Installment Payments

The Installment Payment functionality allows for the total amount of the transaction to be booked at the time of the sale, while the purchaser pays off that total amount in regularly scheduled installments. Installment payments are available in Centralized Order Entry (COE) for all product types.

Installment Payments are found on the checkout forms in iWeb.

Setting Up Installment Payments

To set up a transaction for installment payments, complete the following steps:

Follow the order entry steps necessary for the product being purchased.
When entering the payment information for the order, choose the installment payments option from the type drop-down menu.
When you select the installment payments option, several new fields will become available on the Centralized Order Entry | Order page.
For new installment payment orders, leave the payment drop-down menu set to <new payment>.
Note that if you want to apply a payment to the initial installment at the time of purchase, you must select a payment method at the time of purchase when selecting <new payment> in the payment drop-down. Otherwise, no payment will be applied to the initial installment if this drop-down is left blank. Notice in the image above, that a payment method of cash has been applied. This means that the payment amount calculated when the number of installments is generated will be applied in cash.
Enter the number of installments for this order in the # of installments field.
Expand the frequency drop-down menu and select how often the payment installments will be due (monthly, quarterly, etc.)
Expand the invoice terms drop-down menu and select the terms for the invoice.
Use the calendar control to set the date the first installment is due in the first invoice date field.
The date you set here will be used to calculate the rest of the payment schedule. The credit card will not actually be charged until the due date of the first installment.
Click the Save button.

Making Payments

Payments are made on installment payment invoices just as they are with any other invoice. However, payments on installment orders can be made from the actual order profile.

The one difference when making payments on an installment billing invoice, is that the amount due will reflect any past due amount plus the next payment amount.

To add a payment to an Installment Payment Invoice, complete the following steps:

Click the Add Payment icon located on the Order/Installment Payment Profile.
This will open the Add Payment | Select Invoices to Pay pop-up window. This displays the invoice number, the amount of the invoice, and the balance remaining on the invoice.
Enter the amount to apply to this payment in the payment to apply field.
Note: The new balance column reflects the current balance minus the payment specified in the payment to apply field. The current amount due for this invoice can be found at the bottom of the form in the unpaid balance field. The unpaid balance field does not take into consideration the current payment that is being processed and will not update until this payment transaction is completed.
Click the Next button.
This will open the Add Payment | Apply Payment pop-up window.
Enter the batch to be used for this payment in the batch field.
Enter the method of payment in the payment method field. The method of payment you choose may display additional fields necessary to record the data for that payment (such as credit card information.)
Click the Save button.
The Order/Installment Payment Profile will update and display the new balance due on the general child form.

Amount Due Column

The amount due column reflects the current amount due on the invoice, plus the next scheduled amount.

For example, the image below shows the Add Payment form for an installment billing invoice. The invoice was purchased today and the first installment was set to be due today.

As you can see, the amount due reflects the amount due today (the day the first installment was set) as well as next month's amount that is due.

Tip: Installment Payments differ from Installment Billing in that an Order is created with a subsequent Invoice for the full amount due charged to A/R immediately. With Installment Billing, only the portion that is billed and subsequently received is charged to A/R.

Installment Payments for Memberships

Membership dues can also be set up as installment payment transactions. The steps to purchase a membership using the installment payments option are the same as listed above.

When a membership is purchased using the installment payments type of payment, the organization must decide when they want the membership to become active. The organization can choose to change the status to active when the entire balance is paid off, a percentage of the entire balance is paid off, or a percentage of the first installment is paid.

For complete details, view the Installment Payments for Memberships section on the Member Type topic.

Setting Up Auto Payment for Installment Payments

Auto Payment allows payments to be made automatically (if a credit card is the method of payment) every time an installment payment comes due. To enable the auto pay feature you must set the order to participate in auto pay and also set up a recurring task to actually generate the payment.

Note: Auto Payment requires that a credit card be used as the method of payment.

Enabling an Order for Auto Payment

Select the auto apply payment? checkbox to enable the auto payment feature for an installment payment order.

Note that you may add a stored credit card at a later date should you choose which will also be used for auto pay (and be picked up by the recurring task described in the next section).

