Recurring ACH Payments

WARNING: This document applies to the legacy payment processing module. For the current payment processing module, please go to Payment Processing Setup.

For create a cyclic ACH arrangement on a fixed interval, click the ACH button in the lower right of the debtor screen and select Recurring Payments from the ACH Payment Tasks menu. This window once completed will initiate series of automations in Collect!.

In addition to entering new arrangements, this screen is used for all of the following:

• View existing arrangements
• Modify/update existing arrangement terms
• Modify/update debtor details (i.e. demographic, banking)
• Substitute a Cosigner/ACH Payer name in place of the debtor

As soon as the Recurring ACH Payments window opens, Collect! queries to see if there is already a recurring payment schedule set up for this account. If one exists, then the bank account, financial and scheduling details of the existing arrangement are auto-filled for you.

Recurring ACH Payments

You can create a new payment schedule by deleting the existing one. Only ONE recurring payment schedule may exist on an account at any given time.

When you schedule recurring ACH payments for processing, Collect! posts a transaction for each payment. The Payment Dates entered reflect the arrangement due dates. The Posted Date is populated with the date you entered the arrangement, OR, if you are running the most current version of Collect! in 2015, you have the option to choose to leave the Posting Date blank until the transaction is finalized by the Payment Provider on its due date via Reconciliation. This option is located in your ACH Setup options in your System\Preferences menu path.

Whether blank or reflecting the date the arrangement was data entered, the Posted Dates are updated to the actual processing date upon the payment's submission to the Payment Provider.

WARNING: If you are not using the ACH Setup option to leave the posted dates blank, you will want to set the Company Details switch for "Statement uses payment Date" to ensure that entire arrangements not yet realized do not get expressed on your client remittances. As well, ensure you have Reconciled all your ACH transactions prior to running your client Statements, encompassing the same outside date that you will use in your From/To statement date range.

We recommend that all sites run Reconcile ACH History on a daily basis to keep all records up to date. This process not only submits all recurring payments which have come due, but will also download external payments, reversals and log any unmatched transactions in your Collect\Log Files\payments\ACH folder.

Convenience fees are also posted when you run your daily reconciliation.

The Scheduler Module has an enhanced automation with the addition of the Reconcile process being added to the Scheduler Task list of options. You may run this process offline and unattended. Contact us at sales@collect.org for module pricing.

The following are the mandatory fields which must be populated in order for a valid ACH payment be be submitted and accepted by the Payment Provider for processing.

Name

Enter the payer's name if it is different from the name already auto-filled for you.

By default, this field is filled with the Name from the Debtor screen. You can edit this as needed for the transaction. If you choose to save this information, the system will update the Debtor screen for you. If you are entering the info for a third party payer, the system will include this Name. Choose "To Cosigner" and the system will save this information by creating a new Cosigner window with the Class of "ACH Payer". This will allow you to distinguish the difference between a responsible party and a potential unresponsible payer on the account.

Address

Enter the payer's Street Address. By default, this field is filled from the Debtor account information.

You can edit this as needed for the transaction. If you choose to save this information, the system will update the Debtor screen for you. If you are entering the info for a third party payer, the system will include this Address. Choose "To Cosigner" and the system will save this information by creating a new Cosigner window with the Class of "ACH Payer".

Address 2

This is an optional second Address line. By default, this field is filled from the Debtor account information.

You can edit this as needed for the transaction. If you choose to save this information, the system will update the Debtor screen for you. If you are entering the info for a third party payer, the system will include this Address 2. Choose "To Cosigner" and the system will save this information by creating a new Cosigner window with the Class of "ACH Payer".

City

Enter the payer's City. By default, this field is filled from the Debtor account information.

You can edit this as needed for the transaction. If you choose to save this information, the system will update the Debtor screen for you. If you are entering the info for a third party payer, the system will include this City. Choose "To Cosigner" and the system will save this information by creating a new Cosigner window with the Class of "ACH Payer". Older versions of Collect! use "Other" as the Class.

State

Enter the payer's two character State code. By default, this field is filled from the Debtor account information. This is a required field and must be a valid 2-digit code.

You can edit this as needed for the transaction. If you choose to save this information, the system will update the Debtor screen for you. If you are entering the info for a third party payer, the system will include this State. Choose "To Cosigner" and the system will save this information by creating a new Cosigner window with the Class of "ACH Payer". Older versions of Collect! use "Other" as the Class.

ZIP

Enter the payer's ZIP code. By default, this field is filled from the Debtor account information. This is a required field and must be a valid zip.

