How To Enter A Client

Collect! Credit and Collection Software™

If you are new to the system, we recommend keeping your "Enable pop up help" function ON while you are acclimating to the system. It will help you become familiar with key Fields of special importance so that you can make operational decisions as to how your company wishes to use particular settings or user-defined Fields with special properties.

On any screen, there are two types of online Help:

Dynamic link to online Help Docs on our website. By pressing F1 while clicked into a target field of interest on your screen, you will see your web browser open and take you directly to the spot in our online Help Docs which describes that field in detail. You will find yourself on a page that relates entirely to the screen you are working in. Links for additional pages of possible interest appear at the bottom of the page you are taken to, if applicable.
Pop up Help screens. This requires that you have your online Help function enabled via the menu path \Help\Enable Pop up Help. To use Pop up help, allow your mouse to hover a few seconds over any field, and a help box will appear on the screen with information about that field or screen you are on. To disable pop up help, click the menu path "Help\Disable pop up help".

Before you are ready to enter the Client into your system, there are preliminary key details about your Client's operational preferences that must be determined and decisioned within the software prior to data entry of the Client information.

For example:

What are the contingency terms?
- Commission rate plan structure
- Legal/collection cost handling
- Remittance type Net/Gross/Combined
- Remittance Schedule Monthly/Weekly/Biweekly/ Daily
- New or different regional taxes to be applied
Are there specific Securities or Portfolio staffing mandates?
- Portfolio isolation
- Multiple accounts group within Client only OR across full database
- Collectors for the project are general or project-specific with security settings
Are there custom letter or report requirements?
Do they intend to assign accounts on manual listing sheets OR will they be giving you a text or spreadsheet file for electronic data import?
Do they require electronic reporting, such as payment or account activity data files in a specific layout from you on a fixed or ad hoc basis?
Do they require a real-time login to your system to review/audit their own Debtor accounts?
Will their accounts be reported to the Credit Bureau(s)?
If your Agency uses an Electronic Payment Processing company for Credit Cards or ACH checks/debits, does the Client permit or prohibit convenience fee charges?
Are there contractual work flow requirements or guarantees for frequency of:
- Account activity
- Manager review
- Compliance audits
Do any of these requirements necessitate the creation of Client-specific Contact (Action) Plans to ensure that workstandards with Milestone Triggers reach the key personnel responsible for those functions?

The answers to these questions determine how the Client is set up in the system and what areas of the software will require specific configuration to meet the Client's needs as well as Project Requirements.

Useful Note Many default Operator IDs, Letters and Contact Plans ship with Collect!. Upon review, you may find that these provide the building blocks you need to get started, OR, that you have a need to modify these stock shipping items to suit your specific operational needs. New items can be created and changes can be made as needed.

Useful Note It is your responsibility to ensure that any letters you send to Debtors or contact plan automations you enact with the system are compliant to legislation and regulations in your region with respect to format, content and actions launched. SAMPLE letters shipped with Collect! or available on the Member Center are SAMPLE only and intended to be rudimentary templates for your own modification(s).

Client Form

Click Here to View this Form.

Click Here to Close this Form.

Set up your operations the best way right from the start, and you'll minimize your frustration and enjoy using Collect!. This is especially true when you enter Clients and their Debtors into your working database. The right way to do this is to start from the Client form.

Make sure you set up your Company Details, Dunning letters, Operators, Transaction Types and a Contact Plan, if applicable, before you begin to enter Client and Debtor information. If these areas are taken care of first, all their settings and information are readily available to you when you enter your clients and debtor accounts.

The Client form shows Client information and the accounts listed by the Client.

Client

Some of the information displayed on this form is Read Only. These fields are grayed out and you cannot use the Client form to alter this information.

Several tabs at the bottom of the Client form enable you to access related information. All Debtors listed for this Client are displayed by selecting the tab labeled Debtors. This list includes Debtors with both ACTIVE and CLOSED Modes. Notes, associated parties, invoices, contacts, banks and payments are also accessible through tabs on the Client form.

*** IMPORTANT ***

The Client Settings form contains many settings that will determine how Debtors, Payments, Invoices and Credit Bureau Reporting are handled for this Client. After you have entered your basic personal information for this Client, select the ADVANCED button to open the Client Settings form. It is very important to set up this information correctly right from the start. The information you set will be automatically entered into all related forms - Debtors, Payments, Invoices and CBR. This will save a considerable amount of time and reduce errors.

Client #

This is the Client ID number as assigned by Collect!. This number may hold only digits and is used by Collect! whenever the Client is referenced. If you have another ID that you would like to use, please enter it in the field labeled Alt Client #.

This field has additional functions when used with Account Access Control and Operator Security.

This field is INDEXED.

Alt Client #

This field is for your own use. You may enter an alternate Client Number to reference on reports. Perhaps your Client has given you an alphanumeric code to use. This field is indexed.

Owned By Client

This field is for your own use. You may enter the Client Number for a "master" client. This enables you to group client accounts for account security, for auditing and for reporting.

The Browse Find By functionality is also tied to a hierarchical client ownership system. This enables you to set a Client # in this field that will then be used when applying Account Access Control.

Clients and operators restricted to a particular Client # will be able to freely search for records in your database. However, they will only be able to find records within the Client # or client ownership hierarchy to which they belong. For instance, clients who own other clients will be able to see all records in their hierarchical tree, but no others.

Useful Note You should not set the "Owned By Client" to the same Client # as the Client itself. This might cause details to be hidden erroneously for accounts that should be visible to the Operator. For example, Client #94 should not have "94" entered in its "Owned By Client" field.

This field has additional functions when used with Account Access Control and Operator Security.

If you using the Client Group feature in Web Host, this field will control which clients that the "master" client can view. Please refer to Help topic, How to Add a User to Web Host, for details.

Name

This is the actual name of the Client or company. This field is indexed.

D.B.A.

This is an alternate name that you may use in reports. Perhaps the Client has requested that you refer to them with a pseudonym.

Contact

The name of the contact person or Representative for this Client.

Address

First line of the mailing address of the company. All invoices will be sent to this address, by default. This is first line to begin typing the address.

Address 1

Second line of the mailing address of the company. All invoices will be sent to this address, by default. This is another line to type the address.

Street No

Use this field to enter a Street Number for the Client's address.

City

Use this field to break out the City from the Client address.

State

Use this field to break out the State from the Client address.

ZIP

Use this field to break out the Postal Code from the Client address.

Country

Use this field to break out the Country form the Client address.

Phone

The phone number of the Client. Enter the phone number as you would manually dial it.

Useful Note You can switch ON 'Only numerics in phone fields' in Screens and Messages to remove any non-numeric data from your phone fields.

Phone Extension

The phone extension. Enter the extension as you would manually dial it.

Fax

The fax number of the Client. Enter the fax number as you would dial it manually.

Useful Note You can switch ON 'Only numerics in phone fields' in Screens and Messages to remove any non-numeric data from your phone fields.

Fax Extension

The fax extension. Enter the extension as you would manually dial it.

Other

Another phone number for the Client. Enter the phone number as you would manually dial it.

Useful Note You can switch ON 'Only numerics in phone fields' in Screens and Messages to remove any non-numeric data from your phone fields.

Other Extension

The other extension. Enter the extension as you would manually dial it.

Cell

The cellular or other phone number of the Client. Enter the number as you would dial it manually.

