Refunding a Payment

You refund from the payment itself. Open the invoice from your billing dashboard, find the payment under Payment History in the invoice detail drawer, and click Refund on that row.

Account Credit or Money Back

The refund dialog opens with the amount prefilled to what is still refundable. You can lower it for a partial refund. Then choose how to return it:

Account credit (the default) - adds the amount to the family's credit balance, which you can later apply to an open invoice (see below). Nothing goes through Stripe, and the paid invoice stays Paid. Available on every plan.
Return to the original payment method - sends the money back to the card or bank the family paid with, through Stripe. This option needs Stripe connected and is available on the Pro plan and above.
Record cash or check returned - for a payment you took as cash or check, this records that you handed the money back outside Trio. Available on every plan.

A payment made with account credit can only be returned as credit; the dialog explains this.

Pick a reason, add an optional note, and (optionally) point the refund at a specific invoice line item. Click the primary button to finish.

Applying Account Credit

Account credit stays on the family's balance until you apply it - it is not applied automatically. Open the family from your families list and use the Apply credit action on the family billing card. Choose an open invoice and an amount, and the credit reduces that invoice's balance, marking it Paid or Partially Paid. Applying credit is limited to owners and admins.

Who Can Request and Who Approves

Staff can create a refund request. It appears under the payment as a Requested row for an owner or admin to review.
Owners and admins can refund directly, and can Approve or Cancel a pending request in place.
If your studio sets an amount above which only the owner may approve, an admin's over-threshold refund is saved as a request for the owner instead of running immediately.

What the Family Sees

For a refund to the card or bank, the money returns to the family's original payment method, and they see it on their own statement. Account credit is studio-held: the family has no separate credit-balance display in their portal today, so they see the effect only when you apply the credit to one of their invoices and its balance drops. The credit balance and the Apply credit action are on your side, the teacher-facing family billing card.

Fees and Timing

Stripe keeps its processing fee from the original payment - a refund does not return that fee to you, so a full refund to the card returns the charged amount minus the fee Stripe already took. The dialog shows this note. Bank (ACH) refunds take 5 to 10 business days to reach the family; account credit is instant.

Refunds and Disputes

Trio treats Stripe as the authority on money movement, so a refund's status updates automatically once Stripe settles it, and refunds made outside Trio still show up on the payment. A payment with an open dispute cannot be refunded until the dispute closes - the payment row shows a Dispute open chip instead of the Refund button.