You can edit this as needed for the transaction. If you choose to save this information, the system will update the Debtor screen for you. If you are entering the info for a third party payer, the system will include this Zip. Choose "To Cosigner" and the system will save this information by creating a new Cosigner window with the Class of "ACH Payer". Older versions of Collect! use "Other" as the Class.

Phone

Enter the payer's Phone number. By default, this field is filled from the Home phone number on the Debtor account information.

You can edit this as needed for the transaction. If you choose to save this information, the system will update the Debtor screen for you. If you are entering the info for a third party payer, the system will include this Phone. Choose "To Cosigner" and the system will save this information by creating a new Cosigner window with the Class of "ACH Payer". Older versions of Collect! use "Other" as the Class.

Routing

Enter the Routing number for the Bank that this ACH payment will be drawn from. This is a 9-digit number and must match the routing number of the payer's bank.

When this transaction is processed, it is stored in the Debtor Detail Tab, ABA field, if the payer is the Primary debtor, OR to the Cosigner User2 field, if you chose to "Save bank information" to Cosigner, with the Class of "ACH Payer". Older versions of Collect! use "Other" as the Class.

Acct #

Enter the payer's Bank Account Number. This must be the account that the ACH payment will be drawn from.

When this transaction is processed, it is stored in the Debtor Detail Tab, Account field if the payer is the Primary debtor, OR to the Cosigner User3 field, if you chose to "Save bank information" to Cosigner, with the Class of "ACH Payer". Older versions of Collect! use "Other" as the Class.

Type

Select the Type of bank account from the pick list provided.

When this transaction is processed, it is stored in the Debtor Detail Tab, field label Detail 1 if the payer is the Primary debtor, OR to the Cosigner User4 field, if you chose to "Save bank information" to Cosigner with the Class of "ACH Payer". Older versions of Collect! use "Other" as the Class.

Bank

Enter the name of the Bank this ACH payment will be drawn from.

When this transaction is processed, it is stored in the Debtor Detail Tab, Bank field, if the payer is the Primary debtor, OR to the Cosigner User1 field, if you chose to "Save bank information." to Cosigner, with the Class of "ACH Payer". Older versions of Collect! use "Other" as the Class.

Save Bank Information

Click the software switch to select this option if you want to save the entered bank information to the debtor's Detail Tab, or to the Cosigner window with the Class of "ACH Payer". Older versions of Collect! use "Other" as the Class.

To Debtor

This option will update all information which differs from the pre-filled fields back to the main debtor screen as well as save details to the Detail Tab if you accept the selected radio button default "To Debtor". It is important to make sure your site has "Log to notes" checked on the Access Rights preferences for any field which could potentially be overwritten by this auto-update if you want to save the old info to your debtor Notes.

To Cosigner

Clicking the radio button for Cosigner will only be accepted by the system if you have entered a name that is different from the auto-filled debtor name.

This will create a Cosigner window with the Class "ACH Payer". The Class "ACH Payer" must exist in your pick list for the Cosigner "Class" Access Rights for this feature to work correctly. Older versions of Collect! use "Other" as the Class.

Amount

Enter the Amount of the ACH payment you are about to process.

Date

Select the payment Date of the ACH payment you are about to process.

Fee

This field displays the amount of the Convenience Fee.

This field is Read Only. You must check the "Apply fee" box FIRST for the amount of the convenience fee to auto-fill. Unless you have enabled each client to allow ACH convenience fees, the Fee amount will remain blank and the "Apply fee" check box will remain Read Only and not accessible. See "Advanced Client Settings" for more information.

Apply Fee

Check this ON to activate the convenience fee for this transaction and invoke display of the fee amount to be applied when the payment is processed.

If you have not enabled convenience fees for this Client, then the Apply Fee field will be grayed out/Read Only. See "Advanced Client Settings" for details.

Total

This is the sum total of the (Amount + convenience Fee, if any) that will be drawn from the payer's bank account as a SINGLE transaction on the debtor's side of the bank records. If your site applies convenience fees, you will see a total of TWO transactions; the ACH Payment and the convenience Fee are separate in Collect!.

Frequency

Select the payment frequency from the pick list attached to this field.

If there is already a recurring ACH payment schedule set up for this account, this field will be populated with the payment frequency when you open the Recurring ACH Payments screen.

Next

Select the date for the first payment.

If there is already a recurring ACH payment schedule set up for this account, this field will be populated with the date of the next scheduled payment when you open the Recurring ACH Payments screen.

Remaining

Enter the number of payments you wish to schedule.

