Payments Tab

The Payments tab in a Deal displays account balance and collection information for the current deal.

To get to the Payments tab, double click a Deal from the Deal/Trade tab to open it’s details, then click the Payments tab.

• This tab is not available in a deal until the deal has been saved for the first time.
• You can collect the payments here as well as enter any adjustments, print receipts, statements, or the amortization schedule.
• Once the balance has been reduced to zero, you can also close the deal.
• If the current deal has been saved as an In-House or Buy Here Pay Here (BHPH), you will be able to review the account balance and pay-off amounts as well as other collection data.
• For a BHPH deal,  DeskManager will also calculate the principal and interest due when you collect the payment based on the date the payment was collected in relationship to the date the payment was due, and the date the last periodic payment was collected.

Collecting a Payment

• Collect Payment Button – Click on this button when you are collecting any kind of payment for the current deal.
  • DeskManager generally will know how this payment should be applied to the deal once collected depending on how the deal was setup, or you can select the way this payment will apply to the deal manually from the pull-down list (Down Payment, Deferred, Payment or Pay-Off).
  • DeskManager will fill the Total Collected field with the amount that needs to be collected according to the type of payment being collected and options selected in Setup.
  • If this amount is different from the amount you are actually collecting, manually change the amount in the Total Collected field.
• Collecting Late Fees with Periodic Payments– If the payment includes Late Fees, check the box to the right of Total Collected.
  • DeskManager will look at the total outstanding late fees and attempt to collect as much as possible up to the Total Collected.
  • The Late Fee collected may be manually set if you wish to collect a different amount than the amount calculated by DeskManager.
  • The Payment field should automatically populate with the difference between the amount shown in the Late Fees field and the amount in the Total Collected field.
  • For example, a monthly payment of $1000.00 is late and a late fee of $100.00 is added.  When this amount is collected, the Total Collected field will read $1100.00.  When the ‘Includes late fee’ box is marked, the Late Fees field will read $100.00 and as a result the Payment field will read $1000.00.
• Collecting Late Fees only – If the money begin collected is going to only apply to Late Fees, just change the ‘Applies to’ field by selecting Late Fee from the menu.  By doing so the figure in the Total Collected field will be applied strictly against the customer’s Late Fees balance.
• Collecting Adjustments with Periodic Payments – Should the customer have an adjustment applied to the account and part of this payment needs to be applied towards this adjustment, enter that amount in the Adjustments field.
• Collecting Adjustments Only – Just like when working with Late Fees only, the collection tool can be told to apply the payment to Adjustments only.
  • Select the Adjustments option from the Applies to window and the total collected will be applied to strictly to the customer’s Adjustments balance.
  • Select the payment method the customer used to pay this amount in the How was it paid field.
    • Enter any reference number that you may wish to keep track of.
    • If necessary, update the Next Payment Due field and add any notes.
    • The Call Back field is used should you need to set a reminder to call this customer to make their next payment.  It is just below the Next Payment Due field so you can easily refer to that date when selecting the call back reminder date.
  • If you are working with the QuickBooks Direct Interface and you do not want this payment to be entered into QuickBooks, un-check the Send to QuickBooks box.
  • When you have finished, click on Save to save this payment to the deal’s payment history list.
• Collecting Only Principal – When collecting a periodic payment for a Buy-Here Pay-Here deal, there is now an option to collect a payment and have it apply to Principal Only.
  • Marking this box will, for the current payment, ignore any outstanding interest and attempt to apply any balance left over after Late Fees and Adjustments have been deducted from the payment to the customers Principal Balance for the deal.

Adjustments

• Adjustments may be used should for any reason you need to increase or decrease the amount your customer owes you.
• Late Fees are one type of adjustment, they will increase the account balance by the amount of the fee as charged to the customer for being late on a payment.
• A positive adjustment will increase the balance, a negative adjustment will decrease the balance.
• An example of one way a dealer might use Adjustments:
  • A customer has purchased a car in a BHPH deal.
  • Several months down the road, this vehicle needs to have service performed on the vehicle which will cost $400.00, but the customer cannot afford to pay this up-front.
  • The dealer might perform the service, but put an adjustment onto the account for the $400.00 and allow the customer to pay an extra amount each payment until that adjustment has been satisfied.

BHPH Print Menu

While this menu is titled BHPH Print, it includes items that will be useful for non-BHPH deals as well.

