Automated payments
Learn to configure LoanPro's robust AutoPay feature for recurring, multiple, or individual payments.
In LMS you can set up payments that will process automatically on specific dates or according to the calculated repayment schedule.
AutoPay Manager
The AutoPay Manager lets you view all of your customers’ AutoPays in one place. You can filter that list with attributes of the loan or the AutoPay itself. Once you find the AutoPays you're looking for, you can look at their history, cancel them, process the next payment, or renew failed attempts.
You can find the AutoPay Manager by navigating to Tools > AutoPay Manager. The main page of the AutoPay Manager shows a list of AutoPays for your company. Above the list are the summary totals, which display the total number of AutoPays, the total amount, and the average amount.
The ‘Excel Data Dump’ button in the top right will schedule a report showing your current search. Once it's generated, you'll see a red number appear next to the small book icon above the table. The other icon, with the three vertical bars, lets you configure which columns are displayed.
Search filters
The search options are found on the left side of the screen. At the top, you will find a search bar that gives you the option to search by a keyword. The drop-down arrow in the search bar allows you to save a search or edit previously saved searches. The 'x' and ‘arrow’ to the right clear the search filters and reset to defaults.
The two different filters you can use to search and filter your AutoPay list are ‘AutoPay Options’ and ‘Advanced Option Search’.
AutoPay options
The ‘AutoPay Options’ filters are based on the AutoPays themselves and let you filter by status, settings, and activity.
Status options
| Status | Description |
| Any | This option is the default. This option will include all AutoPay types. |
| Canceled | Payments that were canceled. |
| Completed | Payments that ran successfully. |
| Failed | The system attempted to run the payments but was unsuccessful. |
| Pending | Payments that the system will attempt to process in the future. |
Settings options
| Setting | Description |
| AutoPay type | The type of the AutoPay (this is selected when the AutoPay is created). The options are: Recurring Payment, Recurring Match Schedule, and Single Payment. |
| Payment profile | The type of payment profile that will be used to process the payment. Options include: Debit, E-Check, and EFT. |
| Recurring frequency | The frequency with which each successive automatic payment in the series will be processed. Options include: Annually, Semi-Annually, Monthly, Semi-Monthly, Weekly, Bi-Weekly, Quarterly, Single, and Custom. |
Activity options
Activity options let you choose a date range for the process date. (By default, it's set to the current date.) If you leave either field blank, you can make the search open-ended.
Advanced option search
The ‘Advanced Options Search’ filters are based on the loan and AutoPay it is attached to rather than the AutoPay itself. Take a look at our article, Account Manager, in order to learn how it works.
AutoPay list options
Each individual AutoPay listing allows for different actions to be taken depending on the status. These actions are as follows:
| Option | Description |
| History | This option is available no matter the AutoPay status. It will show you the AutoPay history including the date/time the AutoPay was created, the user who scheduled the AutoPay, and the IP address. It will also include the name of the AutoPay, ‘Apply Date’, ‘Process Date’, ‘Time’, ‘Amount’, ‘Convenience Fee’, and ‘Amount Type’. |
| Cancel | This will delete the AutoPay and is only available if the AutoPay's status is 'pending' or 'failed.' |
| Process | This will attempt to reprocess the AutoPay and is only available if the AutoPay's status is 'pending' or 'failed.' |
| Renew | This will only appear as an option if the AutoPay has failed. This will change the status of the failed AutoPay to pending and give you some options to get the AutoPay started again. Just enter a new apply date and process date, then click ‘Renew AutoPay’. |
Schedule a new AutoPay
To schedule a new AutoPay, open the loan you want to schedule for, then click Servicing > AutoPay. The screen will show any currently scheduled AutoPays. At the top right, you'll see two buttons, 'Suspend AutoPay Processing' and 'Schedule New AutoPay'. Suspending AutoPays is useful if a borrower tells you their accounts are empty, or if you have reason to believe a loan was opened fraudulently.
When you click 'Schedule a New AutoPay', the system walks you through selecting a payment profile, entering AutoPay information, and scheduling multiple payments. The tutorial below walks through the basic steps to set up an AutoPay.
