FAQs: Using Debt Collection Reports
In the following questions and answers, any suggested default settings are designed to work with the optional Unique Management Interface. If you use another vendor’s debt collection system, use the defaults recommended by the vendor.
| • | What is Unique Management? |
| • | How are Debt Collection reports used? |
| • | Do I need to set up any new policies before getting started with Unique Management? |
| • | What is the overall Debt Collection process? |
| • | What type of output is produced by the reports that are sent to Unique Management? |
| • | How are user records updated by reports that are sent to Unique Management? |
| • | Why is the Update User Delinquency Status report so important? |
| • | Not all of our libraries participate in Debt Collection. Can we exclude these libraries when running these reports? |
| • | How do I know what options to select for the Bill Selection, Debt Collection Selection, and Fee/Update Options tabs? |
| • | How is a user originally selected for Debt Collection? |
| • | Why did the debt amount sent to Unique Management differ from what I expected? |
| • | How is a user selected for update? |
| • | How is lost item processing handled by the Debt Collection reports? |
Libraries are increasingly using Unique Management Services, Inc. to follow-up with patrons who have outstanding overdue fines and bills. Unique Management gets data from a library system regarding overdue fines, bills, and referral fees and contacts patrons on behalf of the library.
Although referral to Unique Management is considered referral to a collection agency, Unique Management does not actually report a patron's account to national consumer reporting agencies until several attempts have been made to contact the user. Unique Management attempts to contact the user and persuade him to pay, according to the following schedule.
|
Day or Date Range |
Action |
|
Day 1 (Day of Submission) |
Letter 1 |
|
Day 22 |
Letter 2 |
|
Days 36 to 49 |
Initial placement calls |
|
Day 64 (Secondary Placement Day) |
Letter 3 |
|
Days 78 to 91 |
Secondary placement phone calls |
|
Days 120 to 151 |
Credit reported |
Once a credit report is actually filed, all three of the major consumer reporting agencies (Trans Union, Equifax and Experian) are notified.
How are Debt Collection reports used?
Unique Management gets data from a SirsiDynix Symphony library system regarding overdue fines, bills, and referral fees using the Debt Collection reports.
The Debt Collection reports are used to create the files that are sent to Unique Management, and to update the users' records with notations about being referred to the collection agency. These reports XML data files for Unique Management. Each user's status may be updated, and his record marked to indicate that he was referred for collection.
Three primary functions are covered by the report group.
| • | Collections Information creates the initial the initial XML file that is sent to Unique Management. When a user is selected by this report, and the file is sent to Unique Management, this is Day 1 in the Unique Management reporting schedule. A user is selected only once by this report, and his or her user record updated with the COLLECTION status. A user is not sent to the national credit reporting agencies until at least 120 days from the day the file is received by Unique Management. |
| • | Collections Update creates XML files that are sent to Unique Management so that patrons' records may be updated if there has been any activity on the user's account, such as partial or complete payment. Users can be selected by this report any time that there has been activity since the previous report, whether it was the initial Collections Information report, or a subsequent Collections Update report. Remaining balance letters are sent in addition to the Unique Management's standard schedule, but payment activity on the account can prolong the duration of time before the user is reported to the credit agency. |
| • | Additionally, the Collections Update report can be run in a “synchronization” mode, so that it selects all users reported for collections, and assists with keeping the Unique Management sychronized with the library's records. When run in “synchronization” mode, the XML file contains only brief user information and the outstanding bill amount. |
One final report must be used in combination with the Debt Collection reports. The Update User Delinquency Status must be run before the Debt Collection report are run to ensure the user statuses are as up-to-date as possible before the reports select users for debt collection.
Do I need to set up any new policies before getting started with Unique Management?
There are two elements in SirsiDynix Symphony that are only used when your library is using Unique Management to manage patrons' bills, the COLLECTION User Standing policy and the REFERRAL Bill Reason policy. Confirm that these elements are already on your system.
If you need to add or change any of these policies, you must halt and run the SirsiDynix Symphony Workstation server before running any of the Debt Collection reports.
COLLECTION User Standing Policy
The COLLECTION User Standing policy is delivered with the Version 3.3 upgrade. The COLLECTION policy has an Auto Replace value of REPLACE_REPORT. This means that the user's status is set or updated by the debt collection reports when a user qualifies for collection agency. The status may also be cleared by the report when a user no longer has outstanding bills or has paid all bills. This type is only used by debt collection reports.
