Here are instructions on the best practices of setting up scheduled payments for members on CUnify. 

Scheduled Loan Payment Best Practices

There are two most common setups for scheduled payments (transfers) for loans. The two varying goals behind those two setups are

Keep loan current and take full or incremental payments until the due date is advanced to the next future month, and

Take a full payment every month even if the member pays extra and advances the due date early.

For reference purpose, this documentation will refer to the first as “Method 1” and the latter as “Method 2”. Both fulfill their niche nicely but also must be setup correctly and operating characteristics understood to avoid confusion or payments not transferring according to expectations.

Method 1 Setup and Behavior
Below is a screenshot of typical method 1 setup.

With this particular setup, the scheduled transfer is tied to the loan payment due date. Only when the current loan payment is equal to the current date, or a date in the past will a payment transfer be attempted from available funds. It will take either the full Agreed payment set by the loan, or if less than the full payment amount is available, it will take whatever amount is available and continue to attempt to take the remaining payment from available funds until the payment amount due is satisfied and the due date advances into the future. You can also use this setup with “Deduct Partial” and “Allow Partial” set to No, so that only the full payment amount is attempted, requiring the full amount be available before the payment transfers successfully and advances the due date.

Best Practice tips for Method 1 setup:

• Set the Next Payment Date and Day to Pay equal to the current due date and payment date on the loan record
• Make sure Payment Amount is 0.00 and “Use Payment Amount” is set to Use Agreed
• The member should understand that if they make lobby or online payments that advances the due date, auto-payments will not occur

Method 2 Setup and Behavior
Below is a screenshot of typical method 2 setup.

This scheduled transfer setup is tied to its own calendar date and pays no attention to the current loan payment due date. This holds the advantage of always requiring and making a monthly payment even if the loan has been paid ahead to a future month. This also means the member needs to understand that if they make a lobby or online payment, the loan will still have another payment come out of their account, or if their funds are low, the payment will still be attempted the next time the balance is sufficient to take a full payment. The disadvantage here is that this type of transfer can’t make incremental payment attempts at getting the full amount, as once any amount has successful transferred, the transfer date advances and won’t attempt another transfer until the next time it comes due. For this reason, Allow Partial and Deduct Partial should be set to No.

Best Practice Tips for Method 2 setup:

• Make sure the Next Payment Date and Day to Pay fields are set correctly to the next future payments/transfer date desired
• Make sure the year on the Next Payment Date is also correct as the most common call with auto-transfer problems surround this date being set incorrectly in the past and then multiple transfers coming out in a row to try and bring the transfer date current
• If a manual payment is made to the loan and the automatic transfer should not come out this month, the Next Payment Date on the scheduled transfer will need to be advanced manually to avoid double payments etc.
• Allow Partial and Deduct Partial should be set to No

Flexibility in Loan Payments with Scheduled Transfers

If your member has a monthly payment loan, or regulation otherwise calls for a payment and statement frequency outside of how the member would like to automatically make payments, the Scheduled Transfers setup options are there to satisfy their wishes. For example, a bi-weekly payment can be scheduled to occur when the member’s payroll comes in. The bi-weekly Payment Amount can be set to half the Agreed Payment on the loan record so that after two bi-weekly transfers occur, the loan due date advances. The same could be done with semi-monthly payrolls. This allows the loan to have one payment frequency, and the scheduled payments another frequency. So long as the Agreed Payment is satisfied by the loan’s due date, the member will stay current on their loan and be able to budget their payments to their heart’s content. Scheduled Transfers can also be used to automatically make extra payments to the loan at other intervals, such as when quarterly/yearly bonuses come in.

Best Practices for non-standard Scheduled Payments:

• Make sure the scheduled payments will satisfy the loan agreed /computed payment amount before the loan becomes delinquent
• Understand that extra-payment scheduled transfers can also become “delinquent” if funds are not available, which could then result in multiple transfers coming out when funds are replenished
• Day to Pay should match the day of the month on the Next Payment Date for transfer frequencies of Monthly, Semi-monthly, Quarterly, Yearly and Semi-Yearly