Deposits and Credits

When a customer has money on their account — an overpayment, a make-good, a prepayment — MaidCentral Pulse tracks it as a credit. This guide explains how credits get onto an invoice, why a credit can still show on a profile after an invoice is paid, and where to look when you need to trace the money.

warning

Credits are money. If the numbers on a customer's account do not line up with what you expect, verify the details in Transaction History and your accounting system before charging, refunding, or adjusting anything — and contact support if you cannot explain the difference.

Does Pulse have "deposits"?

No — Pulse does not have a separate deposit record. You can collect money up front with Charge Customers (below), but nothing in Pulse attaches that money to a specific job or invoice. Money a customer has on account lives in Pulse as a customer credit (sometimes called a credit memo). If you are used to "deposits" from another system, credits are the closest thing in Pulse, and everything in this article applies to them.

The Charge Customers report from the old MaidCentral, which some offices used to collect deposits, is available as Charge Customers (Invoicing → Charge Customers; it may need to be turned on for your company) — see Charge Customers. It records the deposit as an unapplied QuickBooks payment. To place a hold on a card before service day, see Credit Card Preauthorization.

The word "deposit" does appear in one other place in Pulse: the Payment Reconciliation page, where it means the bank deposit your payment processor sends you each day. That is unrelated to customer credits.

Where do credits come from?

Office users cannot create a credit in Pulse today. There is no screen for adding a credit to a customer's account — not for a prepayment, a goodwill adjustment, or a make-good — and there is no Apply Credit button on invoices. Post Payment also will not accept more than the invoice balance, so you cannot record an overpayment that turns into account credit.

One action can create credit outside Pulse: when you delete a grouped invoice and check Also void QuickBooks invoice, QuickBooks voids its copy of the invoice and turns any payments on it into unapplied customer credit in QuickBooks. That is a QuickBooks credit, not a Pulse credit, and Pulse does not apply it automatically.

What Pulse does do is use credit that is already on a customer's account:

• Credits already recorded on the customer's account in Pulse are applied automatically, as described in the next section.
• When QuickBooks is connected, a credit recorded in QuickBooks lowers the balance Pulse will charge once that credit has been applied to the invoice in QuickBooks (see below).

If you want to secure payment before service day, the closest option in Pulse is a card hold — see Credit Card Preauthorization. A hold reserves the job amount on the customer's card; it does not create a credit.

Each credit tracks its own remaining balance. A credit can also carry an expiration date. Expired credits are skipped when Pulse reduces a card charge, but the automatic application when an invoice is created does not check expiration dates, so an expired credit can still be applied to an invoice at that point.

How does a credit reach an invoice?

There are two verified paths.

1. Automatic application when an invoice is created

When you create an invoice, Pulse automatically applies the customer's available credits to their open invoices — oldest credit first, oldest invoice first — so some or all of the credit may go to an older unpaid invoice rather than the new one. The new invoice's activity timeline shows a Credit applied entry only for the amount that went to that invoice; credit applied to older invoices does not get a timeline entry. For a grouped invoice, the amount is shown on the first job in the group. You do not need to take any action, and you cannot choose a different credit or amount.

When a credit is applied to an invoice, the system records the application and updates everything in one step:

• The credit's remaining balance goes down by the amount applied.
• The invoice's balance goes down by the same amount.
• If the invoice balance reaches zero, the invoice becomes Paid; otherwise it becomes Partially Paid.
• The customer's overall balance and credit balance both update.

The system never applies more than the credit's remaining balance, or more than the invoice's remaining balance.

2. Credits checked at charge time

When you charge a customer's saved card or bank account and the customer has an accounting account in Pulse, Pulse runs a fresh balance check first. (A customer with no Pulse accounting account, such as one set up and invoiced only in the older MaidCentral system, is charged the amount requested without this check.) That check:

• When the customer is linked to QuickBooks, reads the customer's live record in QuickBooks and uses that customer's balance as the source of truth. The charge stops if QuickBooks cannot be reached, returns a different customer, or shows the customer as inactive.
• When your company is connected to QuickBooks, stops if the customer's Pulse accounting account is not linked to a QuickBooks customer, because there is no QuickBooks balance to check. Link or sync the customer to QuickBooks and charge again — a different card will not clear this.
• When QuickBooks is not in use, uses the balance Pulse holds for the customer.
• Finds the customer's available credits, oldest first.
• Reduces the amount sent to the card by the credit amount, and caps the charge at the live balance so a stale number can never over-charge the card.
• If credits fully cover the amount, no card charge happens at all.

This is why a customer with a credit on file may see a smaller card charge than the invoice total.

note

Settings → Accounting also has an Auto-Apply Credits toggle under automation rules. Today Pulse applies available credits when an invoice is created whether or not that toggle is on.

Why does a credit still show on the profile after the invoice was paid?

The most common reasons, in order:

1. The invoice was paid without the credit. A credit's balance only goes down when an application is actually recorded against an invoice. If the invoice was settled by a card charge, a check, or a manual payment that did not use the credit, the credit stays on the account untouched — that is correct behavior, and the credit remains available for the next invoice.