To create the COLLECTION User Standing policy
| 1 | On the Configuration toolbar, in the User Configuration group, click the User Standing wizard. |
| 2 | Click Create. |
| 3 | In the Name field, type COLLECTION. |
| 4 | Type an explanation of the COLLECTION status in the Description field, such as Collection Agency. |
| 5 | Type a Message to display when a circulation transaction causes the user's status to be displayed or changed, such as “The user has been sent to a collection agency.” |
| 6 | Select the BLOCKED Delinquency Type value. |
| 7 | Select the REPLACE_REPORT Auto Replace value. |
| 8 | Click Save. |
REFERRAL Bill Reason
Typically, when the Collections Information report is run, a user is assessed a fee for debt collection. The Bill Reason of REFERRAL is used to indicate that the bill was for this purpose. The Bill Reason of REFERRAL must be in the list of available bill reasons. The REFERRAL reason is used only if a collection fee is assessed, but since a fee may be added in the future when using the debt collection reports, this bill reason should be created.
To check whether the REFERRAL bill reason is properly installed, use the Bill a User wizard and check that REFERRAL is included in the drop-down list in the Reason for Bill field.
To create the REFERRAL bill reason
| 1 | On the Configuration toolbar, in the Circulation Configuration group, click the Bill Reason wizard. |
| 2 | Click Create. |
| 3 | In the Name field, type REFERRAL. |
| 4 | Type an explanation of the REFERRAL reason in the Description field, such as Fee for sending patron bills to the collection agency. |
| 5 | Make sure the Associated With Item check box is cleared. The REFERRAL bill reason is not associated with an item. |
| 6 | If your library is required to collect taxes on bill amounts, select an appropriate Circulation Tax policy from the Tax drop-down list. If needed, use the Circulation Tax Wizard helper to create an appropriate Circulation Tax policy. If your library does not collect taxes on referral bills, select the NOTAX policy or leave the drop-down selection blank. |
| 7 | Click Save. |
What is the overall Debt Collection process?
Before a library begins to use the services of Unique Management, the general process of collecting fines and bills from users is typically used. A user will have typically received several of the library's overdue notices before the first letter is received from Unique Management.
Once users qualify for debt collection, the following procedure should be followed to ensure that the proper users are reported for the proper amounts. You will work with Unique Management to determine how frequently the collection reports should be run. You may select to run them weekly or monthly or on some other schedule.
Do not run any report to update database records until you have tested the report by clearing the Update Database Records check box for the test run. If user records have been incorrectly updated, they will need to be modified manually or restored from a system backup.
| 1 | Run the Update User Delinquency Status report. |
| 2 | Run the Collections Information report with the Update Database Records check box cleared on the Fee/Update Options tab. |
| 3 | If you are satisfied with the results of the Collections Information report, schedule the report to run after the nightly Update User Delinquency Status report. Be sure to select the Update Database Records check box on the Fee/Update Options tab of the report so the user records will be updated when the report runs. |
| 4 | Send the XML file to Unique Management according to their specifications. |
According to the schedule you have set up with Unique Management, such as monthly, follow these steps again to identify new users that have met the criteria to be reported. This time, also incorporate the update process.
| 1 | Run the Update User Delinquency Status report. |
| 2 | Run the Collections Information report with the Update Database Records check box cleared on the Fee/Update Options tab. |
| 3 | Once you are satisfied with the results of the Collections Information report, run the Collections Update report with the Update Database Records check box cleared on the Fee/Update Options tab. |
| 4 | If you are satisfied with the results of the Collections Update report, schedule the Collections Information and the Collections Update reports to run after the nightly Update User Delinquency Status report. Be sure to select the Update Database Records check box on the Fee/Update Options tab for both reports so the user records will be updated when the reports run. |
| 5 | Send the XML files to Unique Management according to their specifications. |
Occasionally, changes to the patron's record are not accurately reported to Unique Management. For instance, a user may have paid his account in full, and then request that his user record be removed. Quarterly, you need to run the Collections Update report in “synchronization” mode so that Unique Management can be sure they have the most up to date records.
To run the Collections Update report in “synchronization” mode
| 1 | Run the Update User Delinquency Status report. |
| 2 | Run the Collections Update report with the Mode: Include All Patrons option selected and the Update Database Records check box cleared on the Fee/Update Options tab. |
| 3 | If you are satisfied with the Collections Update report results, schedule the report to run after the nightly Update User Delinquency Status report. Be sure to select the Mode: Include All Patrons option and the Update Database Records check box on the Fee/Update Options tab so the user records will be updated when the report runs. |
| 4 | Send the XML files to Unique Management according to their specifications. |
What type of output is produced by the reports that are sent to Unique Management?
