that file.
Cancelling or Refunding an Order Paid by Lockbox
Warning
Canceling an order or issuing a refund was not part of the original design for lockbox-created payments. When an order paid through a lockbox import is later canceled or refunded, you need to create the corresponding refund or credit memo so your financial records stay accurate. Without that, the cancellation or refund may not complete as expected.
Payments Are Processed One at a Time
Rhythm processes each lockbox payment one row at a time and confirms each payment before moving to the next row. If one row's payment fails, Rhythm marks that row as a payment failure and continues with the rest of the file. Because Rhythm handles rows one at a time instead of all at once, very large files can take noticeably longer to import, and there is no separate setting to speed this up.