2. The charge was reduced at charge time, but the credit record was not updated the same way. The charge-time credit check described above reduces what the card is charged. In some cases the credit's own recorded balance may not reflect that reduction right away. If an invoice shows paid, the card was charged less than you expected (or not at all), and the credit still shows its full balance — stop and verify before using that credit again. Compare the invoice's activity timeline, the card transaction in Transaction History, and your accounting system. If they do not line up, contact support rather than refunding the credit.

3. The credit lives in your accounting system, not in Pulse. When QuickBooks is connected, Pulse charges the invoice's balance as QuickBooks reports it, so a QuickBooks credit lowers what Pulse charges only once it has been applied to that invoice in QuickBooks. It is not a Pulse credit record, and it will keep showing wherever QuickBooks shows it.

danger

Never "clean up" a leftover credit by refunding it until you have confirmed it was not already consumed. If the same money is counted twice, the customer ends up over-credited and the books will not reconcile.

How do I trace where a payment or credit was applied?

Work through these screens in order:

1. The invoice's activity timeline. Open the invoice detail drawer from the Invoicing page. The timeline records each event with a timestamp, including Credit applied entries with the amount, charge attempts, and payments posted. This is the fastest way to see whether a specific invoice ever received a credit.

2. The Invoicing page job cards. Each job's card shows a bold Balance at the bottom of its totals: the amount that would actually be charged. When a credit leaves the balance negative, the card shows a Credit badge.

3. The customer profile → Billing section. The Billing section has three tabs:

   • Overview — saved payment methods and billing addresses.
   • Invoices — the customer's invoices (shown when the QuickBooks integration and invoice tabs are enabled for your account).
   • Transactions — every card charge for this customer, with the date charged, total charge, which card or account it came from, and who charged it.

4. Transaction History (the page is titled Transactions Report and sits under Invoicing) — the company-wide list of card transactions. Search by the customer's name to see every charge, void, and refund. See Refunds and Voids for how to read it.

5. Your accounting system. If QuickBooks is connected, confirm the invoice, payment, and credit there too — for balance questions, it is the source of truth. When QuickBooks is connected, Pulse also applies each credit to the matching QuickBooks invoice. If Pulse cannot confirm the credit in QuickBooks first (for example, QuickBooks did not respond), it does not apply it there: the invoice shows Credit applied in Pulse, but the QuickBooks invoice keeps its full balance. Pulse tries again the next time the invoice syncs to QuickBooks. That gap does not mean the invoice is paid, and it is not a reason to charge the customer again — wait for the next sync, and contact support if it stays open.

If you have walked all five and still cannot explain where a credit or payment went, gather the invoice number, the credit amount, and any transaction IDs, and contact support.

Tips and best practices

• Look for the Credit applied entry. A credit applied when the invoice was created leaves a clear trail on the invoice timeline. A charge reduced at charge time works, but it is harder to trace later.
• Check the timeline before charging. If a customer has credit on file, look at the invoice's expected charge amount first so the card charge does not surprise anyone.
• Watch expiration dates. A credit past its expiration date will not be used to reduce a card charge, but it can still be applied automatically when a new invoice is created.
• Reconcile credits the same way you reconcile deposits. A weekly pass over accounts with open credits catches drift early.

An advance payment doesn't show a receipt in QuickBooks

In QuickBooks Online, an advance payment appears as a credit. QuickBooks applies it to the customer's next invoice automatically, based on your QuickBooks settings.

Troubleshooting

Issue	What to do
I can't find the Charge Customers report or a way to charge a deposit	It is available as Charge Customers (Invoicing → Charge Customers; it may need to be turned on for your company) — see Charge Customers. It records the deposit as an unapplied QuickBooks payment. To hold funds without charging, use Credit Card Preauthorization.
A recurring prepayment "stopped reducing" invoices	Confirm whether the money lives as a Pulse credit or only in your accounting system. Then check one recent invoice's activity timeline for a Credit applied entry. If nothing lines up, contact support with the invoice numbers.
I need to add or apply a credit by hand	This is not available in Pulse today. Pulse applies existing credits automatically when an invoice is created.
Card was charged the full amount even though a credit existed	Check whether the credit was expired or had a zero remaining balance at charge time. Verify the charge in Transaction History before making any adjustment.
Credit shows on the profile after the invoice was paid	Work through the section above — do not reuse or refund the credit until you have confirmed it was not already consumed.
A saved-card charge says "Payment validation failed" (for example, "payment blocked" or "Unable to retrieve latest QuickBooks customer balance")	Pulse could not confirm the customer's QuickBooks balance: the customer has no QuickBooks link, or the linked QuickBooks customer is inactive, a different customer, or unavailable. Link or sync the customer to QuickBooks, or reactivate the customer in QuickBooks, then charge again.
Two screens show different balances	When QuickBooks is connected, the live QuickBooks balance drives charge amounts. Refresh, compare both systems, and contact support if they still disagree.

Related Articles

• Payments and Credits — Charge invoices, record manual payments, and see how credits affect balances
• Credit Card Preauthorization — Place a hold on a customer's card before service day
• Refunds and Voids — Return money after a mistaken or duplicate charge
• Payment Reconciliation — Match processor funding batches (bank deposits) to your charges
• Charge Status and Safe Retry — What charge statuses mean and when a retry is safe