Useful Note You can switch ON 'Only numerics in phone fields' in Screens and Messages to remove any non-numeric data from your phone fields.

Cell Extension

The cell extension. Enter the extension as you would manually dial it.

Email

This is the Client's email address. Select the Email icon to the right of this field to open the Send Mail window which allows you to create an email and send it to the Client.

User 1

This field is for your own definition and use. This field is indexed.

User 2

This field is for your own definition and use.

FOR CBR: If you are reporting to Credit Bureaus by client, Trans Union codes go here. With the 'Report by Client' feature, you can send CBR Settings specific clients instead of your own. This is useful if you have a client that wants you to report with their Credit Bureau Account in addition to yours. Please refer to How To Run A Credit Bureau Report for details.

User 3

This field is for your own definition and use.

FOR CBR: If you are reporting to Credit Bureaus by client, Experian codes go here. With the 'Report by Client' feature, you can send CBR Settings specific clients instead of your own. This is useful if you have a client that wants you to report with their Credit Bureau Account in addition to yours. Please refer to How To Run A Credit Bureau Report for details.

User 4

This field is for your own definition and use.

FOR CBR: If you are reporting to Credit Bureaus by client, Equifax codes go here. With the 'Report by Client' feature, you can send CBR Settings specific clients instead of your own. This is useful if you have a client that wants you to report with their Credit Bureau Account in addition to yours. Please refer to How To Run A Credit Bureau Report for details.

Useful Note The format for the codes is: control_number,grantor_code, center_code,area_code

Operator

Select an Operator from the Operator pick list to assign to this Client.

Useful Note This field uses the same pick list as the Debtor does for Operators. If you have Operators who only work Clients, simply add them to the list of Operators.

Status

Select a Status from the Debtor Status code pick list to apply to this Client.

Useful Note This field uses the same pick list as the Debtor does for Status Codes. If you have codes that apply specifically to your clients, simply add them to the list of Debtor Status Codes.

Inactive

Switch this ON to mark a client as Inactive. Inactive clients are excluded from client lists like the Debtor Client, Master, Legal, and Forward fields.

Client Listed Date

When you enter a new Client in your system, Collect! fills this field with the current date. You can modify this field manually if desired, or use it to store the date you entered the Client.

Listed Date

This field is updated whenever the Client is Recalculated. It shows the most recent Listed Date found in the debtors scanned.

Worked Date

This field is updated whenever the Client is Recalculated. It shows the most recent Worked Date found in the debtors scanned.

Date 2

This is a date field for your own definition and use.

Active Accounts

The number of debtors attached to this client whose Mode is ACTIVE. This is a Read Only field and may not be edited. The value is taken from the Debtor forms.

Closed Accounts

The number of debtors attached to this client whose Mode is CLOSED. This is a Read Only field and may not be edited. The value is taken from the Debtor forms.

Other Accounts

User defined field.

Total Accounts

The total number of debtors attached to this client. This is a Read Only field and may not be edited.

Commission To Date

This field shows the total commission calculated on all accounts for this client. You may need to recalculate the Client to see a value in this field. The commission amount will be updated whenever you recalculate the Client.

Useful Note If you want Collect! to calculate this total from Payment type transactions only, then switch ON 'Only payments for comm to date' in the Client Settings form.

Success Rate

This is a percentage ratio of Paid to Listed accounts and may be calculated using ALL accounts or only CLOSED accounts, as set in Client Settings.

The success rate is calculated as

All Paid X 100 / All Listed

Where All Paid is the client's Paid field, All Listed is the client's Listed Field, All Fees is the sum of all the Fees fields of the client's debtors, and Adjustments is the sum of all the Adj fields of the client's debtors.

Time Zone

This field holds a POSITIVE or NEGATIVE integer indicating the Timezone of this Client.

Useful Note Timezones are standard integer values calculated from GMT (Greenwich Mean Time).

Useful Note When the timezone is not "Local Time," the title bar displays the Client's current time.

The control file that manages Debtor timezones is called setzone.ctf and is stored in your "\Collect\masterdb\control" folder.

As of version Collect.6.2.1, control files to set timezones for Associates/Other Parties and record items stored in the Phone tab are available for download from the Member Center. They are DCsetzone.ctf and PHsetzone.ctf, respectively. If you are not currently a Member, contact Administration at 250-391-0466 option 3 for pricing.

Type

This field contains a pick list of choices that can be used to classify your clients by Type.

FOR CBR: If you are using METRO 2 format, it is required that you enter a valid "creditor classification" in this field. The list of choices given is a standard CBR list of creditor classifications.

If you are not reporting to credit bureaus, this field is for your own definition and use.

Useful Note Click the arrow to see the default pick list attached to this field.

FOR CBR: If the choice you need is not included in the list, you can add it to the pick list. Please check with your credit bureau to ensure that it is a valid creditor classification and let us know too, so we can add it to the default list.

If you are not reporting to credit bureaus, you can add your own entries to this pick list, as you choose.

Class

This field is for your own definition and use.

Useful Note Click the arrow to see a default pick list attached to this field. You can use it or create your own.

Listed

The sum of the Principal and Original Interest fields of all of the client's debtors. If the debtor has a judgment, then the Judgment Balance and Interest fields are used for the calculation instead, IF no original principal is found.

Paid

The sum of the Paid fields of all of the client's debtors.

Closed

The sum of the Owing fields of all of the client's debtors with Mode CLOSED.

Owing

The sum of the Owing fields of all of the client's debtors with Mode ACTIVE.

Principal

The total dollar value of Principal for all accounts listed by this Client.

Interest

The total dollar value of Interest for all accounts listed by this Client.

Fees

The total dollar value of Fees for all accounts listed by this Client.

Legal Fees

The total dollar value of Legal Fees for all accounts listed by this Client.

Miscellaneous

The total dollar value of Misc Fees for all accounts listed by this Client.

Other Charges

The total dollar value of Other Charges for all accounts listed by this Client.

Adjustments

The total amount of adjustments to debtors belonging to this Client.

Run Plan

Enter a Contact Plan to run on this Client. You can press F2 to view the list of available plans.

Useful Note This field uses the same pick list as the Debtor does for Contact Plans. If you have plans that apply specifically to your clients, simply add them to the list of Contact Plans.

Debtors

Select this tab to display the list of all debtors listed by this Client. All Debtors with ACTIVE or CLOSED mode are displayed. To enter a new debtor, select the NEW button at the bottom of the window, or select YES when prompted to create your first Debtor for this Client.

Useful Note The new Debtor record will automatically display the default settings for this Client, such as Name, Client # and settings from the Client Settings.

When in this list you may scroll through the Debtors associated to this Client. Pressing enter or selecting a highlighted line will bring the Debtor screen up for you.

Invoices

Select this tab to display the list of Invoice/Statements generated for this Client.

When in this list you may scroll through the Invoice/Statements for this Client. Pressing enter or selecting a highlighted line will bring the Invoice/Statement screen up for you.

Payments

Select this tab to display the list of Client Payments attached to this Client. To enter a new payment, select the NEW button at the bottom of the window, or select YES when prompted to create your first Client Payment.

When in this list you may scroll through the Payments for this Client. Pressing enter or selecting a highlighted line will bring the Client Payment screen up for you.

Notes

Select this tab to display this Client's notes or add a new line.

