Past-Due Warnings

Overview

The most uncomfortable part of running a club's finances is the reminder conversation — chasing a member whose balance has quietly crept up, or who forgot a charge from three months ago. It's awkward for the treasurer and easy to put off, which is exactly how small balances turn into big ones. Past-due warnings take the treasurer out of the middle: instead of an email from a person, the member sees a gentle, automatic notice on their own dashboard the moment their account crosses a line the club has set.

The feature is quiet by design. Nothing is sent to the whole club, no one but the affected member sees the warning, and it disappears on its own as soon as the balance is paid down. Past-due warnings require Billing to be enabled and are configured by the Account Owner under Setup → Billing.

How a Balance Is Calculated

Centerline determines whether a member is past due by walking their ledger oldest-to-newest and applying credits to the oldest outstanding charges first — the same first-in, first-out (FIFO) approach a treasurer would use by hand. A partial payment pays down the oldest charges, and whatever charges remain unpaid are what the warning is measured against. This means a member who pays regularly but always carries a small rolling balance is treated differently from one with an old, untouched charge.

Configuring the Thresholds

On the Setup → Billing page, the past-due warning settings let you define what "past due" means for your club. There are two independent triggers, and you can set either, both, or neither:

• By age (days) — Warn a member when they have an unpaid charge older than this many days. Use this to catch members who are letting old charges sit, regardless of the dollar amount.
• By amount (dollars) — Warn a member when their outstanding balance exceeds this dollar figure. Use this to catch balances that have grown large, regardless of how recent the charges are.

If you set both, a member is warned when either condition is met. Leaving a field blank turns that trigger off. Leaving both blank disables warnings entirely.

What the Member Sees

When a member meets either threshold, an alert appears on their dashboard letting them know their account is past due. The alert links straight to their Charges tab, where they can review what they owe and — if your club has online payments set up — pay it (see Paying Your Balance).

The warning is personal to that member. Other members never see it, and it clears automatically once the member's balance falls back within the thresholds you've set.

Required Role

Only the Account Owner can configure the past-due thresholds. The dashboard alert is shown to each member about their own account only.

Tips

• Set thresholds that match your billing cycle. If you invoice monthly, a day-based threshold of 30–45 days catches members who miss a cycle without nagging those who simply haven't reached their usual pay date yet.
• Combine both triggers for the widest net. A day threshold catches stale charges; an amount threshold catches balances that balloon quickly from heavy flying. Together they cover both failure modes.
• Pair with online payments. The warning is far more effective when the member can act on it immediately — with Stripe connected, the alert links to a Pay Now button rather than a dead end.
• Start conservative. Setting a generous threshold at first avoids alarming members over normal rolling balances; you can tighten it once the club is used to the system.