Client credit (overpayments and account balances)
A front desk collects more than the bill — cash handed over in a hurry, a rounding, a deposit for work not yet done. That difference is not a mistake to chase; it is the client's money sitting with the clinic, and the account says so.
How credit appears
Pay more than an invoice asks for. The invoice settles at its own total, and the excess stays on the account. On any invoice list the client is then marked credit $X rather than owing $Y — one number, derived from the money that actually moved, never typed in by hand.
The next bill draws it down on its own
When a new invoice is created for that client, the credit is applied immediately, up to the amount of the bill: the invoice shows the credit as a credit payment row with its own money trail, and the account drops to the true remaining balance (or keeps credit if the bill was smaller). The clerk types nothing twice, and nothing is auto-applied to a *draft* or voided invoice.
What the numbers mean
- Owing is the total of live invoices minus everything paid across the account.
- Credit is what payments exceed those invoices. A client is never both.
- Voids don't count as billed, and the credit a client had before a void survives it.
Honest limits (v1)
Credit is an account balance, not a stored-value card: no expiry dates, no selling gift packages (a separate feature), and no automatic SMS "you have credit". Refunding an overpayment back out to the client is done with a refund on the invoice it landed on.