Contacts

Select this tab to display this Client's contacts or add a new one.

To enter a new contact, select the NEW button at the bottom of the window, or select YES when prompted to create your first Client Contact.

When in this list you may scroll through the Contacts for this Client. Pressing enter or selecting a highlighted line will bring up the Client Contact screen for you. For help, press F1 when the Client Contact form is displayed.

Useful Note This tab is visible only if the Client Management option is enabled in Collect! Features.

Attachments

Select this tab to display this Client's attachments or add a new one.

To create a new attachment, select the NEW button at the bottom of the window, or select YES when prompted to create your first Client Attachment.

When in this list you may scroll through the Attachments for this Client. Pressing enter or selecting a highlighted line will bring up the Client Attachment screen up for you. For help, press F1 when the Client Attachment form is displayed.

Useful Note This tab is visible only if the Client Management option is enabled in Collect! Features.

OK

Selecting this button will save any information you may have changed and return you to the previous form.

Selecting this button will take you to the previous Client in the database.

Selecting this button will take you to the next Client in the database.

Recalc

Selecting this button will recalculate all the totals of this Client's Debtors, payments and transactions, and will recalculate the totals shown on this form.

Useful Note When you create new Debtors through the Debtor list, the Client totals are not automatically adjusted. Click the Recalc button to update the Client totals, or choose Tools menu, Recalculate, and recalculate Client totals to update all Clients in the system.

Print

Selecting this button will take you to the reports list where you can select a report to run on this Client.

Advanced

Selecting this button will take you to the Client Settings form where you can add or edit data that will be used when creating Debtors, payments, invoices and other similar functions. This information can be used as default data, automatically entered for you when you create new Debtor records for this Client.

Cancel

Selecting this button will ignore any changes you have made and return you to the previous form.

Help

Press this button for help on the Client form and links to related topics.

Entering The Client

Having gathered all the information that you will need to completely configure your new Client, you can proceed with their entry into the system.

If you have not yet created your own login, sign into the system with the login ID "OWN" and the Password "own". The password is case sensitive. This login ships with the system and is available when you receive the product. It is configured with Level 10 set of access rights/permissions.
Click the menu path \Browse\Clients from the menu bar at the top of the screen. This will display the list of all Clients in your database. Press F3 or the NEW button at the bottom of this list to open an empty Client setup screen.
The Client Number field fills itself as the system keeps track of what your next available number is. It is important to make sure you don't allow duplicate Client Numbers. This will cause data integrity corruption because the database will have no way to distinguish between the two unrelated Clients and the data for both of them will be intertwined.
Fill in the business information that you have for this Client along the left side of the screen. Navigate through the basic intake Fields using your TAB or ENTER keys.

When you are done entering in your basic intake information, your screen should look like this:

Client Basic Intake Information

The following are descriptions of Fields with special characteristics or usages in Collect!:

D.B.A.

This acronym stands for "Doing Business As". Some Clients have a corporate name to whom you are contracted but operate under a trade or business name that is different. Use this field to store that information.

If your Client uses this field and it is to be displayed in Client reports and remittances, you must make sure that the field @cl.dba is expressed in the requisite documents. Similarly, if your Client requires that their name be fully expressed with the corporate name and the D.B.A. trade name, then you must make sure that any letters you send to their Debtors contain the Printable field Code @cl.dba beside the field Code which outputs the Client name (@cl.na) for every instance in letters you generate to their Debtors.

Contact

Use this field to input the name of the individual who is the primary contact inside the Client company to communicate with your Agency or receive statements/reports issued to the Client.

Useful Note Remember to edit your reports to include an "Attention: @cl.co<" line if you wish your reports to show an individual's name with the company name/ address that mailings are to be directed to upon delivery.

User 2 to User 4

These are free-form Fields which you may use for any purpose you require. You can relabel these fields by mousing into the field of interest and right-clicking. The pop up offers you the highlighted choice "Properties". Enter or click on selection to enter the Access Rights window for this field. Relabel the field by entering what you want to display in the "Alias" field.

In the following example, the User 2 field was renamed "SIF Auth" to indicate that a separate individual for this Client is to be contacted for settlement authorizations.

User 2 Field Aliased as SIF Auth

The User 2 to 4 fields on the Client screen are not tied or committed to any other system functionality and are open for site specific user defined entry, unless you are reporting to the Credit Bureau. Please refer to How to Setup Credit Bureau Reporting for details.

Owned By Client

Use this field when you have a Client which has multiple Client Numbers in your office and they require any of:

A single Invoice/Statement and Check for all their Client Numbers.
A single report to reflect inventory reporting, performance metrics or other data that is compiled from information being derived from multiple client account numbers sources.
Access for "master" clients via the Web Host to view sub-clients.

Timezone

Collect! ships with embedded control files (scripts) that read the area code of phone numbers on file for Clients and Debtors. This logic will constantly make the comparison between what is the timezone known constant for your location and the Client (or Debtor) now on the screen. Your calculated local time for the Client (or Debtor) currently on your screen is displayed in title bar of the active window, on the extreme right side. The title bar is the color tinted stripe which says "Client" (or "Debtor").

Type

If you will be sending this Client's Debtors to any of the Credit Bureaus, (Equifax, Trans Union or Experian), it is required that you set the "Type" field in the upper right corner of the screen by selecting one of the choices in the pick list.

These choices should NOT be modified as they represent all the VALID Creditor Classification types that are defined by, and recognized by the Credit Bureaus for reporting in a standard Metro2 file format.

General Figure and Financial Fields Visible

As you complete the basic intake information on the left hand side of the main Client screen, you will note that the Financial Fields on the right hand side of the screen appear grayed out/Read Only. They are blank this way when you do not have any Debtors entered.

Useful Note It is recommended to run the batch process Recalculate Client Totals daily to keep your figures up-to-date on-screen. It is also possible to recalculate an individual Client ad hoc by clicking the Recalc button in the lower right corner.

Additional Setup Screens And Button Functions

In the lower right corner of the main Client Screen, you will see a bank of buttons. Their purpose and general operation is described as follows:

OK

Click here when you have completed entering all your Client information to save any new or updated information you have entered.

<< AND >>

The double arrow buttons will quick key you to the next Client forwards and backwards in your Client list.

Recalc

Click this button to initiate an individual Client figure recalculation of all financial Fields on the Client screen.

Useful Note It is recommended that you update your Client figures regularly but in particular, before running reports or letters which will draw upon the data in the Client stored figure buckets. This may be done as a batch process through the menu path \ Daily Administration\ Daily Batch Processing\Calculate All Totals\Recalculate Client Totals. Examples of processes that affect financials that require process Recalc are new business entry, mass closeouts, write back reports used to adjust commissions.

Useful Note If you prefer keyboard navigation to mouse point/click, then observe which letter is underlined when entering menus or needing to make a button choice. The letter in the item title that is underlined is a quick key to enter the menu or screen. Quick key options are not case sensitive. Example - to fast path into the Daily Administration menu from the Main Menu, keyboard "D" or "d".

Advanced Client Settings

The Client Settings screen contains the many software switches and preference settings that will determine how Collect! manages this Client's data. Having these preferences auto-managed streamlines your operations, optimizing both time efficiency and quality control.

Useful Note The Advanced screen must be completed before you begin entering new Debtors.

