Web Host Payment Posting Options

The Payment Posting Options form is used for setting actions performed when a payment is posted to an account. Each action is a contact plan that runs automatically when the payment posting condition is true.

You can manage promises and payment plans and determine what to do when accounts are paid in full.

You may have a policy to close all accounts below a certain balance, or run a certain contact plan when a payment is received. With Collect! you can automate the logical procedures for managing promised payments, administering payment plans and posting normal payments received in the course of daily operation.

Edit Payment Posting Options

Payment Posting

When you post a payment the following sequence occurs:

1. The Default contact plan specified is run (if there is one).

Please be careful here. If you run a contact plan that closes a debtor, the debtor will no longer appear in your WIP List and may be effectively "lost" to your system.

2. The plan associated with the transaction type is run (if there is one).

A contact plan set in the transaction type you are posting is executed before any further action is taken using the Payment Posting Options you have set. So it is important that no conflicting plans are set up by accident in your transaction types.

3. The appropriate payment posting plan is run (if there is one).

Update Debtor Payment Date When Payments Are Posted

Switch ON to automatically write the current date to the debtor's Payment date whenever a Payment transaction is posted to the account.

Automatically Manage Promises When Payments Are Posted

Switch ON to have Collect! manage promised payments. Collect! will advance the debtor's Promise date when the promise is met. Specified contact plans for full payment, underpayment, overpayment, NSF payment and broken payment conditions are called when necessary.

When this switch is ON and a payment is posted, Collect! automatically fills in Promise details based on the Promise contact's promised Amount and the setting for Transaction Type in the Payment Values form.

SWITCHED ON

When this switch is ON and you save the posted transaction, Collect! checks the payment amount against the amount promised. If the promise amount is met, the debtor's Promise date is advanced. Collect! calls the contact plan associated with full, under or over payment, NSF or broken payment, as needed.

If you are a large office where the person posting payments has little or no knowledge of the accounts they are posting to, switch this ON to control what happens for over and under payment. This enables you to send the file to an account manager for review in exceptional cases.

When a payment is posted, Collect! examines contact and transactions, checking for promised payments. If a promise is found, Collect! fills in the transaction details as soon as you open a new Transaction form. You may then edit the payment being posted if needed.

SWITCHED OFF

When this switch is OFF and you save the posted transaction, Collect! does not advance the debtor's Promise date, and does not call any contact plan. You are manually in control of whatever happens next.

If you are a small office where the person posting payments has some knowledge of the accounts being posted to, you can leave this switch OFF and manage your promises manually.

When this switch is OFF and you post a new transaction, Collect! will not fill in the details automatically. If you select a Payment transaction Type, then, if a promise is found, Collect! fills in the transaction details. You may then edit the payment being posted if needed.

To access the Payment Values form, select the ADVANCED button on the Payment Posting Options form.

Use Todays Date For Transaction Payment Date When Payments Are Posted

By default, when a Promise exists on an account and the Due Date is in the future, Collect! will use the date of the next Promise for the Payment Date in any new transactions. When this switch is set, Collect! will always use the current date for the Payment Date by default when a new Transaction is posted.

This is only in effect when the Promise Due Date is greater than today, "Automatically manage promises when posting" is switched ON and the transaction is a PAYMENT type transaction.

Use Todays Date For Transaction Posted Date When Payments Are Posted

By default, when a Promise exists on an account and the Due Date is in the future, Collect! will use the date of the next Promise for the Posted Date in any new transactions. When this switch is set, Collect! will always use the current date for the Posted Date by default when a new Transaction is posted.

This is only in effect when the Promise Due Date is greater than today, "Automatically manage promises when posting" is switched ON and the transaction is a PAYMENT type transaction.

TRUNCATE 33.3% PERCENT COMMISSION TO 33%

Switch ON to truncate 33% commission rates. When this switch is OFF, a 33.3% commission is calculated as 1/3.

Automatically Run The Default Contact Plan

Switch ON to run a contact plan every time you post or edit a payment. The plan you run can perform conditional event scheduling based on amount owing, debtor status, or other criteria you choose.

If you want to run the default plan only when the debtor's Owing falls below a threshold level, enter the amount in the 'Run only when balance below' field.

If you want to process and close accounts manually, leave this switch OFF.

To flag this field, select it with your mouse or, while you are in this field, press your space bar to toggle the switch off or on.

Default Payment Contact Plan

Enter the ID Code of the default contact plan to run automatically when posting a payment.

This plan runs before any plan attached to a Transaction Type or any of the contact plans chosen for other payment conditions in the Payment Posting Options form.

Be careful here. Running a contact plan that closes a debtor removes this debtor from your WIP List. The debtor may appear "lost" to the system.

Only Run The Default Contact Plan When Balance Below

Enter a dollar value in the field. The default automatic contact plan will run only when the debtor's Owing falls below the amount entered. For example, if you enter 50, the contact plan will be invoked automatically only when an account Owing drops below $50.00.

