> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.nyumbazetu.com/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Receiving payments

> Capture incoming money — M-Pesa, bank, cash — reconcile it to the right lease, and hand it to allocation.

**Finance → Receivables → Payments → `/payments`** · **Receive Pay → `/receive-pay`**

There are two surfaces for money coming in:

| Surface         | Use it for                                                                           |
| --------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ |
| **Payments**    | The full ledger of received payments — search, reconcile, refund, allocate, report.  |
| **Receive Pay** | The fast counter-style capture flow: pick the unit, see what is due, take the money. |

## Receiving a payment at the counter

**Receive Pay** is built for someone taking money with a tenant in front of them.

<Steps>
  <Step title="Find the unit">
    Search by unit name. The screen shows the outstanding items with their **Due Amount**.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Enter what was paid">
    **Paid Amount**, **Paid Date**, **Paid By**, the **Bank Account** the money landed in, and any
    **Notes**.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Submit">
    The payment is recorded against the unit's lease and becomes available for allocation.
  </Step>
</Steps>

## Recording a payment from the Payments list

<Steps>
  <Step title="Add a payment">
    **Payments → Add.**
  </Step>

  <Step title="Identify the payer">
    Select the lease or unit. This determines whose balance the money lands on, so get it right —
    correcting the subject later is more work than choosing it now.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Enter the money">
    Amount, paid date, payment type (mobile money, bank transfer, cheque, cash), and the receiving
    bank account.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Record the reference">
    The **Confirmation #** — the M-Pesa code, bank reference or cheque number. This is what makes
    the payment reconcilable against a bank statement later. Do not leave it blank.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Save, then allocate">
    Saving records the cash. It does **not** settle any invoice until it is allocated. See
    [Allocations](/guides/allocations).
  </Step>
</Steps>

<Warning>
  A saved-but-unallocated payment leaves the tenant showing arrears *and* a credit at the same time,
  and can open a collections case on someone who has actually paid. Allocate on the same day you
  receive.
</Warning>

## The payments list

Useful columns include:

| Column                                                         | Meaning                                                                    |
| -------------------------------------------------------------- | -------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| **Paid Date / Paid At**                                        | When the money was received.                                               |
| **Paid By**                                                    | Who paid.                                                                  |
| **Paid Amount**                                                | Gross received.                                                            |
| **Allocated Amount**                                           | How much has been applied to invoices.                                     |
| **Available Amount**                                           | What is left to allocate — the wallet contribution.                        |
| **# Units Allocated**                                          | How many units the payment was spread across.                              |
| **Confirmation #**                                             | The external reference.                                                    |
| **Payment Type**                                               | Method.                                                                    |
| **Bank / Bank Account Name / Number**                          | Where the money landed.                                                    |
| **Origin**                                                     | How the payment entered the system (counter capture, import, integration). |
| **Property / Block / Unit**                                    | Where it applies.                                                          |
| **Invoice # / Invoice Amount / Invoice Date / Invoice Status** | The invoice side, on allocated rows.                                       |
| **Archived**                                                   | Whether the record has been archived.                                      |

Filter on **Available Amount > 0** to find every payment still waiting to be allocated. That single
filter is the fastest way to clean up a messy receivables position.

## Payment detail

Opening a payment gives you:

* the payment header and its bank account;
* its **allocations** — which invoices it settled and for how much;
* its **refunds** — see below;
* its **documents** — receipts, deposit slips, screenshots;
* its audit trail.

## Refunds from a payment

Refunds are managed directly from the payment:

<Steps>
  <Step title="Open the payment and expand Refunds">
    Existing refunds are listed with their amount, date and reason.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Add a refund">
    Enter the refund amount, the bank account it is paid from, the refund date, and a reason.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Save">
    Guards check that the amount is actually available and that a bank account is set before the
    refund can be recorded.
  </Step>
</Steps>

See [Refunds](/guides/refunds) for the full refunds ledger and its controls.

## Bulk import of payments

Historical or bank-exported payments can be imported through **Admin → Bulk Upload** with the
*Payments* type. The importer validates before committing and keeps a per-row outcome so you can
see exactly what was created, skipped and rejected. See [Bulk upload](/guides/bulk-upload).

## Reconciling to the bank

<Steps>
  <Step title="Filter by bank account and date range">
    Work one account and one statement period at a time.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Match on confirmation number">
    Not on amount. Amounts repeat; references do not.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Investigate anything unmatched">
    Money in the bank with no payment record means a receipt was never captured. A payment record
    with no bank line means it was captured twice or against the wrong account.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Check the wallet position">
    After matching, filter on available amount to confirm nothing is sitting unallocated.
  </Step>
</Steps>

## Common problems

| Symptom                                              | Cause and fix                                                                                                                                         |
| ---------------------------------------------------- | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| Tenant insists they paid; nothing on their statement | The payment was captured against a different unit or lease. Search by confirmation number, not by tenant.                                             |
| Invoice still unpaid after a payment                 | Not allocated.                                                                                                                                        |
| Payment appears twice                                | Captured manually *and* imported. Archive the duplicate rather than deleting a record that has already been allocated — reverse the allocation first. |
| Negative wallet on a lease                           | An over-allocation from a legacy path. Report it; do not adjust balances by hand.                                                                     |

## Next steps

<Columns cols={2}>
  <Card title="Allocations" icon="link" href="/guides/allocations">
    Turn received cash into settled invoices.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Refunds" icon="rotate-left" href="/guides/refunds">
    The refunds ledger, guards and reversals.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Bank accounts" icon="building-columns" href="/guides/bank-accounts">
    The accounts money lands in, and how they map to the ledger.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Payment rules" icon="sliders" href="/guides/payment-rules">
    How automatic allocation decides what to settle first.
  </Card>
</Columns>