Customer Finance Charges

Use the Finance Charges tab in the Customer's Profile to assess finance charges and manage all existing finance charges on their account.  You may also accept payment towards a finance charge or cancel a finance charge from here. 

Note: You can calculate and assess finance charges across multiple customers at a time by going to Administration > Accounting> Account Receivable > Assess Finance Charges.

Statement Charge vs. Finance Charge:

• Finance Charge: A fee added to a customer's outstanding balance due to failure to comply with payment terms. The system calculated fee amount is set up on the Finance Charge tab of the Accounting Defaults screen (Administration > Accounting > General Setup > Accounting Defaults), and fees are applied using the Assess Finance Charges screen. You can also assess a finance charge on a specific customer account using the Finance Charges tab on the Customer screen.

• Statement Charge: A miscellaneous charge applied to a customer account that does not create an invoice. Statement charges include fees for NSF checks, statement fees or miscellaneous charges. Define the Statement Charge Reasons and then apply the statement charge using the Statement Charges tab on the Customer screen.

Customer Finance Charges

Follow the steps below to assess a new finance charge on a customer account.

1. Open the Finance Charges tab on the Customer screen (Customer > Select a customer > Finance Charges tab).
   1. You can assess finance charges on multiple customers at once using the Assess Finance Charges screen (Administration > Accounting > Accounts Receivable > Assess Finance Charges).
2. Click Add. The Assess Finance Charges screen appears.
3. The customer displays on the screen if there are overdue transactions on their account.
   1. You can only assess finance charges if the customer has an overdue transaction.
   2. To assess a charge on customers that do not have overdue transactions, use a Statement Charge.
4. Assess Date: The system uses this date to calculate the overdue amount. This is also the date the finance charge is posted to the GL.
   1. By default, the Exclude Transactions that are currently closed box is checked and the Assess Finance Charges screen does not include transactions that have closed since the selected Assess Date. For example, you assess finance charges for the month of March on April 10th, so you select March 31st in the Assess Date field. The system automatically excludes any invoices that were paid and closed between March 31st and April 10th. To include those invoices, uncheck the Exclude Transactions that are currently closed box.
5. Select how the transactions will display.
   1. Display In Summary: Displays the total amount overdue for a customer. The system distributes the finance charge across all of the transactions that make up the overdue amount.
   2. Display In Detail: Displays the amount overdue per transaction. This allows you to view or change the amount being applied to each transaction.
6. Skip the Customer Type field.
   1. This field only applies when assessing a finance charge on multiple customers (Administration > Accounting > Accounts Receivable > Assess Finance Charges).
7. Select the customer or transaction.
   1. Transaction (detail view only): Displays the ID for the transaction that is overdue.
   2. Last Charge: Displays the last date a finance charge was applied to the customer or transaction.
   3. Overdue: Indicates the total amount overdue per customer or transaction.
8. Charge: Calculated finance charge for the customer (summary view) or transaction (detail view).
   1. You can change this amount if necessary.
9. Due Date: Date the finance charge(s) being assessed. By default, it is 30 days after the Assess Date.
   1. Finance charges are overdue once the due date has passed.
   2.  You can change the date in this field if necessary.
10. Click Save Changes to assess the fees.
11. Click Receive Payment if the customer is making a payment.

View Finance Charge Details

1. Click View. Information on this screen cannot be changed. From this screen, you can Cancel the Finance Charge and re-assess the fee. 

2. Use the Next and Previous button to move between fields. Check the “Same Customer” box to only view Finance Charges assessed for the selected customer.

3. Click 'Go to Transaction' 

4. Click Close to return to the Finance Charges Tab.

Cancel A Finance Charge

1. Open the Search Finance Charges screen (Administration > Accounting > Accounts Receivable > Search Finance Charges).

2. Select a month. The finance charges populate in the screen.

3. Highlight the transaction to cancel.

4. Click Cancel Finance Charge.

• You cannot cancel finance charges that have been paid in full.

• Canceling an open or partially paid finance charge creates a credit memo to “pay off” the remaining balance due on the charge. The credit memo will reverse the remaining balance of the original GL posting.

Security Permissions Required

Implications - Accounting

Related Reports

• Accounts Receivable Aging (Administration > Accounting > Accounts Receivable > Accounts Receivable Aging) - View all customers with an outstanding balance as of a specific date. The report shows days past due and the amount owed.