---
title: "Credits and referral bonuses"
description: "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."
type: guide
updated: 2026-08-21
canonical_url: https://help.nestlicare.com/owners/billing/family-credits
roles: ["center_admin", "super_admin"]
platforms: [web]
---
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**](/owners/billing/subsidies-and-discounts) — 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

1. Go to **Families** and find the family's card.
2. Click the **gift icon** in the card's header.
3. 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.
4. Optionally add an internal note. Notes are never shown to the family.
5. 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](/owners/billing/subsidies-and-discounts), [Create and send an invoice](/owners/billing/generate-and-send-an-invoice), [Auto-generate invoices on a schedule](/owners/billing/auto-invoice-generation).