If there is already a recurring ACH payment schedule set up for this account, this field will be populated with the number of payments remaining when you open the Recurring ACH Payments screen.

Delete Recurring Schedule

Click this button at the bottom of the Recurring ACH Payments window to remove an existing recurring arrangement. The module will automatically:

Remove all the future dated transactions posted and pending in the Transaction Tab.

The Promise Contact for this payment schedule will be marked as "Stopped" but it will remain In Progress for your attention.

The Payment Processing Review Contact marking the end of the payment schedule will have its Due Date changed to the Date you deleted the recurring schedule.

You will be prompted by popup asking "Should I remove the Payment Processing scheduled ACH Payments and notification letters?". If you click yes, the system will automatically remove any future due-dated transactions in the Transactions Tab and delete all future due-dated ACH Notification letter Contacts currently scheduled.

Help

Click the HELP button to be auto-navigated to our webpage, Help Documents, for more info on ACH Payments and related topics.

Cancel

Select the CANCEL button to close this window without submitting the payment schedule.

Submit

Select the SUBMIT button when you have completed entering the requisite fields.

If you have missed a mandatory field or entered invalid data (i.e. zip code), you will receive a popup advising of why the transaction(s) cannot be submitted. Simply follow the directions and resubmit.

Transaction Details

After you have successfully processed a single ACH payment, you can view the results immediately in the Transaction record, Details Tab.

User 2 is a unique Reference # with a naming convention of "filenumber-date-time-fee".

User 3 is the convenience Fee amount, if any.

User 4 is the Bank Account type.

User 5 is the masked Bank Account Number.

User 6 is the Bank's ABA routing number.

User 7 is the ACH Payer name.

Confirmation # is a unique Transaction ID assigned by the Payment Provider. You will see this number on the main Transaction screen, just above the "Posted by" ID in the lower right side of the window.

NSF Payments

When you reconcile ACH history, the module will download any reversals for payments previously confirmed and auto-post them for you if you have reversal transaction codes entered in your ACH Setup options.

Any Unmatched reversals will be found in the Collect\Log Files\payments\ACH folder for manual review and handling.

Promise Details

When you schedule recurring ACH payments, AND if you have enabled 'Automatically manage promises when posting' in your ' Payment Posting Options' Setup, then Collect! will auto-manage the Promise contact it creates at the time you entered the recurring arrangement. This includes auto-advancing the next Promise Due Date when a payment is finalized by Reconciliation.

If you delete a recurring schedule, the Promise Contact will be marked as "Stopped" but it will remain In Progress for your attention.

Review Details

When you schedule recurring ACH payments, Collect! creates a Review with a Due Date matching the last Payment Date in your payment schedule.

If you delete a recurring schedule, the Payment Processing Review Contact marking the end of the payment schedule will have its Due Date changed to the Date you deleted the recurring schedule.

Transaction Details

After you have successfully scheduled recurring ACH payments, you can view the resulting ACH payment transactions posted in Collect!. Each transaction has a Payment Date calculated from the values in the Frequency, Next and Remaining fields. The Transaction Detail tab of each transaction entry contains the banking details.

ACH Transaction Schedule Posted

When you run Reconcile ACH History, any payments that have come due will be processed. Convenience fees will be posted, if applicable. The visible verification that the payment has been processed successfully by the Payment Provider, is evidenced by the tracking information and confirmation number that will now be in the individual transaction record itself (Confirmation #) and within the Transaction Detail tab.

Recurring ACH Payment

Recurring ACH Payments are not processed by the Payment Provider until you run Reconcile ACH History.

The Scheduler Module has an enhanced automation with the addition of the Reconcile process being added to the Scheduler Task list of options. You may run this process offline and unattended. Contact us at sales@collect.org for module pricing.

EFT Notices Details

If you set up and enabled ACH authorization and notification letters in the EFT Notices Setup window, Collect! will create a letter schedule that matches the payment dates in your schedule. Collect! uses the " Days Prior" setting in the EFT Notices Setup to calculate the Due Date for each letter.

If you delete a recurring schedule, Collect! will delete any remaining authorization and notification Letter Contacts from your Contacts tab.

NSF Payments

When you reconcile ACH history, Collect! posts a reversal for any payments that are returned for any reason (i.e. NSF, account closed, any stops or holds on the account). The convenience fee payment is also reversed. If you switched ON "NSF cancels recurring payments" in the ACH Payments Setup, Collect! also removes all details of the recurring ACH payment schedule from the account, including post-dated transactions and EFT notices.