Schedule a New AutoPay
Updated 5 months ago
Complexity:
Audience: Loan Servicer or Collector, Accounting, Loan Servicing/Collections Managers, Compliance, Data
Introduction
AutoPays are a great tool for lenders who want to reduce the risk of missed payments, or just make things a little bit easier. If you want to start scheduling automatic payments, this article will explain how to set them up. This article will also define all of the options available when creating an AutoPay. If you do not know what AutoPays are, AutoPays 101 provides an introduction to this feature.
How AutoPay Works
AutoPays let you automatically schedule future payments. When one AutoPay payment succeeds, the system automatically schedules the next. If a payment fails, the system won't schedule another payment, keeping you from repeatedly charging an empty account. 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 info and settings, and reviewing.
Payment Profile
The first thing you need to do is select a Payment Profile. This is the card or bank account that will be used to make the payment. The borrower can have up to three payment profiles. If the borrower does not have any profiles set up, you can easily create one by selecting the 'Add New Payment Profile' button. The image above shows an example of a borrower with two credit cards available for AutoPay. The card selected as 'Primary Payment Profile' will always be tried first. If the primary profile fails, 'Alternate #1' will be tried next, then 'Alternate #2.'
Once you have selected at least one payment profile, click 'Next' to move on.
AutoPay Info
This step is where you will select dates, amounts, and other setting for your new AutoPay. Clicking 'Advanced Options' will open more fields where you can specify more complex settings.
For a more detailed description of each field, expand the fold below.
Standard Options
Here is a description of each standard field:
Fields | Description | Options |
AutoPay Name | This name distinguishes the AutoPay from others you schedule. | |
AutoPay Type | This lets you decide how many payments should be made. |
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Apply Date | For a single payment, this is the date it will apply. For a recurring payment this is the date the first scheduled payment will apply. This date is synonymous with the date you would enter when logging a payment. This option is not available for recurring match schedule or multiple payments. | |
Adjust process date checkbox | If this box is checked off then 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 | The Process Date is when you want the system to try and 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 will set payments to process on the last day of the month. | |
Note | If in the AutoPay defaults you have specified that the “Payment Application Date Diff” is anything other than “Same Day” then you will see a variance between the Process Date and the Apply Date. | |
Amount Type | This lets you specify how the amount of the payment will be calculated. For the calculated options, the amount is calculated when the payment runs. This means that if you choose Amount Past Due as the Amount Type and the loan is current right now, the payment amount likely won't be $0.00 when it runs because the system will look at the amount past due right before it processes the payment. |
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Amount | If the Amount Type is set to static, this option will appear so you can enter the static amount. | |
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 | This lets you select the payment type from your list of payment types. The payment type you choose will determine the waterfall application for the automatic payment(s). You can edit the payment types for your company in Settings > Loan > Payments > Types. | |
Service Fee | This option lets you 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?’. You can choose to have the system try to run a payment each day for up to 5 days if the payment fails. This option lets you specify whether to update the application date if the payment is successful. For example, if you have an automatic payment scheduled for November 5, but the payment fails to process, if the system tries to process the payment the next day and it is successful, choosing ‘Yes’ for this selection (Post Payment Update Apply Date) will change the Apply Date from November 5 to November 6. | |
Authorization Type | This option is 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 you don’t make a selection this will be defaulted to the option set for your company for 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. |
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Flag as Charge-off | This will log the payments in the AutoPay as charge offs. | |
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. |
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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 | This lets you choose whether to process the payment if there is nothing due on the loan. For example, if you have a recurring match schedule AutoPay and the borrower mails you a check for one payment, when the AutoPay is scheduled to be processed, you may or may not want to process it, since the payment was made by the borrower already. | |
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. |
If your company is configured for multiple merchant processors there will be an additional option that says “Payment Processor.” This is where you will select which merchant processor the funds are supposed to be remitted to when the AutoPay processes successfully.
Scheduling Multiple Payments
LoanPro allows you to schedule one or more payments. On the AutoPay Info tab and then 'AutoPay Type' field, you will select 'Multiple Payment'. After you've done that, 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:
- 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'.
Common Uses & Questions
Does scheduling an AutoPay guarantee that the payment will be made? No, things can derail. If the payment profile was entered incorrectly or isn't a real account, the system won't be able to pull money. Similarly, the borrower must have sufficient funds for the payment to be made. AutoPay is a tool that makes payments easier, but they do not guarantee that a payment will be completed.
How can I set up a large number of AutoPays all at once? If you want to create new AutoPays for a large group of loans, you can use our imports feature.
What’s Next
AutoPay Manager: Learn where to manage all of your current AutoPays.
Secure Payments: Learn about Secure Payments software to better understand payments and payment processing.
Payment Processing: This article explains payment processing. Read this to understand your payment on a deeper level.