Setting entries or updates made to Clients do not retroactively update the Debtors already in the system. Instead of trying to find a mass process or create a custom write back report after-the-fact, better to make sure you have thoroughly entered all the requisite information for this Client from the outset.

Client Settings Form

Click Here to View this Form.

Click Here to Close this Form.

The Client Settings form lets you set up detailed accounting and collection settings for each client. This information can usually be taken directly from the contractual agreement you have made with your client. It could also be determined by your own way of doing business.

Client Settings

The settings in this form thoroughly impact all aspects of Collect! that require billing and fees information. You can enter the information here and Collect! will automatically enter it into fields on other forms where this information is required. For instance, fields in Debtors, Payments, Invoices and Credit Bureau Reporting forms can be filled in automatically from information you set in the Client Settings form.

Although you could enter information directly into those forms manually, it makes far more sense to let Collect! enter the information, especially when you are processing hundreds of records.

*** IMPORTANT ***

Fill in the Client Settings form BEFORE you enter Debtors for your clients. That way Collect! can automatically enter this information for every new debtor you create. Fields on other forms mentioned above will also be filled in automatically.

Billing Period

This is the interval for generating invoice/statements for this client. For instance, if you bill your clients on a monthly basis, MONTHLY is the Billing Period that you would choose.

Collect! uses MONTHLY as the default, but please make a definite choice here. In order to generate statements, Collect! needs to know what billing period you have agreed upon with your client.

Press F2 to bring up a selection list for you to choose from. Please decide on a definite billing period. Do not leave this blank.

Remit AS Gross Funds

All funds collected on behalf of a client are returned to the client at the end of the billing period. The invoice sent to the client at the same time lists all commission and taxes due and payable by the client.

If you retain commission and taxes yourself and only return the remaining funds to the client, then leave this switch blank. At period end, Collect! will correctly calculate the amount owed to the client, or what the client owes your company based on the payments received during the billing period.

Useful Note This switch has no effect if you have a check mark in the 'Combined Invoice' field.

Useful Note When changing a client's billing type from Net to Gross or vice versa, Collect! will automatically alter the TOTAL field on the last Invoice as a net client's receivable is reflected as a negative number in the Invoice/Statement record where a gross client's receivable is reflected as a positive number.

Bill Client For Negative To Us

Switch this ON for a Gross client when you need your statements to reflect amounts owed to you for transactions posted with a NEGATIVE To Us amount. By default, Collect! does not bill a Gross client for a NEGATIVE amount.

If you are using Gross remittances, it is advisable to always have this enabled. It will ensure that you are reimbursed for payment reversals like NSF checks where you have already remitted to the client.

Remit AS Combined Funds

Switch this on to generate combined Net/Gross invoices for this client. When you print your statements, Collect! will use the CStatement report to break out the agency and client portions of the total remit and return.

Useful Note With this switched ON, Collect! ignores the 'Remit gross funds with invoice' switch. A Net type statement is generated and the totals are summarized when the statement is printed.

Useful Note When changing a client's billing type from Net to Combined or vice versa, Collect! will automatically alter the TOTAL field on the last Invoice as a net client's receivable is reflected as a negative number in the Invoice/Statement record where a combined client's receivable is reflected as a positive number.

Bill Commission To Debtor

By setting this switch, the commission amount is added to the debtor's Owing amount. Thus, any letters sent to the debtor will show the updated total, while any calculations of commission will take into account the fact that some portion of the payment is commission. This switch takes effect when you enter the financial details for the debtor, provided you have set a commission rate for the client.

Useful Note Do not set this switch unless you have a signed agreement from the debtor on file or the legal structure of your region permits you to bill the debtor for your commission.

Client Is Tax Exempt

This means that the client is not charged tax on commissions paid to your company. This setting can be changed on a per transaction basis.

Credit Card Convenience Fees

Switch this ON with a check mark if this Client permits you to charge a convenience fee when using Collect!'s Payment Processing module for credit card payments.

Useful Note To implement credit card convenience fees you must set up your credit card convenience fee Transaction Types. Please refer to Help topic, Credit Card Setup for details.

ACH Convenience Fees

Switch this ON with a check mark if this Client permits you to charge a convenience fee when using Collect!'s Payment Processing module for ACH payments.

Useful Note To implement ACH convenience fees you must set up your ACH convenience fee Transaction Types. Please refer to Help topic, ACH Payments Setup for details.

Success Calculation

Collect! provides two automatic processes for calculating success rate for each given client. Either your success can be based on only closed accounts, or on all the accounts listed for the Client. If you need your own custom calculation, you can create a report to perform the calculations. You would then run the report yourself when you want to determine the Success Rate.

Calculate Using All Accounts

This calculation method is based on all accounts that belong to this Client. The Success Rate is total payments to date over total listed dollar value. This is the default calculation method.

Use Closed Accounts Only

This calculation method evaluates only closed accounts. It gives you a more accurate performance figure over long periods of time, but ignores any active accounts. So it is less current that the All Accounts calculation. This Success Rate is calculated using total payments made on closed accounts over total listed dollar value for the closed accounts.

Custom

This option indicates that you wish to perform your own calculation for Success Rate. This only necessary if the automatic calculations that Collect! provides do not suit your purposes for some of your Clients.

When you select Custom, Collect! will not alter the Success Rate on the Client form whenever the Client is Recalced. To see your custom Success Rate, you would need to run a write back report or add a control file to the Client form. For convenience, you can enter the name of your report in the Report field.

Useful Note If you are not familiar with creating reports or control files in Collect!, you may want to request help from Collect! Technical Services for pricing of your request which we can create for you.

Report

You can use this field to enter the name of a report that you want to run to refresh the Success Rate on the Client form. This is only necessary if you have created a custom report for success calculation that is different from the two options that Collect! gives you.

Useful Note This field does not invoke any actions. It is for tracking purposes only.

Useful Note You can create different reports for different Clients, depending on your needs, or you can use the two options that Collect! provides for automatic calculation.

Only Payments For Comm To Date

Switch this ON with a check mark to tell Collect! to use only Payment type transactions when calculating the total Commission to Date displayed on the Client form.

When this switch is OFF, Collect! will total commissions from any transaction that has a commission amount entered.

Exclude Reversals From Recalc

Switch this ON to exclude Debtors with a Status that is set as a Listing Reversal from the financial summary calculations on the Client form, including success rate.

No Fixed Fees

Turn this switch ON when you don't want to charge a fixed fee to the client or the debtor.

Charge Fee To Client

Turn this switch ON and enter the amount of the fixed fee.

When you add a new debtor to this client, the fixed fee amount is copied to the Debtor record. At period end, when you generate statements for your client, this fee will be included in the statement to your client.

Charge Fee To Debtor

Turn this switch ON and enter the amount of the fixed fee.

When you add a new debtor to this client, the fixed fee amount is copied to the Debtor record. When you edit the debtor's Fee field, you can verify the amount and then Collect! posts a fee transaction to the debtor's account, the fee amount to the debtor.

Fixed Fee

This is the amount of the fixed fee, and should be a dollar amount. This is billed to either the client or the debtor, depending on the Charge to Client or Debtor options described above. If you turn the No Fixed Fees switch ON, this value is ignored.

Currency

This is the default currency for debtors assigned by this client.

This is visible only if you have the 'Multi Currency' switch turned ON in the Company Details form, available from the Options pull-down menu.

