circ:bills:negative-balances
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circ:bills:negative-balances [2018/10/11 20:15] – external edit 127.0.0.1 | circ:bills:negative-balances [2024/04/04 12:48] (current) – [Investigating a Negative Bill] smorrison | ||
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- | ====== Negative | + | ====== |
- | There are several scenarios that may result in a patron account showing a negative balance or credit. PINES policy states that patrons are not allowed to carry a credit balance on their account, so accounts that show negative balances should be reviewed regularly and balanced. | + | There are several scenarios that may result in a patron account showing a negative balance or credit. PINES policy states that patrons are not allowed to carry a credit balance on their account, so accounts that show negative balances should be reviewed regularly and balanced. |
- | + | ||
- | ===== Obtaining | + | |
- | Open the Evergreen Staff Client and go to: // | + | Patrons may also have a combination of negative and positive bills on their account which will prevent online payments and may create confusion about the amount that is actually owed or due as a refund. |
+ | |||
+ | The information provided in this section, and additional scenarios and solutions for resolving negative bills, is also available through the [[https:// | ||
+ | ===== Identifying Patrons with Negative Bills ===== | ||
+ | |||
+ | **Negative Balances** | ||
+ | |||
+ | Open the Evergreen Staff Client and go to: // | ||
+ | |||
+ | This screen will show all patrons with a total balance that is a negative amount, but will not show patrons that have negative bills with a positive total balance. | ||
This screen may take some time to load. It will default to the library location that your workstation is registered to. After it loads, you may select a different library location. | This screen may take some time to load. It will default to the library location that your workstation is registered to. After it loads, you may select a different library location. | ||
- | Double-click | + | Click on the patron |
+ | |||
+ | **Negative Bills** | ||
+ | |||
+ | Open the Evergreen Staff Client and go to: PINES Quick Reports > (Login with your credentials) > Choose “New Quick Report” > then “Bills” > then the report “Bills with Negative Balances” and create a report. This will show patrons with individual bills that are negative. The patron may have a total balance that is not negative but have individual bills that need to be corrected. | ||
- | ===== Investigating a Negative | + | ===== Investigating a Negative |
- Open the patron' | - Open the patron' | ||
Line 18: | Line 30: | ||
- You may also wish to look at the history (from the main Bills screen, click the History button). From here you may view all Transactions or limit to all Payments for any specified time period. | - You may also wish to look at the history (from the main Bills screen, click the History button). From here you may view all Transactions or limit to all Payments for any specified time period. | ||
+ | //Types of Scenarios That May Create Negative Bills// | ||
+ | |||
+ | * A patron pays overdue fines before the item is checked in, and then the item is checked in under amnesty mode or with backdating enabled. (For example, a patron turns a book into the book drop, then comes to the desk and pays the overdue fines before the book drop is checked in with backdating enabled.) | ||
+ | * A staff member forgives a patron' | ||
+ | * A patron pays a portion of a bill and then the entire bill is voided. | ||
+ | * A staff member checks items in under amnesty mode and also backdates the checkin. | ||
+ | * A patron pays the Lost or Long Overdue fine for an item, but then finds it and returns it within 6 months of the payment date. The item cost will be voided, and the fines will be restored and any processing fees will be kept. This generally creates a situation where the patron is due a refund. | ||
===== Correcting a Negative Balance Caused by a Bill Being Forgiven and Voided ===== | ===== Correcting a Negative Balance Caused by a Bill Being Forgiven and Voided ===== | ||
- | If you see that charges were voided under the Bills section, but also paid or forgiven under the Payments section, then that would explain how the bill number ended up with a credit that should not be there. To correct this, add a bill to that bill number for the amount of the incorrect credit: | + | If you see that charges were voided under the Bills section, but also paid or forgiven under the Payments section, then that would explain how the bill number ended up with a credit that should not be there. In this scenario, the patron is __//not//__ due a refund. To correct this, add a bill to that bill number for the amount of the incorrect credit: |
- From the patron' | - From the patron' | ||
Line 33: | Line 52: | ||
- Click the Refresh button to refresh the main Bills screen to see the balanced account - this is sometimes cached and you may need to close the patron account and reopen it to see the balanced account. | - Click the Refresh button to refresh the main Bills screen to see the balanced account - this is sometimes cached and you may need to close the patron account and reopen it to see the balanced account. | ||
- | See Also: | + | ===== Refunds |
- | * {{ : | + | |
- | * {{ : | + | |
- | + | ||
- | ===== Correcting a Negative Balance Caused by a Lost Item Being Paid for and then Found ===== | + | |
