Sometimes you need to give money back — a cancelled term, an overpayment, or a lesson that won’t go ahead. How you do that depends on how the parent paid. Card payments are refunded straight back to the card through Stripe; cash, bank transfer and cheque refunds are recorded in LessonLoop so your books stay accurate.
Where to refund
Refunds happen on the invoice itself, next to each payment — not on a separate page. Open Billing & Finance → Invoices, open the paid invoice, and you’ll see a button beside each payment:
| How the parent paid | Button | What it does |
|---|---|---|
| Card (Stripe) | Refund | Sends the money back to the card through Stripe |
| Cash, bank transfer or cheque | Record refund | Records a refund you’ve already made by hand — it does not move money |
Only the finance team (owners, admins and finance roles) can refund.
Refund a card payment
If the parent paid by card, LessonLoop asks Stripe to return the money to the original card — there’s nothing for the parent to do.
- Open Billing & Finance in the sidebar, then Invoices.
- Open the paid invoice you want to refund.
- Choose Refund next to the card payment.
- Confirm the amount and complete the refund.
Stripe sends the money back to the card it came from. The parent typically sees it on their statement within a few working days, depending on their bank.
Record a cash, bank transfer or cheque refund
For a payment you took by hand, LessonLoop never moved the money — so refunding it is two steps:
- Return the money the same way you took it — hand back the cash, or send a bank transfer or cheque outside LessonLoop.
- Record the refund so your accounts match reality. Open the invoice, choose Record refund next to the cash/bank payment, enter the amount and confirm.
Bookkeeping only Record refund does not send any money — it simply tells LessonLoop you've already refunded the parent outside the app. It updates the invoice and the family's balance to match.
Recording the refund keeps your reports and family balances honest, reopens the invoice if it had been marked paid, and lets you void it once it’s been fully refunded.
Before you refund
A few things worth checking first:
- Refund the right amount. You can return the full payment or part of it — useful when only one of several lessons is being credited. You can’t refund more than the parent actually paid on that payment.
- Card refunds can’t be undone. Once Stripe sends the money back, you’d need to take a fresh payment to reverse it.
- The invoice updates automatically. Whether the refund was by card or recorded by hand, the invoice and the family’s balance stay correct.
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