Leave this field blank to always run the contact plan regardless of the Owing amount.

Confirmation Delay For Any Payment Type

Enter a number of days to delay reporting transactions posted with switched ON. You can enter a number from 0 to 999 in this field. Collect! uses this number when generating statements. Please refer to Transaction Confirmation Delay for details.

Promise Contact Actions

The payment conditions listed here apply when there is a Promise contact set up on an account. Full, under and over payments, NSF and broken promise payments may each cause a plan to run. This requires that you have switched ON 'Automatically manage promises'.

Collect! does four things with Promise contacts:

1. When a debtor has a Promise Contact, the debtor Promise field displays the date the payment is due. If this date passes by without a payment posted, the promise becomes delinquent and the field is displayed in red when the debtor totals are recalculated.
2. When a payment is posted, Collect! checks for Promise contacts and fills in the transaction details for your confirmation.
3. If the contact contains a Repeat Value, the contact is forwarded to the future date when the promised payment is posted.
4. When a promised payment is posted, Collect! runs the appropriate contact plan for full payment, under payment, or over payment, NSF or broken promise.

Normal Promise Payment

Select the ID Code of a contact plan to run for 'Normal Promise payment'. When the full amount of a Promise contact payment is posted, Collect! will run this plan.

Promise Underpayment

Select the ID Code of a contact plan to run for 'Promise under payment'. When less than the full amount of a Promise contact payment is posted, Collect! will run this plan.

Promise Overpayment

Select the ID Code of a contact plan to run for 'Promise over payment'. When more than the full amount of a Promise contact payment is posted, Collect! will run this plan.

Promise NSF Payment

Select the ID Code of a contact plan to run for 'Promise NSF payment'. When you post a transaction for a negative amount due to an NSF payment returned because of insufficient funds, Collect! will run this plan.

Broken Promise

Select the ID Code of a contact plan to run for 'Promise broken payment'. When you run your daily batch process for broken promises, Collect! will run this plan for any delinquent promise that is found. This works when you switch ON 'Broken promises' in the Select Contacts To Process form.

A promise is considered delinquent when no payment has been posted during the past payment period, (i.e., week, month or whatever Repeat period is displayed in the Promise Contact.)

Transaction Type For New Promises

Choose the default Transaction Type to be posted for promised payments.

The ID and Description of the transaction type will be copied into the promise transaction when you post promises.

To set details for any transaction type, select System from the top menu bar and then select Financial Settings, Transaction Types.

Please examine the details of the Transaction Type that you choose. Does it contain any settings that conflict with your value and posting settings?

Amount Less Than Promise

Enter an amount in this field that the Debtor is allowed to be under the promised amount.

For example, enter 1.00 here, and if they have a promise due for $100.00 the Debtor can send a payment for $99.00 and it is still considered a fulfilled promise. However, even if they send $98.99, the payment is considered an underpayment, and the Underpayment Contact Plan will be called.

This is for Promise contacts as created manually or by using contact plans.

Amount More Than Promise

Enter an amount that the Debtor's payment can be over the promised amount.

For example, enter 1.00 here, and if they have a promise due for $100.00 the Debtor can send a payment for $101.00 and it is still considered a fulfilled promise. However, even if they send $101.01, the payment is considered an overpayment, and the Overpayment Contact Plan will be called.

This is for Promise contacts as created manually or using contact plans.

Payment Plan Actions

Using the Payment Plan feature, the payment conditions listed here apply when there is a Payment Plan set up on an account. Full, under and over payments may each cause a plan to run. This requires that you have switched ON 'Automatically manage promises'.

Collect! does three things with Payment Plans:

1. When a debtor has a promised transaction, the debtor Promise field displays the date the payment is due. If this date passes by without a payment posted, the promise becomes delinquent and the field is displayed in red when the debtor totals are recalculated.
2. When a payment is posted, Collect! checks to see if there are any promise payment transactions and fills in the transaction details for your confirmation.
3. When a promised payment is posted, Collect! runs the appropriate contact plan for full payment, under payment, or over payment.

Press F2 or select the down arrow at the right of each field below to pick from the list of contact plans in the system.

Normal Plan Payment

Select the ID Code of a contact plan to run for 'Plan full payment'. When the full amount of a payment plan payment is posted, Collect! will run this plan.

Plan Underpayment

Select the ID Code of a contact plan to run for 'Plan under payment'. When less than the full amount of a payment plan payment is posted, Collect! will run this plan.

Plan Overpayment

Select the ID Code of a contact plan to run for 'Plan over payment'. When more than the full amount of a payment plan payment is posted, Collect! will run this plan.

Amount Less Than Plan

Enter an amount in this field that the Debtor is allowed to be under the promised amount.

For example, enter 1.00 here, and if they have a promise due for $100.00 the Debtor can send a payment for $99.00 and it is still considered a fulfilled promise. However, even if they send $98.99, the payment is considered an underpayment, and the Underpayment Contact Plan will be called.

