Taking A Promised Payment - Quick Tour

This is a quick tour of the steps involved when you want to handle promised payment in Collect!.

We will cover:

Single Promise
Repeating Promises
Promise Payment Received

Single Promise

Let's say a debtor makes a promise to pay you $150 in two weeks. How do you enter this information in Collect! and keep track of whether or not the promise is met?

You create a Promise Contact for the account:

Contact for Promise To Pay

1. Select "Promise" from the pick list on the Type field.

2. Enter the promised dollar amount into the Amount field.

3. Enter the date that the payment is promised in the Due Date field.

Now, the Debtor screen will show that there is a Promise active on this account.

Debtor Screen with Promise Date

Press the RECALC button on the Debtor to refresh the screen.

The day the Promise is due, it will show up in the operator's WIP List.

WIP List With Promise Contact Loaded

Ensure that your WIP List is set up to load Promises.

If the day passes without payment, the Debtor screen will show the Promise field as Delinquent - red.

Debtor Screen with Promise Date Delinquent

Ensure that Automatically Manage Promises is switched ON in the Payment Posting Options form.

Repeating Promises

Let's say a debtor promises to pay you $150 a month until their debt is settled. You know how to enter one promise, but how do you enter repeating promises and keep track month by month?

You create a Promise Contact for the account. This time, select " Monthly" from the pick list on the Repeat field.

Contact for Monthly Promise To Pay

Enter the monthly promised dollar amount in the Amount field. Collect! automatically stores this value in the Interest Detail for the account.

Promise Amount Stored in Interest Detail

Collect! uses this each month to see whether or not the Promise is met. If the Promise is met, the Promise Contact Due Date will roll forward to next month, same day. If the Promise is not met, the Promise Contact Due Date does not roll forward. When the debt is completely settled, Collect! marks the Promise Contact as Done.

Ensure that Automatically Manage Promises is switched ON in the Payment Posting Options form.

There are other options available for handling repeating promises. They depend on the way you do business.

Some of these options are:

1. Advance Due Date on Overpayment

Advance Overpayments Enabled

Now Collect! will roll the Promise Due Date forward according to how many periods are satisfied by the payment. For example, if the debtor pays $300 at once, and that satisfies 2 monthly payments of $150, the Date Due will roll forward 2 months when this switch is enabled. If it is not enabled, the Date Due will roll forward only one month, no matter how much is overpaid.

2. Promise Contact Actions

Use Payment Posting Options to run contact plans for Overpayment, Underpayment, Full Payment, NSF Payment and Broken Promises.

Payment Posting Options Promise Contact Actions

Each code in the Promise Contact Actions section is a contact plan set up in the database to be evaluated when Collect! handles a promise. These are demonstrated in the Demodb database and may be copied to your Masterdb. You may modify the events in the plans if you need to. Please refer to the Help topic, Promise Contact Actions for details and tips.

If you do not want to run any contact plans, just erase the codes from each one of the Promise Contact Actions, but make sure you leave 'Automatically Manage Promises' switched ON.

Promised Payment Received

What happens when a payment is made?

Collect! fills in the promised dollar amount for the transaction. When the transaction is posted, the promise is marked done. A repeating promise is not marked done, rather its Due Date is rolled forward until the debt is completely settled. The Advance Overpayments is evaluated, if switched ON. Promise Contact Actions are evaluated, if required.

Summary

How do you keep track of a promise to pay? By creating a Promise Contact.

Enter a Due Date and the promised Amount.
If the promise is repeating, enter a repeat value in the Contact's Repeat field.
Use the Advance Overpayments switch if you want to give credit for overpayments.

Then make sure that 'Automatically Manage Promises' is switched ON in the Payment Posting Options form.

Ensure that WIP Reload Filters are set to load Promises for the Operator's WIP, if desired.

Make sure you understand what events the Promise Contact Actions will trigger on your accounts. Delete the contact plan codes from the Payment Posting Options form if you do not want this automation.