Pay Charges from the Account View

You can pay a single charge, selected charges, or all charges in a single transaction. You can also do a partial payment, or accept an overpayment. To pay charges on a patron’s account:

Note:
As you work with the record, you can refresh the header information in the workform. Press F5, elect View, Refresh, or click on the toolbar.

1. Open the patron’s record in the Patron Status workform - Account view. See Access the account data for a patron record.
2. Choose one of the following options:
   • To pay one or multiple charges, select the charge or charges in the Account Transaction list, and click or press CTRL+Y.
   • To pay all charges, click  or press CTRL+L.

Important:
If your library uses Active Payment Manager (Class Point of Sale) to manage payments, the Class Point of Sale window opens. Follow your library’s procedures from this point to process the payment. The remaining steps in this procedure apply to payments in Polaris only.

The Pay dialog box appears.

3. If you want to partially pay the selected charge or charges, type the new amount in the Amount box (maximum $2,000,000.00).

If you are making a partial payment on a single charge, the payment will be recorded as a partial payment on the charge, and the Account Transaction list will show a balance for the charge. If you are making a partial payment on multiple or all charges, the payment amount is applied to the oldest charges first. Each paid transaction is removed from the Account Transaction list, and recorded in the Transaction History. Any remaining amount is applied to the next most recent charge as a partial payment.

4. If you want to accept an overpayment, type the new amount in the Amount box.

   • If your library allows overpayments to be recorded as account credits, a dialog box appears that alerts you to the overpayment and provides the choice of crediting the account or not. Click Yes to credit the patron’s account. Click No to pay the charge without recording a credit.

   • If your library does not allow overpayments to be recorded as credits, a message indicates how much change you should give the patron. Click OK on the message box.

5. Select a payment method in the Method box.
   • Use the method Collection Agency to record a payment that a patron has made directly to a collection agency, as reported by the collection agency.
   • The method Pay from Credit is available only if there is a credited amount on the patron’s account.
   • If your library accepts credit card payments, and the patron wants to pay with a credit card, select Credit card in the method box. For more information about taking credit card payments, see:
     • Take payments for fines and fees - EnvisionWare
     • Take credit card payments for fines and fees - PayPal Payflow Pro
     • Take payments for fines and fees - Comprise SmartPAY
6. If you want to add a note about the transaction, type the information in the Note box.
7. Click OK on the Pay dialog box.

The Patron Status workform - Account view appears, and the amount in the Charges box decreases. The following situations may occur:

• If a charge was only partially paid, the charge still appears in the Account Transaction list with the balance in the Balance column. The payment appears in the Transaction Summary dialog box.
• If charges were paid in full, they no longer appear in the Account Transaction list. Instead, they appear in the Transaction Summary dialog box, along with payments.

If you paid multiple charges, each charge line item has a corresponding pay line item.

If you have set Polaris to print fine receipts from the Patron Status workform, a receipt is printed.

Important:
For the first time after installation only, you need to set up Polaris to print receipts and slips. You can also opt to print the fine receipt only if the patron does not receive eReceipts. See Setting Up Receipt Printing from Workforms.

Related Information

• Viewing transactions made from a credit - You can see the transactions made from a credit in the patron account. Right-click the credit in the Account Transaction list, and select History from the context menu. The Transaction History dialog box opens, listing the transactions made from the credit. To print a transaction in the list, right-click it and select print from the context menu.
• Refunding a credit - See Refund a credit amount.
• Managing overdue fines at circulation - See Resolve a fine at check-in.
• Setting Polaris to allow credits from overpayments  See Setting Patron Accounting Options.