House Accounts

Admin Manager

Use this page to let trusted customers buy now and pay later, up to a credit limit you set, and to record their payments.

Quick steps

1. Turn it on once: Settings > Edit Settings > Operations, tick Enable House Account / Charge Account Payments in Payment Types, click Update Settings.
2. Go to Customers, open the customer and click Edit. Tick Enable house account (charge account / employee tab), set the Credit Limit and save.
3. At the register, add the customer to the sale, tap House Acct, check the amounts and tap Charge.
4. When the customer pays you, open their page in the admin, click Record Payment / Adjust, enter the amount under Record Payment, pick the Payment Method and save. (Staff can also tap Record Payment on the customer's profile at the register.)

Common questions

The charge was refused. A customer must be on the sale, their house account must be on, and the total must fit their available credit. Put part of it on the account with split payment if needed.

How do I forgive part of a balance? Use the Adjustment field on the customer's edit page with a positive amount, and add an Adjustment Reason.

What happens if I return an item from a house account sale? Choose Store Credit. The refund comes off what the customer owes first; anything beyond that goes onto their store credit.

Does a cash payment count in the drawer? Yes. A cash payment needs an open cash drawer and is added to its expected cash.

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More detail: how balances, limits and transactions work

House accounts (also called charge accounts or employee tabs) let you extend in-store credit to specific customers. When a sale is paid by house account, the amount is added to what that customer owes. You collect payment later and record it on the customer's admin page or from their profile at the POS.

Turn on house account payments first

Turn on Enable House Account / Charge Account Payments under Settings → Edit Settings → Operations tab, in the Payment Types section, then click Update Settings. This adds the house account button to the POS payment screen. See Operations Settings.

How It Works

Each customer can have a house account switched on or off. Brother POS keeps a running balance and a credit limit for each one.

• Balance starts at $0.00. A charge makes it negative (the customer owes money). A payment brings it back toward zero.
• Credit limit (default $500.00) caps how much the customer can owe. A charge that would take them past the limit is refused.
• Available credit = credit limit minus what they owe. For example, a customer with a $500 limit who owes $200 has $300 of available credit.

Every charge, payment, and adjustment is saved in the customer's house account history, with the amount, the balance afterwards, any notes, and (for charges) the sale.

Transaction Types

Type	What it does
Charged	Added automatically when a sale is paid by house account. Increases what the customer owes.
Payment	Recorded by staff when the customer pays. Reduces what they owe.
Adjustment	A manual correction from the admin panel, which can go in either direction. Voiding a house account sale also adds one automatically ("Reversed: sale … voided").

More detail: turning it on for a customer

Enabling a House Account for a Customer

1. Go to Customers, open the customer, and click Edit. (Editing a customer needs the Manage Loyalty permission, which managers have by default. Turning house account payments on for the store is admin-only.)
2. In the House Account section, check Enable house account (charge account / employee tab).
3. Set the Credit Limit that appears (default $500.00) — the most this customer can owe.
4. Save the customer.

Once saved, the edit page shows the customer's current balance.

More detail: recording payments and adjustments in the admin

Recording a Payment (Admin)

When a customer pays down their account:

1. Open the customer and click Edit (or click Record Payment / Adjust on their details page).
2. Scroll to the second House Account section, which shows their balance, limit, and available credit.
3. Enter the amount in Record Payment (e.g., 50.00).
4. Choose the Payment Method: Cash, Debit / Card, E-Transfer, Square Terminal, Helcim Terminal, Stripe, or Payfirma.
5. For cash, pick the Cash Drawer (for cash payments) the money went into.
6. Optionally add Payment Notes (e.g., "Cheque #1042").
7. Save the customer.

Rules for payments

• A payment can't be more than the customer owes.
• Cash payments need an open cash drawer, and the cash is added to that drawer's expected cash.
• Choosing a card terminal method only records the payment — it doesn't charge the terminal.

Making an Adjustment

To correct a balance, use the Adjustment field in the same section:

• A positive number reduces what the customer owes (e.g., 25.00 forgives $25).
• A negative number increases what they owe (e.g., -25.00).

Add an Adjustment Reason so the history makes sense later, then save the customer.

Customer Details Page (Admin)

When a customer has a house account, their details page shows a House Account panel with:

• Balance — red when they owe money, with an "Owes $X" note
• Credit Limit
• Available Credit
• A Record Payment / Adjust button that jumps to the edit form

Below it, the House Account History table lists every transaction with Date, Type, Amount, Balance (after the transaction), and Notes.

In the Amount column, anything that lowers what the customer owes — a payment, or an adjustment that forgives part of the balance — shows in green with a +. Charges, and adjustments that add to what they owe, show in red with a -.

More detail: charging, split payments, voids and returns at the register

POS Behavior

Charging a Sale

1. Add items to the cart and select the customer.
2. Press the House Acct button on the payment screen.
3. A window loads the customer's account and shows the Total Due, Customer, Current Balance, Owes, Credit Limit, Available Credit, Amount to Charge, and Balance After.
4. If their available credit covers the whole total, press Charge (the button shows the amount, for example Charge $45.00) to complete the sale.

The sale can't be charged when:

• No customer is selected — "A customer must be selected to use a house account."
• The customer doesn't have a house account — "This customer does not have a house account enabled."
• The customer has no credit left — "This customer has reached their credit limit."
• The total is more than their available credit — the window suggests using split payment instead.

Split Payment with House Account

House account is available as a method in split payment, so you can put part of the order on the account and take the rest by cash, card, or another enabled method.

Voids and Returns on a House Account Sale

• Voiding the whole sale takes the charge back off the account, so the customer owes that much less. The history shows this as an Adjustment.
• A single item on a house account sale can't be voided. Use a return instead.
• A return on a sale charged entirely to a house account can only be refunded as Store Credit (not cash or card). The refund first comes off what the customer owes on the house account (shown in the history as an Adjustment). Only the part beyond what they owe — for example, if they have already paid the account off — goes onto their store credit balance.

Customer Profile at the POS

When a customer with a house account is opened at the POS, their profile shows:

• Owes — the amount currently owed
• Available credit
• Up to 5 recent transactions

Staff with the Manage Store Credits permission also see a Record Payment button to take a payment at the register. It's unavailable when the customer doesn't owe anything.

More detail: reports and good habits

Reports

• The Sales Report shows a House Account total for the period, with the number of transactions.
• The End of Day report includes house account sales.
• A cash drawer session's page shows the House Account sales total for that session.

Cash payments toward house accounts are counted in the cash drawer's expected cash.

Best Practices

• Start with conservative credit limits. You can raise a limit later as trust builds.
• Record payments promptly. The balance is live — until a payment is recorded, the customer's available credit stays lower.
• Use Payment Notes to record how you were paid (cash, cheque number, e-transfer confirmation). They show in the history and help with reconciling.
• Use adjustments sparingly and always add a reason. Manual adjustments aren't linked to a sale.
• Check the House Account History when resolving a dispute — it lists every transaction and the balance after each one.

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What's Next

• Customers — How to create and manage customer records.
• Store Credits — Prepaid credit (different from house accounts).
• Gift Cards — Stored-value cards as another payment method.
• Operations Settings — Turn house account payments on or off.