Every invoice in Biller Genie has a Timeline — a chronological log of everything that's happened to it: payments applied, payment attempts, reminders sent, opt-out toggles, voids/refunds, autopay attempts, manual notes, and email opens and clicks. The Timeline is the first place to look when you need to answer "what happened with this invoice?" — for support questions, audit needs, or troubleshooting why a customer's experience didn't match what you expected.
Where to find the Timeline
Open the invoice from Invoices > All Invoices (or by clicking the invoice number anywhere it appears). On the invoice detail view, scroll to the History / Timeline section. Entries appear newest-first.
Timeline entry types and what they mean
Invoice lifecycle
| Entry | What it means |
|---|---|
Invoice was created |
The invoice was created in Biller Genie — either synced from your accounting software, manually created in BG, or imported. First entry on every timeline. |
The Invoice was updated |
A field on the invoice changed — typically because of an edit in your accounting software that synced through, or a manual edit in BG. |
Invoice was paid |
The invoice's remaining balance hit $0 (a payment, multiple payments, or a credit memo zeroed it out). Sets the PaidDate. |
Payments applied to the invoice
| Entry | What it means |
|---|---|
A credit card / debit card payment was made in the amount of $X |
Card payment was processed and applied. Funds are typically available in 1-2 business days. |
An ACH payment was made in the amount of $X |
ACH payment submitted to the bank. Note: ACH takes 3-5 business days to settle and can still reject during that window. |
A check payment was made in the amount of $X |
A check captured via Mobile Check Capture or RDC was processed against this invoice. Settles in 3-5 business days. |
A pending [type] payment was attached in the amount of $X |
A payment that hasn't yet been funded was associated with this invoice. Invoice balance is NOT reduced until the payment funds. Common for pending ACH or check payments. |
Payment with the amount of $X has been either voided, refunded, or detached |
A previously-applied payment was reversed. The invoice's balance went back up by the payment amount and PaidDate was cleared if the invoice had been marked paid. |
Autopay attempts
| Entry | What it means |
|---|---|
Auto Pay skipped since automatic payment was already attempted on this Invoice on [date] |
Autopay only attempts once per invoice per day. If the system already tried earlier today, the next attempt is skipped. |
Auto Pay failed - Credit card ending in XXXX has expired. AutoPay has been automatically disabled for this customer. |
The stored card expired. Biller Genie auto-disables autopay so you (or your customer) can fix the card before the next due date. |
Auto Pay skipped since the stored payment method (ending in XXXX) is pending authorization |
For ACH stored on file: the bank account is still in the verification window. Autopay holds until verification completes. |
Auto Payment has failed for Invoice #X due to [reason] |
The gateway declined or returned an error. The reason text comes from the gateway response — common ones: Insufficient Funds, Declined, Do Not Honor. |
Reminders and email activity
| Entry | What it means |
|---|---|
"[Reminder Type]" reminder was sent |
An email reminder went out. Reminder Type tells you which one in your cadence (Upcoming Payment, Payment Due, Payment Overdue, Upcoming Late Fee, Statement). |
"[Reminder Type]" Paper Mail reminder was sent |
A paper mail reminder was queued and sent if you have the Paper Mail Add-On active. |
Email opened / clicked |
Email open and click telemetry from our email provider (Mailjet). Indicates the recipient at least loaded the images or clicked a link. Useful as a "they saw it" signal — though not 100% reliable because some email clients block tracking pixels. |
Email bounced (soft / hard) |
Email did not deliver. Soft bounce = temporary (full inbox, server unavailable); hard bounce = permanent (bad address). For hard bounces, fix the customer email. |
Per-invoice reminder opt-out
| Entry | What it means |
|---|---|
Invoice was opted out for reminders (also: This invoice will be excluded from all reminders) |
Someone on your team clicked Opt Out of Reminders on this invoice. No further reminder emails or paper mail go out about this invoice specifically. Autopay (if configured) still attempts. |
Invoice was opted in for reminders (also: This invoice is now included when sending reminders) |
Opt-out was reversed. Reminders will resume on the next scheduled cadence. |
Manual notes you add to the timeline
You can add internal notes to the timeline yourself — useful for recording customer conversations, escalations, or anything else you want a record of. Click Add Note on the invoice detail, type your note, and save. The note appears on the timeline with your username and a timestamp. Notes are internal-only (the customer never sees them).
Common diagnostic patterns
- "Did the customer ever receive the invoice?" — look for reminder send entries, then look for opens/clicks. If you see sends but no opens, the email might be in spam.
- "Why didn't autopay run?" — look for the most recent Auto Pay entry. The skip/fail reason will tell you (already-attempted, expired card, pending authorization).
- "This invoice is supposed to be paid but balance is still there" — look for pending-payment entries and detach entries. See An Invoice Is Marked Paid but Still Shows Open for the full diagnostic.
- "Why are reminders not going out?" — look for an opt-out entry. Also check the customer record's Active status. See Invoice Email Delivery Diagnosis.