When you open a customer's record (Contacts → click a contact), a few things in the Invoices section and the Summary deserve an explanation: the blue Credit badge that appears on some invoices, and the Total spent amount. This article explains what they mean.
The "Credit" badge
An invoice with a negative total shows a blue Credit badge. A credit is money owed to the customer: it's not a payment they made.
A credit invoice typically appears in two cases: a proration credit, for example after a mid-cycle unit or rate change that lowers the billed amount, or a credit note generated when a subscription is cancelled mid-cycle.
Previously, these invoices showed the green Paid badge, which wrongly implied the customer had paid that amount. The Credit badge distinguishes them clearly. A credit isn't counted as revenue (see Total spent below).
"Partial refund"
An invoice paid and then partially refunded now shows the Partial refund status instead of the generic Refunded. You can tell a partial refund apart from a full refund at a glance.
"Total spent"
Total spent, shown in the record's Summary, represents the real net revenue this customer has paid you in rent and services. It's calculated to reflect what the customer actually spent: credits (negative-total invoices) are excluded; security deposits are excluded (a deposit is held money, not revenue); partial refunds are subtracted from the total.
Total spent can therefore differ from simply adding up the invoice amounts shown: that's intentional. It shows net rent and service revenue, without deposits or credits.
"Balance to collect"
When a customer owes money, a Balance to collect banner appears at the top of their record. That figure adds up two sources, because a customer can owe money in two different places:
Open invoices — what has been billed and isn't paid yet.
The customer balance — an amount carried on their account that will be added to their next invoice. This is common for a tenant migrated from another software, whose pre-migration debt was carried over this way.
The banner names both: "$511.65 in total: $247.20 on open invoices and $264.45 on the customer balance." If the customer has no open invoice but a carried balance, the banner still says so: "$264.45 to collect on the customer balance. No open invoices."
A balance in the customer's favour (a credit) is never subtracted from the amount to collect. The banner names it separately: "$247.20 outstanding on open invoices. A $200.00 credit on the customer balance will apply to future invoices."
This combined total shows on the customer's record. The contacts list counts open invoices only.
Add a credit to a customer's balance
When a customer pays you outside the platform (cash, Interac transfer, cheque) to cover upcoming months, there is no existing invoice to attach that payment to. The way to record it is to add a credit to their balance. Their next invoices will pay themselves from that credit, automatically, until it runs out.
Step 1.
Open the customer's record and find the Customer invoice balance section.
Step 2.
Click Adjust balance.
Step 3.
Leave Adjustment type on Credit. A credit reduces the next invoice, a debit increases it.
Step 4.
Enter the Amount you collected, as a positive number. The New balance field shows you the result before you confirm.
Step 5.
Add a Note if you want to keep a record of the reason, for example "3 months paid in cash, covered through November 30". The note is internal and is never visible to the customer.
Step 6.
Click Apply credit. The new balance appears immediately in the Customer invoice balance section.
Two things to know before you confirm:
The credit applies to upcoming invoices, after taxes. It never changes an invoice that has already been issued. If the customer also paid an invoice that is already open in the same gesture, subtract that amount from the credit, and record that invoice as an offline payment instead. See the article Record an offline payment on an invoice.
If the customer's current balance comes from a prepaid credit that will apply automatically to their first invoice, only additional credits are possible for now. The dialog tells you when that is the case.
Statuses and key fields
Item | Meaning |
Credit | Negative total (proration/credit note); owed to the customer, not revenue. |
Partial refund | Invoice paid then partially refunded; deducted from Total spent. |
Total spent | Net revenue paid by the customer, minus credits, deposits, and refunds. |
Common questions
An invoice shows a negative amount and a Credit badge. Is that an error? No. It's a credit in the customer's favor (proration or mid-cycle cancellation). The full detail stays available on the linked Stripe invoice.
Total spent doesn't match adding up the invoices shown. Why? Total spent excludes credits and security deposits, and subtracts partial refunds. It's the real net revenue, not the raw sum of invoices.
A security deposit doesn't show up in Total spent. Is that normal? Yes. A deposit is held money, not revenue: it's intentionally excluded from the total.
For everything about viewing invoices, see Invoices.
The "Balance to collect" banner shows more than the sum of the open invoices. Why? Because it adds the balance carried on the customer's account, which will apply to their next invoice. The banner breaks out both amounts.