Oldest debt first
By default a payment settles the oldest open lines first, where “oldest” means the earliest due date — not the date the invoice was created. Using the due date is what makes a mid-term supplementary bill fall behind the term’s main invoice rather than jumping ahead of it.Directing a payment instead
Where a parent is paying for something specific, direct the payment at that fee type and the money settles those lines first.Money with nowhere to go: credit
If a payment is larger than the debt available to settle — or arrives before the invoice does — the remainder is held as the pupil’s credit. Nothing is lost. Credit remembers what it was for. Money directed at feeding stays tagged to feeding while it sits unallocated.How credit is used up
When a new invoice is issued for the pupil, EduControl draws down their credit automatically, in this order:1
Credit tagged for this fee type, oldest payment first
Money the payer intended for exactly this charge is used first — that is what they meant it for.
2
Untagged credit, oldest payment first
General credit follows, once tagged credit is exhausted.
Reading a pupil’s position
A pupil’s financial position is their issued invoices, less what has been paid, less any credit notes, plus any credit they are holding. The pupil’s record shows all of it — and so does the pupil portal.Who can do this
Allocation happens automatically when you record a payment, which needsrecord_payments.