# Record a Payment

Record a payment in Veterian — the form fields, payment methods, applying the amount to unpaid invoices, and what deleting a payment does to them.

A payment records money received from a client. It is not tied to a single invoice: you record what the client handed over, and Veterian applies it to what they owe.

That is the part worth understanding before you start. A payment and an invoice are separate records, which is why a client can pay before, after or across several invoices.

## Where to Find This Section

1. Open **Payments** from the left menu.
2. Click **New Payment**.

You can also record payment while creating an invoice, or add it to an invoice afterwards. See [Create an invoice](/billing/create-an-invoice).

## How to Record a Payment

1. Open **Payments** → **New Payment**.
2. Select the client and enter the amount.
3. Check which invoices it will be applied to.
4. Save.

## Form Fields

| Field | Notes |
|---|---|
| **Customer** | Required. Who the money came from |
| **Date** | Required. Defaults to now, and you can change it |
| **Amount** | Required, and must be greater than zero |
| **Payment Method** | Optional. Left alone it stays **Unspecified** |
| **Notes** | Marked **Private** and visible only to staff |

### Payment Method

Four options: **Cash**, **Credit Card**, **Wire Transfer/Eft** and **Unspecified**.

The method is a record of how the money arrived. It does not process anything, and it can be corrected later.

## Applying It to Unpaid Invoices

**Apply to unpaid invoices** is **on by default**: *Do you want to automatically apply to unpaid invoices?*

Once you have selected the client and entered an amount, the form shows two things before you save:

- The client's **Customer Outstanding Balance** — what they owe in total.
- **Unpaid Invoices** — the invoices this payment will cover, each with its **Outstanding Amount**, the **Applied Amount** going to it, and the status it will end up at.

> **Tip**
> Read that table before saving. It is the whole point of the screen: you can see exactly which invoices this payment settles and which it only partly covers, without saving first and checking afterwards.

Switch the option off to record the money without applying it to anything. The amount then sits on the client's account rather than closing an invoice, which is what you want when a client pays in advance.

> **Note**
> If the amount is larger than everything outstanding, the remainder stays with the client. Nothing is lost, and it is available against their next invoice.

## Finding a Payment

**Payments** lists every payment with its **Payment Date**, **Customer**, **Payment Method** and **Amount**. Search takes the client: *Search with customer information* You can also filter the list by **Method**.

## Editing a Payment

Open the payment and edit it. The client cannot be changed on an existing payment — a payment recorded against the wrong client is deleted and re-entered, not reassigned.

Changing the amount re-runs the same preview, so you can see what the correction does to each invoice before you confirm it.

## Deleting a Payment

> **Caution**
> *This action might change the status of the invoices.*

*The payment amount will be removed from the applied invoices and transferred to the customer's credit.*

So deleting a payment does not simply remove a line. Invoices it had settled can return to unpaid or partly paid, and the money moves to the client's credit rather than disappearing. Delete a payment only when it should never have been recorded — to correct an amount, edit it instead.

## Related

- [Create an invoice](/billing/create-an-invoice) — recording payment as you invoice
- [Discounts](/billing/discounts) — reducing what is owed rather than paying it
- [Billing](/billing) — the rest of this section