Overview
Unfortunately, sometimes your tenants might make payments that don't clear, such as having a bounced check due to insufficient funds. These reversed payments can be recorded in DoorLoop for later reference.
Note: You will only need to perform a manual reverse payment if you originally received the payment outside of DoorLoop and recorded receipt of the payment manually. Payments made online via ePay on the tenant portal have this process done automatically when payments are reversed. For online payments that you want to give back to the tenant, refund them instead.
Also, if you received a payment incorrectly with the wrong amount, you can edit the payment details instead. Do not reverse the payment.
The Steps
Step 1 - Record the reversed payment
You can record a tenant's payment being reversed as a Reversed Payment in DoorLoop. Here are steps on how to perform this:
To begin the reverse payment process, click Leasing on the main menu and then click Active Leases.
Find and click on the lease you need to record a reversed payment for.
Click on the Transactions tab and find the Payment transaction that needs to be reversed. Click on the 3-dots icon on the right side of the transaction line and choose Reverse Payment.
In the Reverse A Payment window, set the Returned Payment Date. You will also have the option to set a Returned Payment Fee. Toggle on the "Apply a Returned Payment Fee" option if you would like to do so, and then enter an amount to charge. You can also choose the Account Category for the returned payment fee, though it will default to the Revenue > Returned Payment Fee category.
Note: The reverse payment option is not available for payments that were received as ePays from the tenant portal. ePay reversals are handled automatically by the system and can not be manually reversed. If you intend to give back the money, use a refund instead.
Tip: If you need to add a Returned Payment Fee to the Reversed Payment, read the article: Charge a Returned Payment Fee for Returned or Bounced Payments.
Step 2 - Record the bank deposit for the reversed payment
You will notice now that the Reversed Payment shows Undeposited. You will need to "deposit" the reversal to record it in the DoorLoop bank account that the money was taken back out of the account.
To record the deposit of a reversed payment, click the + Create New at the top left corner then click Bank Deposit under the Other Transactions section.
On the Bank Deposit window, under Deposit Account, select the bank account that the reversal was associated with.
You will see a list of Undeposited Funds related to the bank account you chose. You should see the Reversed Payment item from the payment you manually reversed. Check the box next to that item.
Click Save to finish.
That’s it! Not only has the lease ledger been updated to show that the tenant owes money, but your financial reporting updates show this payment was reversed.
Tip: If you have your Rent & Payment Notifications set to send out returned payment emails, the assigned DoorLoop users and tenant(s) involved will get emails notifying them that their payment has been returned. Note that you have to have emails entered for your tenants for them to get these emails.
Additional Considerations
If you accidentally reverse a payment, you can delete the reversal from the Transactions tab of the lease by clicking on the 3-dots icon on the right side of the Reversed Payment transaction line and choosing Delete. If you have already deposited the reversal, you will need to delete the deposit.
This updates the lease ledger and all reporting but will not notify the tenant that the reversal was a mistake, so make sure you use DoorLoop’s communication features to message the tenant explaining what happened.
Late fees will automatically be charged retroactively for this reversed payment depending on your late fee settings, but this may take several hours to process.
If you want to charge a fee for the reversed payment, you can do that by posting a manual charge: Charge a Manual Returned Payment Fee for Returned or Bounced Payments.
You’ll likely want to create a revenue account in your Chart of Accounts specifically for this reversed payment/chargeback fee so you can track this revenue correctly on your Profit and Loss report.
For online payments tenants make through their tenant portal, reversed payments are automatically recorded, and returned payment fees due to the payment processor get charged to the tenant automatically.
Another great reason to use DoorLoop’s online payments feature!