Each debtor can operate with a different currency. Similarly, each transaction posted to a debtor can have a different currency.

Useful Note Collect! does not calculate using exchange rates and currencies. These fields are provided for your information purpose only.

Statement Currency

This is the currency you use when generating statements. This is for informational purposes only at this time.

Useful Note Collect! does not calculate using exchange rates and currencies. These fields are provided for your information purpose only.

Itemization Date

The itemization date is copied down from the Company Details when a client is created. When sending your first letter to a Debtor, the itemization date is a reference date for the account balance.

Useful Note For example, if your client uses the Transaction Date as the Itemization Date, and the Client also charged Interest, then the Balance at Itemization must be the original Transaction amount, without interest.

Variable Interest Rates File

This field is only used when you are using the Variable Interest extension module. Enter the exact name of the file containing your interest rates table.

Please refer to Help topic, How to Use Variable Interest for details.

Assign Sales ID To New Accounts

This Sales ID will be assigned to all new accounts recorded for this client. It will be copied to the Debtor record automatically and then the information can be tracked for salesperson status and for commission reporting.

Assign Operator ID To Accounts

This Operator ID will be assigned to all new accounts recorded for this client. It will be copied to the Debtor's record automatically. The Operator ID is very important for following up on a debtor's account, scheduling contacts and reviewing account activity.

Contact Plan For New Accounts

This loads the Contact plan's ID into the Debtor form. Whenever a new account is entered, this plan will run automatically. For instance, you could schedule a phone call or a review for each new account.

Debtor Sort Order

These switches display the order used to sort this client's debtors. This is the order in which they will be displayed when statements are generated.

If the Sort Order option is not set, then Collect! is using the default Sort Order, which is the order that the Debtors were added to the database.

Debtor Name

A dot in the radio button for this field indicates that this client's debtors are sorted by Debtor Name. Statements for this client will be generated in order of Debtor Name.

Debtor Account

A dot in the radio button for this field indicates that this client's debtors are sorted by Debtor Account. Statements for this client will be generated in order of Debtor Account.

Caw Enabled

This switch enables you to flag accounts for use with Client Access Web.

Disable Metafiles

Switch this ON with a check mark if you do not want to save METAFILES when letters are printed through Collect!. Ordinarily, when printing from the Debtor or Client, or in a scheduled letter batch, Collect! creates and attaches a METAFILE to the Letter contact. The "Disable metafiles" switch enables you to control this at the Client level.

Useful Note When this switch is ON, it overrides any contact plan Letter Event where the "Create metafile" switch is ON.

Useful Note This switch is ignored when letters are printed through the Scheduled Batch Letters option. This means that Collect! will always create a METAFILE for letters printed in the Scheduled Batch Letters.

Report Accounts To Bureaus

Switch this ON when you wish to set up credit reporting for a client.

Useful Note Please be aware that this switch does not automatically begin reporting debtors. You must still switch ON credit bureau reporting for each debtor that you want to report. Please refer to How To Setup Credit Bureau Reporting for details.

You must also switch ON 'Send client detail to bureaus' if you are reporting as a Collection Agency so that Collect! can include the details when you run your report.

Useful Note The batch process for Preparing accounts for CBR will not prepare any accounts where this box is not checked on the client.

Useful Note When you UNCHECK this box, you will receive a prompt on how you want to manage the Debtor's reporting:

Yes: disables all CBR reporting on all debtors
No: cancels and makes no changes
Turn Off, But Don't Run Query: unchecks this box, but does not stop the CBR reporting on the existing accounts

Original Creditor Is In User 1

This switch may be used by portfolio purchasers who want to use the Client record for tracking the portfolio, yet also want to send the original creditor information to credit bureaus. Switch this ON on a client by client basis and then place the original creditor information into the User 1 field on the Debtor form.

Original Creditor Is In User 2

Useful Note You must fill the client's credit bureau reporting details into the applicable User 2 to 4 fields.

Delay From

Select the date on the Debtor that you want to use to calculate the Delays Days from.

From Today

This field is used with the DELAY DAYS field to delay reporting to the bureau. This field is the default selection. If this option is selected, the reporting delay will be based on the date that you prepared the Debtor to be reported to the bureau.

From Delinquency

This field is used with the DELAY DAYS field to delay reporting to the bureau. If this option is selected, the reporting delay will be based on the Debtor's Delnqnt date.

From Charged

This field is used with the DELAY DAYS field to delay reporting to the bureau. If this option is selected, the reporting delay will be based on the Debtor's Charged date.

Delay Days

When you first report credit on an account, you can schedule for the report to be sent later, rather than immediately. The date can be changed manually.

This is configured on the Credit Bureau Setup screen by selecting the Delay Report option.

This field allows you to overwrite the global Delay Days value to report sooner or later than your global setting.

To have this client reporting based on the global settings, leave the box empty.

Warning Note WARNING: If you change the value in this field, you will be prompted to update the database. If you select Yes, the system will look for accounts that are not qualified to report yet. If they have not already been reported, then the Metro Contact will be re-dated for the correct date. If they have been reported, then the system will update the Metro Contact to submit a DA Status during the next report. On the report after the DA submission, a new Metro Contact with Code TT1 will be created with the exact same parameters for the remaining fields (Condition Code, Report Cosigner, etc.) as the last report.

Min Value Of

This field works with the MIN BALANCE field below and should be set first. If you have a minimum balance to report for this client, select whether the minimum balance is based on Owing, Total Principal, or Original Principal.

Warning Note WARNING: Owing and Total Principal are based on when you check the "Report to Credit Bureau" box on the Debtor's CBR tab, not the time that the account was created.

Min Balance

This field is used by the NEW BUS - IGNORE REPORTING OWING field on the Credit Bureau Setup form. If the NEW BUS - IGNORE REPORTING OWING field is checked, then debtors being reported for the first time will not be enabled if their owing is less than the value in this field.

This field allows you to overwrite the global Less Than value to report different balances than your global setting.

Warning Note WARNING: If you change the value in this field, you will be prompted to update the database. If you select Yes, the system will look for accounts that are below the value in this field and stop reporting them.

Commission

Enter up to four commission rates for this client. Payment breakdown settings enable you to specify a type of account for which the commission is applied.

Troubleshooting Commission

There are several settings in Collect! that may affect the calculation of commission. When the calculation seems wrong, please examine the following areas to determine what has a bearing on the amounts Collect! displays.

Active/closed debtor
Manually changing the commission rate
Add commission to owing switched on/off. The commission calculation can be changed by the Add Commission To Owing switch in the debtor's Financial Detail form. Please check this switch in the Commission tab of this form. This switch affects how the commission amount is calculated.
Commission rate plan
Control files
Accuracy of transactions
Access to Collect!'s fields and forms.

Rate 1

This rate is used if you leave the 'Rate Plan' field blank. This is the standard commission charged to accounts listed by this client. This is automatically copied into new debtors as they are assigned to this client. The individual commission rate can be changed on an account-by-account basis, and even for individual transactions.

This is an absolute percentage rate. You should use this if you have not entered a rate plan. This is a flat commission rate charged to all debtors assigned to this client. Choose EITHER a rate plan or a commission rate but not both.

Rate Plan

You can specify a default Commission Rate Plan for new debtors for this client. When a new debtor is created and the client is assigned, the default rate plan is copied to the debtor record where it can be accepted or changed for each debtor.