Select a payment profile
The first step is to select a payment profile, which is the card or bank account that will be used to make the payment. A borrower can have up to three payment profiles. If no profiles are set up, you can easily create one by selecting 'Add New Payment Profile'. The card selected as the 'Primary Payment Profile' will always be tried first. If the primary profile fails, 'Alternate #1' will be tried next, followed by 'Alternate #2.'
AutoPay info
The second step, AutoPay info, is where you will select dates, amounts, and other settings for your new AutoPay. Clicking 'Advanced Options' will open more fields where you can specify more complex settings.
The most important setting here is AutoPay type, which determines how the AutoPay will schedule future payments and affects which other settings appear on the page. There are four AutoPay types:
- Single Payment: Runs a one-time, future-dated payment.
- Multiple Payment: Allows you schedule an unlimited number of payments with different amounts and dates. (See the Scheduling Multiple Payments section below.)
- Recurring Payment: Runs payments on a specified frequency (e.g. monthly). You will specify how many payments this will run.
- Recurring Match Schedule: Runs payments for the amounts and dates as they come due on the loan.
Each field is described below. For ‘Advanced Options’ expand the fold below the table.
| Fields | Description | Options |
| AutoPay name | This name distinguishes the AutoPay from others you schedule. | |
| AutoPay type | Decide how future payments should be scheduled. Changing this setting will affect which other options are available on this page. |
|
| Apply date | For a single payment, this is the date the payment will be applied. For a recurring payment, this is the date the first scheduled payment will be applied. This option is not available for recurring match schedules or multiple payments. | |
| Adjust process date checkbox | If checked, the system will have the ‘Apply Date’ control the ‘Process Date’ instead of the ‘Process Date’ controlling the ‘Apply Date’. The settings that control what the difference between the two dates is located inside of AutoPay defaults. | |
| Process date | This is the date when you want the system to attempt to pull the payment. The system automatically inputs today's date, but you can manually change it. If the date is the 28th of the month or later, there will be a checkbox for ‘Last DoM,’ which sets payments to process on the last day of the month. | |
| Amount type | Specify how the amount of the payment will be calculated. For the calculated options, the amount is calculated when the payment runs. |
|
| Payment profile type | This is the type of payment profile (card, bank account) that will be used to process the payment. | |
| Pay extra towards | If the automatic payment is for more than is due on the loan, this will let you specify what to do with the extra. | |
| Frequency | This option is only available if “AutoPay Type” is set to “Recurring Payment” or “Recurring Match Schedule”. The options are Annually, Bi-Weekly, Custom, Monthly, Quarterly, Semi Annually, Semi Monthly, Single, and Weekly. If you choose “Custom”, your options will all be a number of days per period. Any option containing the letter “b” is a number of banking days. | |
| Recurring periods | This option is only available if “AutoPay Type” is set to “Recurring Payment” or “Recurring Match Schedule”. This is the number of payments that will be processed. However, if an AutoPay will take the account negative, the default behavior is not to process that AutoPay. |
Advanced options
Here is a description of each ‘Advanced Option’ field:
| Field | Description | Options |
| Type of payment | Select the payment type, which determines the waterfall application for these AutoPays. You can edit the list of available payment types in Settings > Loan Payments > Types. | |
| Service fee | Specify whether to charge a convenience fee for automatic payments that run successfully. | |
| Post payment update apply date | This option works in conjunction with ‘Retry If Payment Fails?’. It lets you specify whether to update the application date if the payment is successful post the original apply date. | |
| Authorization type | Only available when ‘E-Check’ is selected from the ‘Payment Method Type’ drop-down menu. This lets you specify the way the payment was authorized by the borrower. If you make a choice from this drop-down, make sure it’s a type that is allowed for your company by your e-check processor. | |
| If AutoPay amount exceeds or is equal than payoff amount | This option lets you choose how the system will deal with the last payment in the series of payments for this AutoPay. |