PINES policy states that if a lost item is paid for in full, but then found and returned by the patron within six months (180 days) of payment, then the owning library should refund the payment minus any overdue fees that had been automatically voided when the item was marked lost, and minus any processing fees which had been applied. | PINES policy states that if a lost item is paid for in full, but then found and returned by the patron within six months (180 days) of payment, then the owning library should refund the payment minus any overdue fees that had been automatically voided when the item was marked lost, and minus any processing fees which had been applied. | ||
- | | + | **1) Verify that the refund is due.** |
- | - Click Full Details to confirm | + | |
+ | | ||
+ | - Confirm | ||
- Review the payment date and the Voided date to confirm that the item was returned within 6 months (180 days) of payment. If the item was returned after that date, then no refund is due to the patron. If it was within that 6 months, then the patron is due the amount they paid minus any overdue charges that had been voided, minus any processing fee. Make a note of how much money is actually owed to the patron for a refund. | - Review the payment date and the Voided date to confirm that the item was returned within 6 months (180 days) of payment. If the item was returned after that date, then no refund is due to the patron. If it was within that 6 months, then the patron is due the amount they paid minus any overdue charges that had been voided, minus any processing fee. Make a note of how much money is actually owed to the patron for a refund. | ||
- Return to the main Bills screen. | - Return to the main Bills screen. | ||
+ | |||
+ | **2) Confirm the amount of the refund.** | ||
- Confirm that the amount showing as owed to the patron matches what you have calculated in your investigation. If the displayed number is incorrect due to other billing issues or errors, correct each of them until the amount shown is correct. | - Confirm that the amount showing as owed to the patron matches what you have calculated in your investigation. If the displayed number is incorrect due to other billing issues or errors, correct each of them until the amount shown is correct. | ||
- | | + | |
+ | **3) Process the refund.** | ||
+ | | ||
- Check the Annotate Payment box. | - Check the Annotate Payment box. | ||
- | - Click Apply Payment. | + | |
- | - Enter annotation (for example, " | + | - Change the number of receipts to the number you will need for your library' |
+ | | ||
+ | - A popup box will appear. | ||
- Click OK. | - Click OK. | ||
- | - Different library systems have different procedures for processing refunds, but most will have a form to fill out that goes to their business office to request that a check be cut and sent to the patron. Give a of the receipt to the patron indicating | + | - If cash reports are used a copy of the receipt |
- Click the Refresh button to refresh the main Bills screen to see the balanced account - this is sometimes cached and you may need to close the patron account and reopen it to see the balanced account. | - Click the Refresh button to refresh the main Bills screen to see the balanced account - this is sometimes cached and you may need to close the patron account and reopen it to see the balanced account. | ||
+ | |||
+ | Currently there is a bug in the refund process. | ||
+ | |||
+ | Also, if a patron owes money and has a refund, the refund must be sorted to the top of the bills to be processed. | ||
+ | |||
===== Sources of Confusion ===== | ===== Sources of Confusion ===== | ||
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* If you right-click on a bill and click Refund, it will add the dollar amount to the Payment Pending column, but does not complete the Refund. You would still need to click Apply Payment to complete the process. For PINES libraries doing refunds, it is usually better to click Check All Refunds and then Apply Payment. | * If you right-click on a bill and click Refund, it will add the dollar amount to the Payment Pending column, but does not complete the Refund. You would still need to click Apply Payment to complete the process. For PINES libraries doing refunds, it is usually better to click Check All Refunds and then Apply Payment. | ||
* If you right-click on a bill and click Add Billing, one of the Billing Types is Refund: Lost Item Returned. If you use this, it may appear to balance the account (unless there are other fines and fees on the account), but the transactions will not show up under Bill History. For PINES libraries doing refunds, it is usually better to click Check All Refunds and then Apply Payment. | * If you right-click on a bill and click Add Billing, one of the Billing Types is Refund: Lost Item Returned. If you use this, it may appear to balance the account (unless there are other fines and fees on the account), but the transactions will not show up under Bill History. For PINES libraries doing refunds, it is usually better to click Check All Refunds and then Apply Payment. | ||
+ | * If you click the Bill Patron button at the top of the list, a new billing line will appear. This may result in a total balance owed of zero, but negative and positive bills will still be present. To correct negative billing errors, always right-click on the negative bill and choose Add Billing. This will add a new billing line item to the negative bill rather than creating a new bill. | ||
===== Help Desk ===== | ===== Help Desk ===== | ||
- | If you are unable to identify the cause of the negative balance or unable to correct it, please submit a detailed Help Desk ticket. | + | If you are unable to identify the cause of the negative balance or unable to correct it, please submit a detailed |
circ/bills/negative-balances.1539288954.txt.gz · Last modified: 2018/10/11 20:15 by 127.0.0.1