Choose EITHER a rate plan or a commission rate, but not both.

Useful Note If you have selected a commission rate plan, you should not have a commission amount entered as well.

Tax

Enter up to four tax rates for this client. Payment breakdown settings enable you to specify a type of account for which the tax is applied.

Tax 1

This is the rate at which tax is calculated on commissions for this client's debtors. Whenever you enter a new debtor for this client, this tax rate is copied to the new Debtor record. If you have set a "global tax rate" in the Company Details form, which is available from OPTIONS in the top menu bar, that tax rate will be displayed here, whenever you enter a new client into your system.

This can be changed on a debtor-by-debtor basis, and for individual transactions.

Help

Press this button for help on the Client Settings form and links to related topics.

Cancel

Select this button to ignore any changes you may have made and return to the previous form.

OK

Select this button to save any changes you may have made and return to the previous form.

The Advanced Settings Screen looks as follows:

Advanced Client Settings

Before proceeding, it is necessary to have the following areas preset as pertains to the Client you are about to enter so that the information is readily available to the system and usable in this setup where applicable. All of these should be accomplished prior to entry of any Debtors for this Client.

Company details
Dunning letters
Operators
Transaction types
Contact plans

Useful Note Many default Operator IDs, Letters and Contact Plans ship with Collect!. These are SAMPLE only. Some may be usable for your purposes as is OR you can use the samples to assist in creating your own customized items.

Getting Started

If you are not already situated on a Client Advanced Settings screen, click the menu path of \Browse\Clients, select an existing demo Client or create a New Client. Click the Advanced button in the lower right corner of the main Client screen.

Be sure to have all your Client requirements available as covered in the Overview section of this topic. Specifically,

Details of your contingency terms for commission
Requirements for charges, fees, and taxes
Remittance Type and Frequency
Credit bureau reporting requirements

The Client-specific defaults you select in the Client Settings screen are automatically applied as applicable for every Debtor entered under that Client and all processes which access this Client's data for output of key information.

Billing, Reporting And Fees

You will notice that the left-most and middle columns of the Client Settings window pertain to details of your contractual agreement with your Client.

Remittance Options

Billing Period

This identifies which Remittance frequency on which your Client wishes to receive their Invoice/Statement and Checks.It is NOT recommended to leave this field blank. Even if your current Client base is the same cycle, there may be a future point in time where you have Clients with different remittance cycles and have need for reporting purposes to have this field populated in all your Clients.

The default Remit Type in the system is Net. There is no tangible switch to set this preference. It is presumed in the absence of either Combined or Gross being selected.

Useful Note Choose to remit Net if your Client has not stipulated otherwise. This means you deduct your commission right away on the current Invoice/Statement instead of billing your client for your fees and having to wait to be paid by them.

The calculation of the Net Remit is:

Check Sent to Client = Total Paid Agency - (Commissions + Fees due Agency + Taxes + Balances Past Due)

Net remittances use documents called "Statement" and "Check" in your Print menu to create their output when invoked.

Useful Note There are times when you will have a Client who is going to want to change their billing type. There are differences between the types in terms of how accounting calculations are computed. Please see below on changing billing types.

Remit as Gross Funds

All funds paid to the Agency are returned to the Client at the end of the billing period and they are billed for any commission/fees/charges/taxes due to the Agency as calculated on collections both 'To Agency' and 'To Client' direct. The system will create a check for the gross collections recovered to be remitted to the Client.

If you use this setting, you must have a GStatement and a GCheck report in your Print Menu.

This switch becomes nullified if you have checked Remit as Combined Funds.

Bill Client for Negative To Us

By default with a Gross Client, when reversals (negative payments) are posted, the system will not recover the funds from the Client. When you receive the re-payment from the Debtor, it is expected that you would check the Omit from Client Statement box on the Transaction to prevent double paying your Client.

To get around that you can switch this ON for a Gross Client when you need your statements to reflect amounts owed to you for transactions posted with a NEGATIVE To Us amount.

Warning Note WARNING: We recommend that this box is always on and should only be unchecked if you do not want your clients to see reversals.

Remit as Combined Funds

Check this box if your Client requires the type of remittance which treats Paid Agency funds as "Net" while treating the Paid Client directs as "Gross". This means all Paid Agency transactions are handled first with the Total Paid Agency amount calculated. From that amount, any commissions/fees/charges/taxes due the Agency will be subtracted and a check will be written for the Net difference. The Client will be invoiced for any commissions/fees/ charges/taxes due to the Agency as a result of any Paid Client directs reported in the same billing period.

If you use this setting, you must have a CStatement and a CCheck report in your Print menu to use when generating statements for this Client.

Bill Commission to Debtor

This switch is used if you add your commission to all Debtors' balances as a Collection Charge for this Client.

Useful Note You are responsible for using this switch ONLY if it is permissible by law to apply Collection Charges in your region.

Client is Tax Exempt

With this switch enabled, Collect! will not calculate tax on any commission amounts from monies collected for this Client. This can be overridden at the Debtor or Transaction level.

Switching A Client To A Different Remittance Type

Switching from one billing type to another is as simple as checking or unchecking the applicable boxes described above.

Gross and Combined invoice records stored receivables as a positive value and payables as a negative values. Net stores receivables as a negative value and payables as a positive value. For this reason, when you switch to or from Net, the system will invert the value TOTAL field on the last invoice so the Receivables and Payables calculations for the next period will be correct.

Report To Credit Bureaus

Report Accounts to Bureaus

This switch functions as an indicator that for this Client ONLY, you are permitted to report Debtors to Credit Bureaus as having an open Collection Item with your office.

Useful Note It does NOT function as the trigger to activate accounts for credit reporting when new accounts are entered for this Client, UNLESS you have the Auto-Activate CBR setting enabled on the Credit Bureau Setup form.

These are the ways to activate an account for credit reporting:

Manually enter the CBR tab on a Debtor screen and check the "Report to Credit Bureau" box.
Via the batch process, "Prepare accounts for reporting to credit bureaus"
Enabling the Auto-Activate CBR setting on the Credit Bureau Setup form, which will enable credit reporting after accounts are entered manually, via import, or via the web portal.

Useful Note At all times, Cosigners that you wish to report MUST be manually activated in both the CBR tab AND in the Cosigner window. The automated processes activates ONLY the primary Debtor on the account.

For more information on setting up credit reporting, refer to Credit Bureau topics.

Send Client Detail to Bureaus

You must switch ON "Send Client detail to bureaus" if you are reporting as a Collection Agency.

This is for legislative compliance to include the identity of the original creditor with each Debtor that your Agency reports to the Credit Bureau. In the Metro2 credit reporting record layout, this is known as the F1 segment.

If you are the original Creditor and are reporting as first party, you would leave this switch unchecked in the OFF position. You would additionally need to ensure you have checked the "Report as credit grantor" in the menu path "Tools\Credit Reporting\Credit Bureau Setup".

Original Creditor is in User 1 or User 2

If your company is a Debt Purchaser AND you do not have the original Creditor name entered in the Client Name field in Collect!, check this switch ON to meet your F1 segment compliance requirement. When you manually data enter OR electronically import new Debtors, this switch relies on the original creditor name being stored in the User 1 or User 2 fields respectively on the main Debtor screen.

