Credits and referral bonuses
Issue a one-off credit to a single family — a referral bonus, goodwill gesture, or deposit — and let it come off their next invoice automatically.
A credit is money you owe one family: a referral bonus for bringing in another family, a goodwill gesture after a rough week, a make-good for a closure, a deposit you are applying to tuition. You issue it once, to one family, and NestliCare takes it off that family's next invoice automatically.
A credit is a one-off amount. If what you want instead is a rate that family gets on every invoice from now on, that is a discount set to Specific families — an employee rate, a military rate, a financial-aid arrangement. Rule of thumb: does it repeat? Discount. Does it happen once? Credit.
Issue a credit
- Go to Families and find the family's card.
- Click the gift icon in the card's header.
- Enter the amount and pick a reason — Referral bonus, Goodwill gesture, Closure make-good, Deposit applied, or type your own. The reason is what the family sees on their invoice, so write it for them.
- Optionally add an internal note. Notes are never shown to the family.
- Click Issue credit.
The family's available balance at the top of the same panel shows everything issued and not yet used.
How it is applied
- The next invoice created for the family — auto-generated or manual — deducts the available balance automatically, up to the invoice total. You will see a credit line on the invoice carrying the reason you wrote.
- A credit larger than one invoice rolls over: whatever is left applies to the following invoice, until it is used up.
- If a family holds several credits, the oldest is used first.
- When you compose a manual invoice for a family with available credit, the composer shows the deduction before you save.
Undo a credit
- Not yet applied? Open the family's credits panel and click Void next to the credit. The unused remainder is cancelled; anything already applied to an invoice stays applied.
- Already on an invoice? Void the invoice. The credit money returns to the family's balance and will apply to the next invoice instead.
Credits, discounts, or subsidies?
| You want to… | Use |
|---|---|
| Reward one family once (referral, goodwill) | Credit |
| Reduce tuition for everyone, a sibling tier, an enrollment type, or a program — ongoing | Discount |
| Track money an outside agency pays toward one child's tuition | Subsidy |
Related: Subsidies and discounts, Create and send an invoice, Auto-generate invoices on a schedule.