|
| Flag as Charge-off | This will log the payments in the AutoPay as recovery payments. | |
| Process time | This is the hour of the day when the automatic payment should be added to the process queue. If there are a lot of payments processing at that time then the payment may be processed several minutes later since it’s only being added to the queue of payments to be processed at this time. | |
| Process on calendar days or banking days only? | This is a specification whether to process payments on banking days or on calendar days. |
|
| If process date is on non-US-banking day? | This option will determine whether payments that fall on non-banking days will be processed on the previous or the next banking day. | |
| Retry if payment fails? | If a payment fails to process, you can choose to have the LoanPro system try to process it each day until the payment succeeds, for a maximum of five days. That means if a payment didn’t go through today, the system will try to process it at the same time tomorrow. Note: If you process AutoPays manually (either in the UI or through the API endpoint) the retry will not work. | |
| Schedule next if Autopay fails | If "No" is selected, a failed AutoPay will cancel any AutoPays scheduled in the future. Choosing "Yes" will mean that future AutoPays will remain scheduled even if one fails. | |
| Process if current | Choose whether to process the payment if there is nothing due on the loan. | |
| Process if principal balance is less than or equal to 0? | This option controls whether or not an AutoPay will process when the principal balance is less than or equal to 0. | |
| Reschedule recurring payments on? | For ‘Recurring Payment’ type AutoPays, this option controls whether the payments are scheduled based on the ‘Apply Date’ or the ‘Process Date’. | |
| Payment processor | Select which merchant processor the funds are supposed to be remitted to when the AutoPay processes successfully. Your company must be configured for multiple merchant processors for this option to be available. |
Schedule multiple payments
LoanPro allows you to schedule one or more payments. Even when scheduling multiple payments, the system actually only schedules the first payment in the series. If that payment gets processed without any errors, the next payment will then be scheduled. If a payment fails, the AutoPay will have a failed status and LoanPro will stop trying to process any future payments. This will keep you from repeatedly charging an empty account.
To schedule multiple payments, navigate to Servicing > AutoPay > Schedule New AutoPay. On the "AutoPay Info' page, select 'Multiple Payment' as the type. Click the 'Next' button on the bottom right of the screen. You will now be on a new screen that will allow you to enter in the information for multiple payments. The following fields will be available for each scheduled payment:
- Date: The date you want to schedule the payments on (you can use the calendar tool to select specific dates).
- Amount: The amount you want the payments to be.
Review and confirmation
After you've finished scheduling your AutoPay, you will click 'Next' and be taken to the Review page. This page will include a summary of the information you've entered, like the name, the type of payment, the process date, and the payment profile. To save the AutoPay, click 'Save' or 'Finish'.
Set AutoPay defaults
LMS allows you to create defaults for your AutoPays. These are tenant-level settings that determine the preset values when you create a new AutoPay on an account. To set AutoPay defaults, navigate to Settings > Defaults > Tools > AutoPay Defaults inside your company account.
You can set independent defaults for each payment method: Bank Card, ACH, and EFT. First, choose which type of AutoPay you want to set the defaults for, and then click 'Edit' in the top right corner. Your default options include:
| Option | Description |
| AutoPay type |
This determines the schedule on which the AutoPay will run. The options include:
|
| Type of payment | This is the type of payment and determines the payment application. |
| Service fee | Choose whether your company convenience fee should be charged when an AutoPay processes successfully. |
| Post payment update apply fee | Choose “Yes” from this drop-down if you want the payment application date to be updated based on the date when the AutoPay successfully processes. If you want to keep the original process date as the date to base the apply date on, choose “No.” |
| If AutoPay amount exceeds or is equal to payoff amount |
This option lets you choose what the system should do if the AutoPay is attempted to be processed for more than the payoff on the account.