Delay From and Delay Days

These fields are intertwined. If you have "Delay Report" enabled on the Credit Bureau Setup form, then the system will use these settings.

The Delay From should always be entered first as the next field is dependent on this value. Select the date to use as the starting point for calculating the delay.

The Delay Days is an override to the same field on the Credit Bureau Setup form. If blank, the global value is used. If populated, this value is used.

Warning Note WARNING: When you enter or change the value, you will receive a prompt asking if you want to update your existing accounts. If this is a new client, then you can select either option as there are no accounts to update. If there are accounts that are setup to report, then select the option that applies to you.

Min Value Of and Min Balance

These fields are intertwined. If you have "New Bus - Ignore Reporting Owing Less Than" enabled on the Credit Bureau Setup form, then the system will use these settings.

The Min Value Of should always be entered first as the next field is dependent on this value. Select the balance field to use for calculating the owing threshold. Balance and Total Principal are the values at the time the account is activated for reporting, whether it be day 0 or day 100. Original Principal is the value in the field of the same name on the Debtor's Assignment tab.

The Min Balance is an override to the "Less Than" field on the Credit Bureau Setup form. If blank, the global value is used. If populated, this value is used.

Success Rate

On the main Client setup screen, you will notice that there is a grayed out/read-only field labeled "Success Rate" that contains a percentage figure. This is a system-generated liquidation rate and you have control of the equation that calculates this figure. There are software switches in the Advanced screen which offer you three ways to calculate this field. The chosen calculation and results displayed do not impact liquidation percentages calculated elsewhere in reports. It is an internal measure for your company to gauge performance that is meaningful to your Profitability Analysis on a per Client basis.

The three options from which you can select your calculation preferences are:

Calculate Using All Accounts

This calculation uses data from all files assigned.

Equation: Gross Paid X 100 / ((All Listed + All Fees) - Adjustments)

"All Listed" includes figures from closed accounts
"All fees" includes Debtor and Client fees
"Adjustments" includes all transaction series types 300's, 400's and 500's, if you are using the stock Transaction Types that ship with Collect!

Use Closed Accounts Only

This calculation uses data from MODE CLOSED accounts ONLY. An example of where this calculation might be meaningful is if this Client is a Pre-collect/Cure type portfolio where it isn't until an account is closed that it is considered liquidated, this would be the internal metric to use.

Equation: (All Paid (closed accounts) / All Listed (closed accounts)) X 100

Custom Success Rate

If you need your own custom calculation for liquidation rate, click the radio button beside "Custom" and create a Control File on the Client Form that performs the calculation / write back to the Success Rate field for this Client. When the custom option is set, Collect! will not update the Success Rate field at all.

Useful Note You may also use a Report that starts on Client to update the Success Rate to Clients in batch.

Fixed Fees

These switches govern whether there are any special fee handling requirements for this Client.

Use this switch if you have contractual agreement with your Client to impose a charge on them for each account assigned OR if you are charging the Debtors for a specific fee.

Useful Note You are responsible for ensuring that any fees you charge a Debtor are permitted by law in your region.

No Fixed Fees

This is the default setting that should be selected if there are no special fee handling requirements for this Client.

Charge Fee to Client

When you enter a new Debtor, the system will automatically post a Transaction Type 397 for the amount determined here that will appear on statements as a 'due Agency' charge billed to your Client.

You will not see this fee in the Debtor balance breakdown.

You can see this charge if you click the Principal field on the main Debtor screen and enter the " Financial Details\Fee" Tab.

Charge Fee to Debtor

When you enter a new Debtor, the system will automatically post a Transaction Type 398 for the amount determined here that will appear in the Debtor balance breakdown. You will see it in the "Fee" field on the main Debtor screen. This amount does become included in the Debtor's balance owing.

Commission And Tax

Commission and tax tabs in the lower portion of the Client Settings screen are used in calculating the contingency amounts due you when your run statements for this Client.

Commission

If your contingency agreement with your Client has hierarchical conditions for what rates are to be applied on what segment of a balance is being paid (i.e. Principal versus Interest verses Fees etc.), you may enter custom Client rate plans with up to four levels of rates on a per Client basis in this tab.

These settings are embedded into each new Debtor you enter into the system for the Client. If there are reasons to do so, the default settings you affix to this Client can be overridden at the Debtor or Transaction level on a per posting basis.

Rate

Decision which of the three possible methods for attaching your contingency terms with your Client is the most applicable:

Individual, custom rate structure

To assign a flat commission rate for all accounts, enter the commission percentage amount into the field under the label Rate. You do not have to enter anything below this amount if you have only one rate that will be charged.

To differentiate between where the money is being applied with respect to the Debtors owing breakdown (i.e. principal, interest, fees etc.), enter the applicable rate and check the box for the financial type that rate is to apply against. For example:

Rate: 25% on Rate 1: Principal
Rate: 100% on Rate 2: Interest
Rate: 0% on Rate 3: Fees

Company-wide flat commission rate

If your company charges all Clients the same flat rate, you can fast path your Client and new Debtor entry by including this flat contingency rate in your Company Details. If entered there, you will see the Rate field populate automatically for every Client and Debtor entered into the system, reducing the number of keystrokes required to set them up.

Rate Plan

If you wish to define your commission structures in rate plans that allow considerable fine tuning for contingencies on the basis of assigned balance, remaining balance, age of account, paid to date etc., you can set up such terms in the menu path "System\ Financial Settings\ Commission Rate Plan" then select the code for that plan using the pick list on this field.

Useful Note It is recommended to use a Rate Plan as defined by setup outside of the Client screen when there are more than two rates to be applied.

Useful Note If you are using method #1 or #3 above, it is important to NOT input both a rate plan and a manual commission structure in the Fee tab on the same Client. Leave the Rate plan field blank if you are not using a plan.

Tax

The rules for setting up tax percentages follow the same logic as discussed above for Commission. You have three methods for how you want to affix a tax schedule:

company-wide in Company Details
on each Client separately
at the Debtor payment level on a per transaction basis

In some regions, taxes may not be applicable and should be left blank. In other regions, you may have different tax percentage rates based on where the Debtor lives.

Useful Note It is each Agency's responsibility to ensure that they are compliantly charging and remitting taxes to governing bodies in their region as per the laws of their areas in which they do business.

Currency And Statement Currency

These Fields are only visible if you selected to turn ON the "Multi-Currency" switch in the "System\ Preferences\ Company Details"screen. If that switch is turned OFF, neither of these two fields are visible in the Advanced Client setup screen.

At present, both serve informational display purposes only. The default is "System Default" for both.

What the Multi-Currency switch in Company Details does presently do if you have it turned ON, is it will auto-print North American "$" signs before monetary Fields printed in reports and letters. The dollar sign must be manually embedded if the "Multi-Currency" switch in Company Details is turned OFF.

Useful Note For any Client, Debtor, or Transaction that is set to system default, Collect! will use the regional settings of the server to display the currency symbols.

Sales ID

If your Company tracks revenue by Inside Sales Rep, this field is where you will enter the salesperson's Operator ID for tracking purposes. House Clients can be identified by using the owner's ID or HSE as the salesperson.

This field may remain blank (or be used for alternate tracking meaningful to your company) if you do not utilize in-house sales staff.