This is for promised transactions, as scheduled in a Payment Plan for this Debtor. Promise transactions have a payment date but no posted date.

Amount More Than Plan

Enter an amount in this field that the Debtor is allowed to be over the promised amount.

For example, enter 1.00 here, and if they have a promise due for $100.00 the Debtor can send a payment for $101.00 and it is still considered a fulfilled promise. However, even if they send $101.01, the payment is considered an overpayment, and the Overpayment Contact Plan will be called.

This is for promised transactions as scheduled in a Payment Plan for this Debtor. Promise transactions have a payment date but no posted date.

If the payment plan transaction types do not exist in your system, please set them up. Suggested settings are listed below for each transaction type. These transaction types are used for reporting purposes, and to calculate fees, charges and payments that apply to the debtor's payment plan. You will want to ensure that they work as you expect them to before you post the plan to an account. If you run a contact plan on posting, please ensure that this plan exists in your system and works as you expect it to before you post the plan.

Initial Charge Transaction Type

This transaction type is usually Original Principal 196. It should already exist in your Transaction Type list available when you select System from the top menu bar and then select Financial Settings, Transaction Types.

The Code is in the 100 Transaction Type group since it is an initial payment or charge.

Please refer to Transaction Type for a Sample of Original Principal to see the suggested settings for this Transaction Type.

Initial Charge Amount

This is the default amount for the initial charge.

For example, you might offer a course for a fixed price. You could enter that price here and whenever you create a new payment plan this amount is loaded into the payment plan's initial charge field unless the Debtor already has an original principal amount.

Initial Discount Transaction Type

This is the transaction type for any credits toward the initial charge. The value of this field affects the service charge calculation.

The Code is in the 100 Transaction Type group since it is an initial payment or charge.

Please refer to Transaction Type for a Sample of Payment Plan Initial Discount to see the suggested settings for this Transaction Type.

Initial Discount Amount

Enter a default discount if used.

Service Charge Transaction Type

This is the Transaction Type for service charges.

The Code is in the 300 Transaction Type group since it is a Fee.

Please refer to Transaction Type for a Sample of Payment Plan Service Charge to see the suggested settings for this Transaction Type.

Service Charge Amount

An optional default amount for the Payment Plan Service Charge. Enter a default fixed service fee if you don't use the service rate.

Service Charge Rate

This is the service fee rate.

This rate is copied into the payment plan and used to calculate the service fee. This is a monthly rate.

Late Fee Transaction Type

This is the Transaction Type for any Late Fees.

The Code is in the 300 Transaction Type group since it is a Fee.

Please refer to Transaction Type for a Sample of Late Fee to see the suggested settings for this Transaction Type.

Late Fee Amount

Amount charged for late payments.

Late fees are not assessed automatically.

Down Payment Transaction Type

This is the Transaction Type for a Down Payment.

The Code is in the 100 Transaction Type group since it is an initial payment or charge.

Please refer to Transaction Type for a Sample of Down Payment to see the suggested settings for this Transaction Type.

Down Payment Amount

Default amount of a down payment.

Post-Dated Payments Transaction Type

This is the Transaction Type for a Payment.

The Code is in the 100 Transaction Type group since it is an initial payment or charge.

Please refer to Transaction Type for a Sample of Payment Plan Payment to see the suggested settings for this Transaction Type.

Default Number Of Payments

This is the default number of payments the Debtor makes.

This number can be changed with each payment plan you create and is simply a default value.

Default Payment Frequency

Select a time between payments. This is a default value. You can change this on a per payment plan basis.

If you select monthly, and the starting date is the 31st, 30th or 29th, the system will schedule payments on the highest date available for each month. For example a 6 month plan starting on January 31st will have a second payment scheduled for February 28th since there is no 31st of February.

This setting affects the way the service fee is calculated.

Contact Plan To Run When Posting The Plan

When a plan is posted, run this Contact plan.

This can be used to send letters of agreement and reminder notices and schedule reviews as necessary.

The default plan in the Collect! Demonstration database is PPL, Payment Plan Started. This plan changes the Debtor's Status and writes a Note that a payment plan has started. You may want to send a letter of acknowledgment and perhaps schedule a review. If so, you can add your own additional events to the default PPL plan or change the code here to a different plan that you want Collect! to run whenever you post a payment plan to an account.

If you use coupon books, the plan you run on posting may contain an event to queue the coupon book for your letter batch.

Contact Plan To Run When Final Payment Is Processed

Select a contact plan to run on the date of the last payment in your schedule. Collect! will create a Plan Contact with a Due Date that matches the Payment Date of the last Transaction posted in your payment plan schedule.

If you re-schedule your payment plan, Collect! will update the Plan Contact so that it always matches the last Payment Date in your schedule.

You can also trigger this Plan Contact to be created when you manually enter Transactions. Please refer to Help topic, How to Run a Contact Plan on the Last Payment Date for details.