Bounced Checks & Chargebacks

What do I do if someone writes a check to us, and it bounces?

A bounced or NSF (insufficient funds) check requires several banking transactions, to cope with the consequences.

NOTE-- You can also use this procedure for a stopped check, cancelled electronic payment, credit card chargeback, or any other debit for a previous payment you received.

FIXING the Sale or Project Bill

First of all, you'll need to enter a negative Sale or Billing Record, to account for the loss.

1. Choose Sales from the Income menu (or Billing Records, if it was a project billing).
2. Choose Find from the Edit menu.
3. Enter details about the original account that will help find it-- you can enter the account, the amount, or the date.
4. Click the Find button.
5. If you find several matching items, you may need to use the browser control to look through the records.
6. When you find the original sale or billing record, choose Duplicate Record from the Edit menu.
7. Enter Credit into the Conditions popup field. This will change the transaction to a negative amount.
8. You may also want to fill in a comment, explaining what happened.
9. Hit the Enter key, to save the debit record.

Rebilling the CusTomer

If you plan to rebill the customer, create a duplicate of the original sale or billing record, so you can rebill the customer:

1. Go back to the original Sale or Billing Record that you found in step 4 above.
2. Choose Duplicate Record from the Edit menu.
3. You may need to adjust the payment method, depending on how you plan to collect for the item.
4. You may also want to fill in a comment, explaining what happened.
5. Hit the Enter key, to save the rebilling record.
6. You can now print an invoice, and/or create a Billing Statement that will include the new charge.

HINT-- If you plan to write off the loss immediately, then you may skip this step.

Bank DEBIT

Next, you'll need to enter the debit amount for the bounced check. You'll handle it just like a regular sale.

1. Choose Deposit Funds from the Bank menu.
2. Enter Billed Sales or Billed Projects into the Type popup field, at upper right.
3. Put a checkmark next to the negative sale or billing record. Uncheck any other items.
4. Click the Create Deposit button.
5. Goldenseal will create a bank deposit with a negative amount, and reduce your bank balance.

Bank Service Charges

Next, enter any charges the bank made against your account:

1. Choose Checking Transactions from the Bank menu, and choose the appropriate account from the submenu.
2. Click the New button.
3. Enter Transfer Out into the Type popup field, at top center.
4. Enter Other Charge into the Transfer To popup field.
5. Enter the amount of the bank service charge.
6. Fill in the Job Class, Job and Category fields to allocate the expense however you'd like.
7. Hit the Enter key, to save the debit record.

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