The Understanding the Collections Information Report Output topic describes the type of patron and bill information output from this report.
The Understanding the Collections Update Report Output topic describes the type of patron and bill information output from this report.
How are user records updated by reports that are sent to Unique Management?
When a user is sent to collection agency (the Collections Information report has been run), the user information and bill information is written to the debt collection databases or tables on the SirsiDynix Symphony server. The user is then given a status of COLLECTION. Additional updates to the user's status are made with the Collections Update report.
Why is the Update User Delinquency Status report so important?
The Debt Collection reports that are sent to Unique Management and that are run to update the database also update the user’s delinquency status and estimated fines. If the Update User Delinquency Status is not run prior to running the Debt Collection reports, the values in the user records do not correspond with the files sent to Unique Management. It is recommended that this report be run nightly, whether or not the Debt Collection group of reports is used, to keep user records as up to date as possible.
Not all of our libraries participate in Debt Collection. Can we exclude these libraries when running these reports?
Yes. On the Bill Selection tab of the Collections Information report, in the Library field, you only select the libraries that participate in debt collection.
When you run the Collections Information report for selected libraries, the debt collection records for users selected during the run of the report will specify that the user was selected for specific libraries. Only bills from the selected libraries will be added to the debt collection records. This also means that when the Collection Update report runs only new bills from the selected libraries and/or payments for those bills will be included in the report output. Once a user is sent to collections for specific libraries, the user will not be sent to collections for other libraries until the user is marked as all paid. If your library is part of a consortia and only certain libraries participate in debt collection, the Debt Collection reports should be run for all libraries that participate in order to ensure that users are correctly reported to the collection agency.
When a user is reported to collections for specific libraries, the user will come out of collections when all bills for the specified libraries are paid. For example, if a user is reported collections for bills owed at the Main and Carnegie libraries, the user will be removed from collections when all bills for Main and Carnegie are paid. The user will be removed even if he or she has bills for another library as along as the bills for Main and Carnegie are paid in full.
How do I know what options to select for the Bill Selection, Debt Collection Selection, and Fee/Update Options tabs?
Your library needs to make basic decisions about how the library is going to evaluate patrons for debt collection. Once these decisions have been made, they need to be applied consistently across the Debt Collection group reports. If they are not, patrons receiving Unique Management notices will be confused by the list of fines sent to them, and why they were reported to collections. Subsequent reports will be inconsistent with the original report.
Also, if your library is part of a consortia and only certain libraries participate in debt collection, the debt collection reports should be run for all libraries that participate to ensure that the users are correctly sent to the collection agency.
Make the selections on the Bill Selection, Debt Collection Selection, and Fee/Update Options tabs according to the decisions you have made. See the report and tab topics for more information.
Once you have decided how a patron will be selected for reporting and the fees that will be assessed, you should save an entire suite of reports to the Templates tab and/or the Scheduled Reports list. Staff members should be instructed to not modify the reports before scheduling them, to ensure consistency among the patrons reported in subsequent reports.
How is a user originally selected for Debt Collection?
Typically, a user is not selected to be reported to Unique Management until it is clear that he is not responding to standard overdue notices.
The following conditions must be met for the user record to be selected for referral.
| • | The user must belong to a library that participates in debt collection and is one of the libraries you selected on the Bill Selection tab of the Collections Information report. |
| • | The user must have at least $2.50 in actual bills, as indicated on the Bill Selection tab of the Collections Information report. |
| • | The total amount of bills and fees a user owes must equal or exceed the value in the Minimum Amount of Fees Due field on the Debt Collection Selection tab of the Collections Information report. By default, this value is set to greater than 24.99. |
The Minimum Amount of Fees Due field on the Debt Collection Selection tab, and the Basic Collection Fee and Excess Debt Collection Fee fields on the Fee/Update Options tab are key to a user being selected the first time for debt collection, and are described below.
Minimum Amount of Fees Due
The value in the Minimum Amount of Fees Due field on the Debt Collection Selection tab is the total amount of bills and fees a user must have to be reported to Unique Management. All users who meet or exceed this amount in the bill summary will be included in the Collection Information file. The greater than 24.99 default value can be met very quickly, depending on these additional selections.