Operator ID

If all new accounts are initially assigned to any of the following you may wish to enter that ID here to save steps when new accounts are entered:

one Collector
one Collection Team defined by a Team Operator ID
one New Business Feeder/Pool desk

If there is an Operator ID on the Client, all new listings will be assigned to that Operator when you enter them manually or via import.

Useful Note Operator ID settings embedded by the Client when new accounts are listed may be overridden by BOTH selection of a different ID at time of manual or import entry.

It is not mandatory to input anything into this field if you utilize Account Toss batch processing to distribute your new accounts to multiple collectors.

Contact Plan For New Accounts

It is not mandatory that a Contact Plan be run on new assignments. However, if you wish to batch process a series of perfunctory initialization steps, it is helpful to create a NEW Contact Plan that does the minimum number of housekeeping steps. Example:

Set Mode to Active
Set Status to NEW
Queues up your first dunning letter
Inserts a Review or Phone contact so that the account will appear in a collector's WIP list.

Useful Note If you enter accounts either manually or by electronic import and do not insert a Review or Phone contact on the account, then you are creating Orphaned Accounts which are on desks but NEVER appear in any body's WIP list. ALL accounts expected to appear in a WIP list MUST have an In Progress contact event in one of the default types being Review, Phone, Promise or Other.

Useful Note It is your responsibility to ensure that any letters you send to Debtors or Contact Plans you enact with the system are compliant to legislation and regulations in your region with respect to format, content and actions launched. SAMPLE letters shipped with Collect! or available on the Member Center are SAMPLE only and intended to be modified by each site before usage.

Debtor Sort Order

This switch determines how accounts with payments will be presented on Client Statements. Some Creditors have a preference which they require their agencies adhere to. If your Client wants alphabetic sorting on their statements, click the radio button beside "Debtor Name". If your Client wants their statements to be numerically sorted by their own account number, click the radio button beside "Debtor Account".

Client Tabs - Description, Purpose And Use

All multi-part screens in Collect! with a Tab section will evidence a visual signal indicating whether there is, or is not, any data contained inside that tab. A Grey tab contains no data. A Yellow tab means there is data inside. A convenient way to train staff to watch for this is to suggest if the Tab 'light' is ON, then something is in there that can be viewed.

Debtors Tab

The left-most tab is labeled 'Debtors'. This is where you can most directly access all Debtors for the Client that are not Archived. There are four key ways that this tab is time-saving for staff in areas of Clerical/Accounting, Administration, Client Services, Sales and Operational/Project Management:

It is possible to manually data enter new business for the Client from the Debtor Tab. The Fields pertaining to Client Name and Client Number in your system will be auto-filled, saving your entry operator the redundant time of repeatedly entering the Client detail with each piece of new business.
It is the fastest way to create ad hoc batch letters for Debtors belonging ONLY to a certain Client or run reports that will query the Debtor File to gather data for a specific Client.
It is the fastest way to run Contact Plans and Batch Processes (such as Collector desk reshuffles, etc.) that pertain only to Debtors under a specific Client number.
It is also the most convenient way for your Sales/Client Services team to access Debtor accounts when Clients call in to request or provide info about one of their accounts.

Invoices Tab

This tab contains the invoice/statement history of the Client. The invoice/statement screens display all the line items from each remittance as well as the 30/60/90 Accounts Receivable balance forward(s) which the Client may have with your office. From this tab, you are able to reprint a specific statement for a Client, if needed.

You can adjust your List View options to add the 30/60/90 Fields so that from a Browse List of Invoice/Statements, you are able to see at a glance if your Client owes you any money and the age of that Receivable. To do this, click into the tab so that you have a scrollable list showing you have entered the sub-menu Invoices tab. Then Right click in the list column header line to obtain the pop up that prompts you to do any of Edit/Move/Insert/Remove/Restore Default.

The option to enable invoice #s to appear on your remittances on a per Client basis is controlled from the invoice screens contained in this tab. This latter is a 3-step process discussed in detail under How To Setup Custom Invoice Numbering.

Payments Tab

This is your historical listing of all Client payments, Client reversals/charges and where you can post new Client transactions. Please refer to the Help topic How To Enter A Client Payment to learn how to post payments.

Notes Tab

This tab is a free-form note area where you can copy/paste email correspondence to/from the Client as well as keep a comprehensive log of any information pertaining to individual Clients. Your Sales Personnel and Client Services Reps can store their contact notes from Client conversations in this tab.

Contacts Tab

This functions like the Contact tab on the Debtor screen, and pertains to Client issues. In this tab you can schedule Client mailings/emailings, reviews to CSRs who have follow-up calls they want to make etc. Review and Phone events would create a working WIP list and appear for the Operator for whom the the contact event was assigned to. In this way, your staff in any of Admin/Accounting/Client Services/Sales can use Collect! to schedule Client specific tasks within the software without having to rely on external calendars to prompt them.

This tab functions for Clients like the Contact tab does on Debtor accounts. If your sales or CSR staff want to create a WIP list for themselves regarding Clients, they can enter Review or Phone Contacts on the Clients for whom they have reason to follow up.

This type of queuing can also be used for Client balance due follow-up calls.

Letter/Report contacts can also be scheduled in this tab. Example, if a Client requires a Client Status Report every month, you can set up a repeating contact to automatically queue up this report every month and have it created through Batch Processing, Schedule Batch Letters for Clients whenever you are ready to print them after each month end.

Attachments Tab

This tab functions the same as it does on Debtor accounts. You may use the free-form entry Fields in whatever manner you choose and the tab provides a place to affix Client correspondence or documents received that need to be accessible on the Client's file history with your company.

You can customize the contents of this tab to suit your needs. Unlimited Attachment entries categorized by user defined Class, with or without the sub-category Type can be created.

If you wish to make a global change to an Attachment field label, meaning a designated field will be renamed for all Attachment entries, then mouse into the field of interest and Right click. You will get a pop up asking you to select what you want to do. Click on "Properties" to gain entry.

A more advanced utilization of this feature is for the field name labels to be contingent on a specific Class, meaning the same field can be used for different purposes depending on a logic condition such as Class is "Contract" or Class is "Correspondence". This is accomplished by creating a script/control file which defines what field Alias names are displayed as a function of what Class of Attachment is selected.

Depending on what you need, you may find a script/control file that is very close to your need on the Member Center which you can download and install. Alternatively, if you would like Tech Support to create a custom script/control file for you, contact us for pricing.

Useful Note Keep your Alias label names short enough to fit in the physical screen space allotted for that field to avoid cut off portions of word(s) and congested visuals presented to your staff. Cluttered screens are hard on the eyes and make it difficult to locate the information at-a-glance.

To make additions and customizations to the Class and/or Type pick-lists, refer to "How To Use Pick Lists" for more detailed instructions.

Useful Note If you put a url in the File field, the system will call your web browser and take you directly to the website when you click on the 'File Folder' icon (that you'd normally use to Open an attached file) at the end of the File Name line.

Associates Tab

This section has the same layout as the Debtor's Cosigners tab. This tab is intended to store addition contact people for a Client. You can also setup Associates to be included in Batch Letters or Emails.

Phones, Emails, Addresses Tabs

These sections behave the same as the Debtor. When you enter Phone numbers, Addresses, or Emails on the Client form, applicable records are also created or updated here.

You can also manually create records here for situations where users have multiple contact information such as Billing Address versus Shipping Address.

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