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Function
By reviewing data within Loan Master files and the loans’ history, this feature produces invoices that can be printed and mailed to borrowers. The supplement is designed to operate best with loans scheduled for monthly payments. If loans are due on differing days of the month (ex: some due on the 1st and others due on the 15th) it can be run more than once a month. Invoicing is not designed to be run retroactively. For example, if activity has been posted for April, 2009 and then invoicing is run with a cutoff date of 03/31/2009, April payments will appear inappropriately under activity detail. Operating Instructions Loan Setup tab (step 1) Loan ID Select the loan number from the combo box, or manually enter. Cutoff Date If the loan is a new loan that has never made a payment, this date should reflect the date of the most recent disbursement in the loan history. If the loan has made payments, and is now going to be invoiced, the “cutoff date” will determine the beginning loan balance. Example: If the cutoff date is entered as 03/31/09, the program will review the loan history and identify the loan balance as of 03/31/09, and that becomes the beginning loan balance. Any activity recorded prior to this date will not be a part of the invoicing calculations, other than to determine the beginning balance. Note: For monthly invoicing, the “cutoff date” should be one month prior to the ending cutoff date that will be used when invoices are processed. Special Note: “cutoff date” can only be edited if no invoicing has been processed for that loan. Once invoicing is processed, if editing is needed select “Delete” and reenter correctly. Keep in mind that this would indicate the invoices already produced for that loan are now inaccurate, since they were done using the incorrect cutoff date. Amount in Arrears Because activity recorded prior to the cutoff date is not a part of invoicing calculations, if the loan is delinquent when the invoicing process begins, the delinquent amount should be entered into this field. It will then appear on the initial invoice as “previous amount due”. If there is no amount in arrears, leave this field blank – that will apply to clients who have prepaid their account. It is recommended you print the Aging Report with this cutoff date and use the Total Due column to determine the amount in arrears. Active When loans are first set up for invoicing, this box should be checked to indicate they are to receive an invoice. It can be marked inactive when the loan is completed and invoices are no longer pertinent. Seasonal loans can be marked inactive to avoid invoicing during periods of no payment, then marked active again to reinstate the invoicing process. Process Buttons Save Once the loan has been setup, select “Save”. Delete Removes a loan from invoicing setup. This button only becomes available when a loan number has been entered and the record is on-screen. Review Produces an on-screen report of all loans that have been set up, including their status. Processing tab (step 2) Include Loans Enter the day of the month the loans to be invoiced are due (ex: 1, 10, 15, etc.). Loan Master files are then reviewed and a matching due date is required for the loan to be included in the invoicing batch. Cutoff Date Use the calendar to select the ending date to be used to determine what activity should be reflected on the invoice. In most situations, invoicing will be run on a monthly basis. Using this scenario, the cutoff date should be entered as one-month later than the previous cutoff date. The first time invoicing is run, the “previous cutoff date” defaults to the cutoff date entered in Loan Setup. You should select Print Report to confirm all setup information was correctly entered. When subsequent invoicing is run, and the “due on” date is entered, the most recent cutoff date will appear just above this field, and is intended to help with monitoring cutoff dates for accuracy. Important Note: It is important that there be consistency in cutoff dates. We strongly recommend the cutoff date be the same day of the month (for monthly payments) for each batch. This will ensure all appropriate activity is included on the invoice. Invoice Date Use the calendar to select the date to appear in the heading of the invoice as the invoicing or billing date. Sort Options The invoicing report and invoices may be sorted by loan number or alphabetically. Use the combo box to select which sort is best for your needs. Include Escrow Balance Totals from the two escrow accounts will print on your statement if this box is checked. Include Interest Rate Checking this box will cause the interest rate entered in the Loan Master file to print. Include Interest Paid Interest collected from any repayments received during the invoicing period will print by checking this box. Process Buttons Print Report Produces an on-screen summary of invoices in the batch, including loan number, borrower name, loan balance, scheduled payment amount, and total amount due as it will appear on the invoice. This option must be selected prior to printing invoices. Note: This report should be printed and retained as a permanent record of invoices mailed. Also, it should be reviewed to determine which loans are nearing full repayment to avoid sending an invoice that requests payment of an amount greater than that required to bring the balance to zero. These loans will appear with a scheduled payment exceeding the loan balance. Consider using the Loan Payoff feature to create a more pertinent statement for borrowers making final payment on their loan. Edit Invoice Once the report has been printed, this feature allows specific loan’s total amount due to be increased or decreased. Select the loan number of the invoice to be altered, enter a “description” to explain the