To add a credit card for auto pay at a later date, complete the following tasks:

Go to the Installment Order Profile that needs the credit card information added.
Click the Edit button.
Click the auto-pay installments? checkbox seen below.
The Edit - Order window will appear.
If the customer already has credit cards stored, you may use the customer payment info drop-down box to choose credit card to use going forward for the auto payment. Otherwise, click the Add button to add a new payment method for the customer, also seen in the image below.
Click the Save button to add the new payment method for the customer and to apply auto payments going forward for this installment order.

Setting Up the Installment Payment Recurring Task

In addition to enabling an order to use the auto payment feature, you must also set up a recurring task to actually process the auto payment.

To set up the Installment Payment recurring task, complete the following steps:

Expand the Module Menu.
Click on the Admin option to open the Admin module.
Click the Module Items arrow to expand the Module Items fly-out menu.
Click the Task Scheduler link. This will display the various Task Scheduler options available.
Click the Dashboard option. This will open the Task Dashboard.
Click the Installment Payment Generation link.
Select the date and time for the Installment Payments auto payment task to run from the netFORUM date time picker.
Clicking in the run task datetime field will expand the date time picker.
If you would like this task to execute immediately after a previously scheduled task (such as membership renewal), expand the execute after task drop-down menu and choose the task to precede the Installment Payments scheduled task.
If you would like to be notified via email at various stages of the Installment Payments task, select the notify template, enter a notify e-mail address, and specify the notify conditions that you would like to be notified of.
Expand the recurrence drop-down menu and select the frequency with which you would like this task to execute.
You have the option to run this task Once, Daily, Weekly, on a specific Date of (the) Month, or a specific Week of (the) Month. Based on the option you choose, additional fields will display to allow you to make the correct settings for the frequency you chose.
Click the Save button.
The Installment Payments task is now scheduled and you will be taken to the Task Profile page.
Note: For complete details on scheduling all types of tasks in netFORUM(recurring and otherwise), view the Task Scheduler topic

Viewing the Payment Schedule

To view the payment schedule for an installment payment order, visit the order profile page for the order and expand the Summary child form.

Order / Installment Payment Write-Offs

To write-off a portion of the balance of an Order / Installment Payment, complete the following steps:

Follow the steps outlined in the Order Installment Payment Profile above to locate the Order / Installment Payment you would like to apply the write-off.
Click the Add Payment icon.
This will open the Add Payment | Select Invoices to Pay pop-up window.
Click the linked amount shown in the amount due column.
This will open the Edit - Invoice Detail pop-up window. This window lists every scheduled payment for this invoice, the amount due for each payment, and the balance of each remaining payment.
Enter the amount to write-off in the amount to apply? checkbox.
You may enter the entire amount of the payment due, or just a portion. If you enter just a portion, then the remaining balance of that scheduled payment will still show as due.
Click the write off? checkbox next to the scheduled payment(s) you wish to write-off.
Click the Ok button.
You will be led through the rest of the checkout process as described above.

Converting Invoices to Installment Payment Schedules

Previously entered invoices that do not have any payments recorded against them, can be converted to an installment payment invoice by clicking the conv to inst payment icon on the invoice profile.

This icon will only be clickable on invoices where no payment has been recorded.

Clicking this icon will open the Convert Invoice to Installment Payments pop-up window. This window allows you to set the number of installments and the frequency for the invoice.

After clicking the Save button, the invoice will be converted to an installment billing invoice.

Order Installment Payment Profile

To view the Order / Installment Payment Profile, complete the following steps:

Expand the Module Menu and click the Accounting option to open the Accounting module.
Click the Module Items icon to expand the Module Items menu for the Accounting module.
Click the Installment Payment link to expand the Installment Payment options.
You may either use the Find or the List function to locate the Installment Payment Order you are searching for.
Click the Goto icon next to the Installment Payment Order you wish to view.
This will open the Installment Payment Order Profile.
The Installment Payment Order Profile displays information about the signed pledge. This information includes the following child forms:
- order detail - Located on the General tab. Displays the details of the order for the signed pledge.
- invoices - Located on the Invoices tab. Displays the details of the invoice generated by the signed pledge.
- summary - Located on the Summary tab. Displays the schedule of payments set forth for the signed pledge.