Or, you can select an unpaid bill/fee range for the report using the gadget in the Minimum Amount of Fees Due field. For example, you can select a range of greater than $10.00 and less than $35.00. The report will only select users whose total amount of unpaid bills falls within this range and will include those users in the Collection Information file.
On the Fee/Update Options tab, the following options or values can be specified to include certain bills and fees in the total amount owed by the user.
| • | Any amount greater than 0.00 in the Basic Collection Fee field is added to the total amount owed. This amount is the fee the user must pay for having to be referred to the collection agency. |
| • | Any amount greater than 0.00 in the Excess Debt Collection Fee field is added to the total amount owed if the total of the debt equals or exceeds the amount entered in the For Debt Totals Over field. |
Basic Collection Fee
In the Fee/Update Output tab, the Basic Collection Fee value is the fee a user must pay for having been referred to a collection agency. Typically, all users are charged this fee, and it is usually about $10.00. Entering an amount in this field creates a bill of the REFERRAL type and adds the bill to the total amount owed. This value is included when checking if the user’s total debt meets the amount in the Minimum Amount of Fees Due field on the Debt Collection Selection tab.
Excess Debt Collection Fee
In the Fee/Update Output tab, the Excess Debt Collection Fee value is an additional fee that may be assessed for users whose fine and bill amounts have exceeded the value specified in the For Debt Totals Over field. Entering an amount in this field creates a bill of the REFERRAL type and adds the bill to the total amount owed. This value is included when checking if the user’s total debt meets the amount in the Minimum Amount of Fees Due field on the Debt Collection Selection tab.
Why did the debt amount sent to Unique Management differ from what I expected?
If you do not change the default value of >2.50 in the Balance Owed field on the Bill Selection tab, any bill less than or equal to $2.50 will not be included in the total debt amount that is sent to Unique Management for collection.
Or, if you selected in include only bills for selected libraries, but not all libraries on the Fee/Update Output tab, the debt amount may differ.
If you want to include every unpaid bill a user has and all bills from all libraries in the amount sent to the collection agency, you must do change the value in the Balance Owed field to be >0.00 and select Include All Bills for All Libraries.
For example, a patron has three bills: one for $26.00, one for $1.50, and one for $5.00. On the Bill Selection tab, the value in the Balance Owed field is >2.50, which is the delivered default set for reports to work with Unique Management. The patron's record will be turned over to the collection agency for $31.00 instead of $32.50, since the bill for $1.50 does not meet the required balance owed for that bill to be selected and added to the total debt amount that is sent to Unique Management.
How is a user selected for update?
By default, all patrons who have had activity on a calendar date since the previous Collections Update or Collections Information report was run will be selected. Or, you can elect to run the Collections Update report in a “synchronization” mode to include all patrons. When run in this mode, the output only includes basic user information and total amount due. Unique Management can use the file to synchronize it's collections data with the library's information.
How is lost item processing handled by the Debt Collection reports?
Lost item processing enables the library to keep a link between lost items and the patron who originally had the item checked out. When a charged item becomes lost, the system bills the patron for the replacement cost of the item, based either on the price or default amount set in the Default Price policy. The bill reason should always be LOST. If the patron returns the lost item and has not paid the lost bill, SirsiDynix Symphony will automatically remove the lost bill from the patron's account and may also remove the processing fee.
In most libraries, an overdue item will become Lost before it qualifies to be sent to collection agency, which means there is an actual bill for the cost of the item that can be tracked through the bill record, assuming it is not purged. If the patron pays the Lost Item bill after the patron has been selected by collection agency reports, the amount is recorded in the data element that contains the amount the patron has paid since he was last reported.
If the patron returns the item, but has not paid the Lost Item bill, the system removes the Lost Item bill from the patron's record. When SirsiDynix Symphony removes the Lost Item bill, the system pays the bill and the payment type is set to CANCEL. Paid bills with a bill reason of LOST and a payment type of CANCEL that were paid in full after the last Collections Information or Collections Update report run date are included in the file which contains the value of items returned before the report is run.
Processing fees that may have been associated with the lost item may also be included in processing, because the option to remove the fee along with the lost bill when a lost item is returned is available. Paid bills with a bill reason of PROCESSFEE and a payment type of CANCEL that were paid in full after the last Collections Information or Collections Update report run date are processed.
Related topics
Collections Information Report
Update User Delinquency Status Report