Payment Receipt – After saving a payment into the system, a receipt may be printed for that payment.

• Highlight the payment in the list window, then click on the Receipt button.
• A window will open with several different receipt options as well as options as to what will appear, how many copies will print, what size text will be used, and the length of the page to be used.
  
• • Page Length – This is used for customers printing receipts on a register style printer (similar to the receipt from a grocery store) to set how long the receipt will print, or for customers printing to an Impact or Dot Matrix printer (like the OkiData 320 Turbo) to control the size of the page to be printed.  Generally this will not need to be changed from it’s default setting of 1350.
  • Copies – Tells the system how many copies of this receipt need to be sent to the printer.
  • Size – Use this to select the size of the font to be used when sending this receipt to the printer.  Altering this figure will be reflected in the preview of the
  • Receipt Types – DeskManager has several different types of receipts for users to choose from
    • Detail – This receipt includes your company name, address and phone, the customer’s name and address, vehicle stock number, year, make, model and the last six digits of the VIN of the sold vehicle followed by payment information.  The lower section will display either Pay-Off balance information or Total Due information depending on the setting of the With button.  The Next Payment Due instructions will be printed below the last paragraph.
    • Brief – This receipt includes your company name, address and phone number, the customer’s name, the stock number, year, make, model and last six of the VIN of the sold vehicle, followed by payment information and next payment due instructions.
    • Mini – This receipt was designed for use on a register receipt printer and includes your company name, address and phone number, the stock number of the vehicle, the customer’s name, followed by payment and balance information.
    • Compact – This receipt includes your company name and phone number, the customer’s name and address, the stock number of the vehicle, followed by payment and balance information and the next payment due date.
    • Custom – Customers may now customize their receipts by selecting this option then clicking on the Customize button.
      • The customization tool functions in the same way as customizing a letter.
      • Clicking on the Insert Field button will display a list of fields that can be used in the customized receipt.
      • By using the mouse to place the cursor in a desired location, click the insert field button and then double click on the desired field.
      • That field’s system placeholder will be placed into the receipt at the point were the cursor was located.
      • Items on the Insert Field list that begin with the text ‘P_‘ represent items related to the most recently collected payment.
      • For more information about using the tools to customize the receipt, see Letters Setup.
    • With (Pay-Off Balance/Total Due) – This button switches between displaying Pay-Off Balance information or Total Due information when printing a receipt.
    • Print – Sends the receipt to the printer.
    • Gen. Receipt – This button only will function when reviewing the receipt for the most recently recorded payment.  When the receipt button is clicked, the system records the various balances with the receipt so that anytime it is printed the information will be accurate to the time the payment was collected.  Clicking on this button will cause the system to reset the values of the most recently collected payment to the current balances reflected in DeskManager as of the time the button is selected.  You will be prompted to confirm you wish to update the receipt balance information before the action will take place.
    • Hide Account Balance – This will remove account balance information from any receipt being printed when the box is marked.

  Statement – This option allows you to print a statement for the current deal.
  

• • You may choose to include Pay-Off Balance, Total Due, Payments Due, all of these or none of these item.
  • You are also able to include line items (individual payment entries), notes, voided payments and bounced checks.

  Payment Book (Coupons) – At the top of this tool the user can select what coupons to print out by entering a From and To Coupon # (for example, from payment 1 to payment 10).

• • The lower portion of the form is divided between Dot Matrix Coupons on the left, and Inkjet/Laser Coupons on the right.
  • The system expects that in either case, the user has purchased either the perforated paper for the Dot Matrix coupons, or the perforated single sheet paper for the Inkjet/Laser coupons.
  • For either option the user can adjust the printing on the page by entering values into the Top Margin or Left Margin options as available.
  • Both the Dot Matrix and the Inkjet/Laser coupons have options to reset the defaults should that be necessary.
  • Use the Print button in the area designated for the type of coupon you wish to print.

  Letters – This is the same as the Letters item as found in the Print menu.
  

• • Letters are a way to create generic items you wish to send to customers that can be customized based on the information from a current deal.
  • For example, creating a letter that begins ‘Dear John Smith’, would only be useful if all your customers were named ‘John Smith’.
  • Instead you would create something like ‘Dear (CName)’ and as such the program would pull the name of the customer from the current deal at the time this letter was printed.
  • Any kind of letter can be created this way using information found inside the current deal, in fact some of the built in items use this same format such as Late Notices, Promissory Notes, Reminders and even Custom Receipts.
  • See Letters Setup for more information on creating letters.

