Payments Assigned to Default Contact

At most MinistryPlatform churches, individuals can register on the Portal without being required to log in. When the registration is completed, the information the registrant provided is used to try to match the registration with a Contact record in MinistryPlatform:

• The system cannot make an exact match with the name and either email or phone to one Contact record in the system.
• The system cannot make a match if it finds more than one Contact records matching the information provided.
• The system cannot create a Contact record if it cannot find a single match. 

In all cases, the system puts all data provided during transaction completion into the Payment "Notes" field and, if no Contact record is found, assigns that payment temporarily to the "Default Contact."

If desired, someone with access to Products & Payments > Payments can:

1. Open a Payment
2. Click Edit
3. Locate a Contact record based on the information provided (Use the Add/Edit Family Tool if one is not found)
4. Click Save

Processing $0 Payments

$0 Payments have no accounting consequence. These are created by the Portal during free event registration. Follow these steps to process $0 Payments:

1. Select all $0 Payments
2. Tools > Process Payments Tool

Upon completion of the above process, all $0 Payments are marked as Processed and your selection is cleared. These Payments no longer appear in the Not Processed view.

Processing Payments Greater Than $0

Payments greater than $0 need to be reflected in your accounting system as Deposits that match what will appear on your bank statement at the end of the month. The following steps presume you are processing only Payments that are settled as a Deposit together.

1. Select one or more Payments that are part of the same Merchant Batch
2. Tools > Process Payments Tool

Upon completion of the above process, all selected Payments are marked as Processed and your selection is cleared. These Payments no longer appear in the Not Processed view.

NOTE: Use the "Add a Payment" tool to add checks or cash payments.