|
| AutoPay time |
Specify the hour of the day when payments from the AutoPay schedule will be added to the queue for processing. Since payments are processed sequentially, it’s unlikely they will be processed exactly at the specified hour. We recommend setting this as a time outside of Daily Maintenance. Daily Maintenance is scheduled from 12 to a.m. to 6 a.m. in your time zone. During that window, the system calculates interest accrual, evaluates rules applied, adds automatic fees, generates reports, and performs a variety of other automated servicing tasks. Adding AutoPays to that list can slow down the system, but scheduling them outside of that window can help everything run faster and smoother. |
| Process on any calendar day or banking days only | Control the day payments are processed by allowing payments on any calendar day, or only on banking days. You can also specify if you would like the payment to be processed on the banking day prior-to or following a non-banking day. |
| Payment process/application date difference |
Choose an application date for payments that isn’t necessarily the date the AutoPay will run. You can choose the same day, or up to 3 business days before or after the AutoPay process date.
|
| E-check authorization type |
Only available for e-check AutoPays. This option specifies how the payment was originally authorized and usually has to match what is on file for your company with the payment processor. The options include:
|
| Pay extra towards (between transactions | If the AutoPay is over the regular payment amount, designate how the extra should be handled when the interest application type is set to ‘Between Transactions’. |
| Pay extra towards (between periods) | If the AutoPay is over the regular payment amount, designate how the extra should be handled when the interest application type is set to ‘Between Periods’. |
| Retry AutoPay | Choose to have the AutoPay retry every day for up to 5 days if the original AutoPay transaction is not successful. |
| Process if current | Choose whether the system should still process AutoPays if the account they will process on doesn’t have an amount due. |
| Reschedule recurring payments based on | Specify whether your recurring payments are scheduled based on the date the payment is processed or the date the payment is applied to the loan. |
| Process if principal balance is less than or equal to 0 | This setting allows AutoPays to continue processing even if the Principal Balance is less than or equal to 0. |
Enable or suspend AutoPay processing
If there's an unexpected change in the payment date or schedule, or the borrower tells you they've canceled the payment profile you have on record, you can suspend AutoPays on the account.
You can enable or suspend AutoPays for an account in two places within a loan, but the effect is the same.
AutoPays tab
The first way is in the "AutoPays" tab. To enable or suspend AutoPay processing on an account, navigate inside of the account to Servicing > AutoPay. Depending on whether or not the account has AutoPay processing enabled or disabled, at the top of the page you will see a button to either suspend or enable AutoPay Processing. You will also see a "Loan AutoPay Processing Status" that will let you know if AutoPay Processing is Enabled or Suspended for the account.
Loan settings
The second way to enable or suspend AutoPays in loan accounts is in the ‘Loan Settings’ tab. Within the loan, navigate to Loan Settings > Settings. Click ‘Edit’ and choose the appropriate selection from the drop-down menu of "AutoPay Status".
Re-enable AutoPays
If an AutoPay's processing date hasn't passed while that AutoPay was suspended, then re-enabling AutoPays will be straightforward. Click the ‘Enable’ button and they'll be ready to go when the process date arrives.
To re-enable an AutoPay that was suspended while the processing date passed, click ‘Enable AutoPay Processing’.
You can choose to cancel and reschedule, simply cancel, or process the AutoPays that were missed while processing was suspended.
- Cancel all and reschedule: Cancel all failed AutoPays and automatically reschedule them in the future.
- Cancel all: Cancel all previously failed AutoPays. Any rescheduling will need to be manually done. Future pending AutoPays will remain as normal.
- Process normally: Process all of your AutoPays that were missed while AutoPay processing was suspended. The missed payments will process one-by-one in chronological order until the AutoPay fails or is caught up.
AutoPay for line of credit
Line of credit AutoPays allow you to set up an automatic split payment across linked loans. The ‘Current Due Amount’ option is unique to line of credit accounts and will automatically charge the amount due on both the primary account and any linked accounts. This feature makes Autopay dynamic and reactive to revolving credit accounts. To use this option, the loan must meet the following requirements:
- Must have at least one linked loan
- Amount type must be set to ‘Preset Amount’
- Under ‘Advanced Options’ the check box for ‘Split Payment’ must be checked
Here is a step by step guide:
The amount charged on a linked loan will be the amount due on the day the Autopay is processed
Renew an Autopay
When you renew an AutoPay for line of credit, its status automatically changes from ‘Failed’ to ‘Pending,’ and it’s queued for reprocessing—no manual steps required.
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