  Payment Reminder – Clicking this will generate a Payment Reminder which can be used to Email the customer, or Print it while the customer is present.
  

• Late Notice No. 1 & 2 – Selecting either of these optons will print the fist or second late notice depending on the selection.  These items were designed in the system using the Letters tool and as such can be customized in the same way as other Letters.

  Deferred Payment Invoice – This item will only function if the deal currently open includes at least one deferred payment.  Only Deferred payments that are due will appear on this invoice as part of the ‘current balance’.  The invoice includes a section at the bottom for the customer to detach and mail back to the dealer with their remittance.

  Deferred Payment Schedule – Selecting this option will generate a Deferred Payments Schedule for the current deal.  Like the Deferred Payment Invoice, this item can only be generated from deals created with at least one deferred payment.  If a due deferred payment is late when the payment schedule is printed, it will be noted as such in the Status section of the schedule.

  Promissory Note – From here the dealer can print a promissory note for the customer to sign for any deferred payments that were added to the loan.  This can be customized as well if necessary with legal text specific to the needs or requirements of the state in which the dealership conducts business.

  Envelope – Clicking this will open a window to print an envelope. Select the choice of whose information will be printed.
  

• Deal Summary – This will generate a summary of the deal, including customer and dealer information, vehicle description, loan summary, collection, and balance.

  • A window will display prompting for an As Of date to choose for the information displayed in the summary.
    
  • Export Payments – This will open an Export window, from here the Payments for this deal can be exported. Choose the Filename, the path where it is Saved, the options in the top right, the Delimiter, or how it will be formatted, then click Export.
    

  • Actions Menu

    This list contains items that are found in the Options menu, that are commonly used by BHPH dealers and are grouped here for easy access.
    

  • BHPH Settings – This option will open a page where you can:
    
  • • Change the Finance Method
    • Alter the way Late Fees & Adjustments are applied
    • Set a default adjustment allocation per payment
      • For example, BHPH customer has repair work done in your shop and you are letting them pay a little extra each payment to cover the balance they owe on the repair, after the adjustment has been added to the deal for the balance they owe you for that work, enter the amount you want to apply to that balance from every payment they make until that adjustment has been satisfied.
    • Alter the method for calculating the next payment due date or amortize a discount.

    Change Next Payment Due Date – This option opens a window where you can change the next payment due date of the current deal.

    Advance Due Dates – This option opens a window where you can change the next payment due date of the current deal by advancing it by the number of days entered.

    • If a number is entered into the Advance Due Days field on this tool, from that day forward for this deal, every time a payment is collected, the system will calculate the next payment due date by adding that number of days to the new next payment due date.
    • For example if we enter 5 in to the days field and the system has determined the next payment due date should be the 10th of the month, the system will automatically add the 5 days to that and now the next payment due date will be the 15th of the month.
    • This will repeat with each payment until the user changes the number in the days field.

    Pay-Off for Specific Date – This opens a tool where you can select a date, reload the page, and it will display the payoff for the current deal as of that date.

    Collections Log File – This will display a history of the action performed on the payments for the current deal.  It will note date, time, and the name of the user adding or editing a payment.

    Repossession – This will open the Repossession tool.  See How to Close a Deal help section for more information.

    Buy-Back – This will open the Buy-Back tool.  See How to Close a Deal help section for more information.

    Repo Vendor – If this car has been repossessed, use this to assign the repossession vendor that performed the repo for you.

    Call Back Date – Use this option to set a call back reminder for this customer.

    Amortization Schedule
    
    

  • • This button will open a window that will display the Payment Schedule for the current deal.
      • It will show a line for each payment that the customer is expected to make
      • the date the payment is due
      • how many days will have passed since the deal was created or the last payment was made
      • the total payment expected
      • how much will apply to interest
      • total interest collected as of that payment
      • how much of the payment will apply to principal
      • total principal collected as of that payment
      • total of payments collected as of that payment and the account balance as of that payment
    • This schedule is accurate only if the customer pays exactly on time each payment.
    • When payments are collected slightly before the due date, slightly after the due date, or the amount collected is greater or less than the expected periodic payment, the system will adjust the way the payment is applied between principal and interest as necessary when recording the payment onto the payment history list, but the Amortization schedule will not be altered.

    Close Account
    

    • To Close an Account, see How to Close a Deal help section for more information.