change, and a positive amount (to increase the total due) or negative amount (to decrease the total due). This process may be especially useful when payments are forgiven, annual servicing fees are billed, or other special circumstances that would require the automatic calculations of the invoicing program to be overridden. The revised amount due will carry into the next invoicing batch as the “previous amount due.” Print Invoice This button becomes available once Print Report has been selected and will produce on-screen invoices that can then be printed. Delete Batch If invoicing is run inappropriately, and the need arises to simply delete the entire batch and redo, this button will accomplish that task. A “due date” must be entered into the first field, and then when “delete batch” is selected, the most recent cutoff date will be displayed and confirmation of intention to delete is requested. Note: more than one batch may be deleted by repeating this process. However, we strongly advise you not delete more than the most recent batch, since previous batches were most likely mailed to borrowers and running again will produce results differing from the original since activity has been posted. As mentioned previously, invoicing is not intended to be run retroactively. Reprint Invoices tab (optional) Can be utilized to reprint a complete batch or by specific loan. Cutoff Date Select from the combo box the cutoff date for the previously printed invoices that you wish to reprint. Include All Loans All loans previously invoiced for the selected cutoff date will be reprinted unless the checkmark is removed. Removing the checkmark will allow selection of one or more loans. Things You Should Know This supplement is designed to produce monthly invoices to be forwarded to your borrowers. Invoicing is routinely done once a month for each loan. If you have loan payments all due on the same day of the month, a simple monthly routine utilizing this supplement will result in printed invoices with up-to-date information. If your loans are due on different days of the month, the invoice can be run more than once a month. The process hinges on the field “payment dates” in the Loan Master file, which holds the day of the month when the payment is due. Invoices can be run for loans due on the 1st and then again for loans that are due on the 15th. Invoicing batches are identified by the due date along with the invoicing cutoff date. Operating in a manner similar to credit card invoicing, the amount due from the last invoice is shown, as well as any payments received, and a revised amount due which includes the next scheduled payment. The invoice also shows the beginning loan balance, any activity recorded since the last invoice, as well as the loan balance as it is now. If the Amount Due would be greater than the remaining Loan Balance, a message will print requesting your office be contacted for the final payoff amount. Loans to be invoiced are identified through the supplement’s Loan Setup. If a loan is set up as “active”, the due date matches the one selected for invoicing, and the loan has a balance, it will be included in the batch. The option to mark loans as “inactive” is always available. If you have seasonal loans, marking them “inactive” will eliminate them from the invoicing batch. When payments are to commence again, simply edit back to “active”. The first time invoicing is to be processed, Loan Setup will require a beginning date for invoicing. This means activity recorded prior to that date will not be reflected on the invoices. You also can enter any amount in arrears as of the beginning date, which will appear on the invoice “previous amount due”. From this point forward, calculations are automatic. Important Note: Once a loan has been invoiced, the Loan Setup will only allow the status to be edited. Beginning cutoff date and amount in arrears cannot be changed. A batch report is produced for your review and summarizes the amounts billed. This can then be retained as a record of invoices mailed to borrowers. It also gives you an opportunity to identify any loans nearly repaid, as you likely do not want to invoice for a payment that will exceed the amount needed to bring the loan balance to zero. Invoicing is not designed to be run retroactively. For example, if payments have been posted for April, 2009 and then invoicing is run with a cutoff date of 03/31/2009, April payments will appear inappropriately under activity detail. For this reason, invoicing should be processed prior to posting activity beyond the invoicing cutoff date. Batches can be reprinted as desired; the information reflected on the invoices will be identical to the original run. A batch may also be rerun, resulting in updated calculations appearing on the invoices. If a batch is to be rerun, there are a few extra steps involved. First, delete all batches run after the batch to be recreated. Then delete and rerun the batch you are recreating. Once the revised batch is processed, rerun any subsequent batches that were deleted. Please Note: This will likely alter the subsequent batches because “beginning balance” may have been changed during the reprocessing. For this reason, we advise only rerunning batches when it is absolutely necessary. Please feel free to contact GMS Service for assistance. The ability of this supplement to produce accurate invoices is dependent upon timely, accurate posting of activity, along with valid information regarding payment amount and due date being recorded within the Loan Master file. An Invoice will print for the first cycle in which the loan becomes fully repaid to show receipt of the final repayment. Thereafter, an invoice will no longer be printed for that specific loan. It is not necessary to mark the loan as inactive nor delete the loan from Loan Setup, but either of these can be done if desired. |