How To Post Outside Agency Fees

This document deals with a posting method for handling fees from an outside agency.

Requirements

- Setup Transactions and Transaction Types
- Setup Clients, Debtors
- Review Payment Posting

Overview

You may need to apply fees taken by some other agency (e.g., a credit counseling agency) to the Debtor's account. These fees can be applied to the Debtor's balance. To apply such a fee please study the following example.

Scenario

Imagine a debtor makes a $20.00 payment to a credit counseling agency and the agency takes a $3.00 fee, leaving a $17.00 payment to your agency. The Debtor's balance must still be credited with the entire $20.00, while you can only charge Commission on the $17.00. You also want to record this fact in the Transaction history of the Debtor.

To manage this scenario we will first want to create a Transaction Type for reporting purposes and then create two transactions applied to the Debtor's account, one recording the $17.00 payment, and one for the $3.00 credit to the Debtor's account.

Creating The Transaction Type

Follow these steps the first time only. Once you have created a Transaction Type it can be used on any new Debtor transactions. The Transaction Types are used when printing Debtor and Client Trust Account Reports.

1. Pull down the System menu and choose Financial Settings, Transaction Types. The list of all Transaction Types is displayed.

2. Press F3 to create a new Transaction Type.

3. Type 310 for the new Transaction Type Code.

4. Press ENTER to move to the Description field. Type "Third Party Fees" in the Description field.

5. Press F8 to save the Transaction Type and Close the list.

Posting The Payment

This procedure assumes that you are posting a payment by check for the current day. The total amount the Debtor has paid is $20.00, while only $17.00 is actually paid to your agency and a $3.00 service charge is deducted at source.

Entering The Amount Paid

1. From the Main Menu, pull down the Browse menu. Choose Active Debtors. The list of all Debtors is displayed.

2. Start typing the name of the Debtor and the list will scroll to the nearest match. Press F5 to open the Debtor form.

3. Select the TRANSACTIONS tab to open a list of transactions for this Debtor. If no transactions exist, you will be prompted to create one. Choose Yes.

4. The Transaction form will be displayed. Some information for this Debtor will already be entered.

5. Choose 101 for the Type field.

6. Press F2 in the Debtor field and choose a Debtor. If you assigned the Debtor to an operator, their ID will automatically be copied into the Operator field of the Transaction.

7. Tab to the Posted Date and choose a date.

8. Tab to the To Us field and type 17. Press enter.

If you have assigned a collector and a commission rate for the Debtor then these items will be filled in automatically.

Press ENTER until you reach the last field, and a new Transaction is automatically created for you. Now you will record the $3.00 service charge deducted at source. For this transaction you will not want any commission charged, nor will you want to send the funds to the client.

Entering The Agency Fees

Next we will enter to fee deducted by the outside agency. You should be on a new Transaction form.

1. Type 310 in the Transaction Type field and press ENTER.

2. Press ENTER to accept the Debtor name.

If you assigned the Debtor to an operator, their ID will automatically be copied into the Operator field of the Transaction form.

3. Move to the Description field and type 'Charge' or an appropriate description.

4. Move to the Direct field. Type 3 and press ENTER to record the service charge.

5. Delete the calculated Commission from the Commission Amount field.

*** You have now completed posting this payment.***

6. Press F8 to exit.

Ensuring The Correct Posting Date

When you post payments in Collect! be sure to attach the payment to the correct date.

You may post payments for some date in the past. If you can't find the date you want, press F3 when you are in the Day list to create a new one, and type the correct date into the Date field.