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How to process automated loan payments (ACH)?

This article discusses how to process automated loan payments (ACH) from borrowers.

Use the ACH Borrower Payment Assistant to process payments for borrowers who have elected to make their loan payment electronically. You are able to process borrower ACH payments through the Loans Grid, or through Tasks & Reports. 

NOTES:

  • Depending on the number of borrower payment billing cycles you have; you may need to run the assistant one or more times per month. For example, if all of your loans are due on the 1st and the 15th, you should run the Automated Payment Wizard on the 30th or before to bill for the payments due on the first of the following month and on the 14th or before to bill for the payments due on the 15th.
  • Borrower payments are automatically applied, and all related files updated without any user intervention. Each automated payment is assigned a unique tracking number and denoted as an electronic payment in the borrower's history.
  • The file generated can be automatically transmitted. All ACH transactions are then processed through the Federal Reserve's ACH banking network to which 95% of the nation's banks belong - including the Federal Reserve.

To process borrower ACH payments through the Loans Grid:

  • Click on running Loan Servicing in the left panel of The Mortgage Office®.
  • Click the Loans drop-down.
  • Click the specific loan type (Conventional, Commercial, Construction, Lines of Credit, or Other) to open that grid or click All Loans to open a grid containing all the loan types. 

TIP: If the record you want to edit is not visible, use the grid's vertical scroll bar to scroll the contents of the grid up or down, or click FindSearch icon box Find to search for the record by entering your own search criteria. For additional information see How to use find and How to use the data grids.

  • Click the lightning bolt with downward arrow, with button border Actions drop-down and select Automated Payments (ACH).
  • Enter the following information in the ACH Borrower Payments Assistant:

Field:

Description:
Starting Debit Date

Enter this batch's starting debit date.

TIPS:

  • The starting and ending debit dates determine which loans are included in this batch. All loans with a Next Debit Date that falls within these dates are selected.
  • You can use the starting and ending dates to process ACH payments for more than one billing cycle.

Ending Debit Date

Enter this batch's ending debit date.

TIPS:

  • The starting and ending debit dates determine which loans are included in this batch. All loans with a Next Debit Date that falls within these dates are selected.
  • You can use the starting and ending dates to process ACH payments for more than one billing cycle.
Include Categories

Click the Include Categories hyperlink and select which categories to include. Click here to learn more about Categories. 
Exclude Categories Click the Exclude Categories hyperlink and select which categories to exclude. Click here to learn more about Categories. 
  • Click NEXT in blue box Next.

  • The Select Borrowers screens shows a list of accounts based on the criteria entered in the previous screen. This screen allows you to further refine the list of payments to process. 

  • The following actions are available in this screen: 
    • Check or uncheck blank check box the checkbox in the far-left column to select or deselect a specific borrower for processing.
    • Click the Select All hyperlink to select all borrowers.
    • Click the Clear All hyperlink to deselect all borrowers.
    • Click the Export to Excel hyperlink to export the contents of the grid to an Excel spreadsheet. 
    • Click the Print Exemption Report hyperlink to view a detailed report of why loans are excluded from payment processing.  

TIP: You must select one or more payments to process before you can continue.

NOTES: 

  • What is the transaction's effective date?

Also known as the settlement date, the effective date is generally the date in which the transfer of monies should take place.

When the ACH Operator processes an ACH file, the effective entry date is read, and entries are settled according to that date. If the ACH Operator cannot settle on the effective entry date due to untimely file delivery, a stale date, weekend, or holiday (holiday calculations only apply to USA locale, the ACH Operator will apply a settlement date of the next business day.

  • How is the effective date calculated?

The effective date is the greater of the loan's next debit date and next banking date from today. In other words, the effective date must be no less than one banking day in the future and not a Saturday, Sunday or legal holiday. Note that holiday calculations only apply to USA locale.

  • Why are some loans excluded from the list?

Below are some of the most common reasons loans don't appear on this list:

    • The ACH Next Debit Date is before the Starting Debit Date entered in the prior step.
    • The loan has been excluded because of categories entered in the prior step.
    • The ACH Next Debit Date is after the Ending Debit Date entered in the prior step.
    • The ACH Service Status is not set to Active.
    • The ACH Debit Amount is zero
    • The ACH Stop Date has expired.
  • Why are some of the check boxes selected and other not?

The system doesn't select payments that need your attention. You should print the exemption report and the reason why they were not automatically selected, and then decide whether you want to go ahead and manually select some or all for processing.

  • Why are some of the check boxes (square) grayed?

These are loans that can't be processed due to one or more of the following reasons:

    • Loan is not active (missing Active category)
    • Loan is in foreclosure (assigned the Foreclosure category)
    • Loan is in bankruptcy (assigned the Bankruptcy category)
    • Loan has a paid off date.
    • Loan has been placed on hold.
    • Loan is missing a paid-to date.
    • Loan is missing a next payment due date.
    • The loan's next payment due date is past it's revision date.
    • The loan is not fully funded, or the funding is in error.
    • The loan is a line of credit or construction and is missing a closing date.
    • This is an ARM loan, and it has overdue rate and/or payment calculations.
    • This loan has pending modifications.
  • Once you've selected the borrowers to process payments for, click NEXT in blue box Next.
  • At this point you're ready to print a payment register, apply the payments and create the NACHA file to be exported to disk or transmitted to the ACH processing center.
  • The following actions are available in the Print Register and Apply Payments assistant: 

Field:

Description:

Click to Print a payment register.

TIPS:

  • It is recommended that you print and review the payment register before applying the payments.
  • You'll also be allowed to print a final payment register after applying the payments.

 Click to Apply the payments.

Click to send the payment Notices to the borrowers via e-mail.

Click to send the payment messages to the borrowers via SMS.
  • Click CANCEL Cancel or black X Exit to exit the assistant. 

To process borrower ACH payments through Tasks & Reports:

  • Click on running Loan Servicing in the left panel of The Mortgage Office®.
  • Click Tasks & Reports. 
  • In the Loan Transactions section, click  Automated Payments (ACH).
  • Enter the following information in the ACH Borrower Payments Assistant:

Field:

Description:
Starting Debit Date

Enter this batch's starting debit date.

TIPS:

  • The starting and ending debit dates determine which loans are included in this batch. All loans with a Next Debit Date that falls within these dates are selected.
  • You can use the starting and ending dates to process ACH payments for more than one billing cycle.

Ending Debit Date

Enter this batch's ending debit date.

TIPS:

  • The starting and ending debit dates determine which loans are included in this batch. All loans with a Next Debit Date that falls within these dates are selected.
  • You can use the starting and ending dates to process ACH payments for more than one billing cycle.
Include Categories

Click the Include Categories hyperlink and select which categories to include. Click here to learn more about Categories. 
Exclude Categories Click the Exclude Categories hyperlink and select which categories to exclude. Click here to learn more about Categories. 
  • Click NEXT in blue box Next.

  • The Select Borrowers screens shows a list of accounts based on the criteria entered in the previous screen. This screen allows you to further refine the list of payments to process. 

  • The following actions are available in this screen: 
    • Check or uncheck blank check box the checkbox in the far-left column to select or deselect a specific borrower for processing.
    • Click the Select All hyperlink to select all borrowers.
    • Click the Clear All hyperlink to deselect all borrowers.
    • Click the Export to Excel hyperlink to export the contents of the grid to an Excel spreadsheet. 
    • Click the Print Exemption Report hyperlink to view a detailed report of why loans are excluded from payment processing.  

TIP: You must select one or more payments to process before you can continue.

NOTES: 

  • What is the transaction's effective date?

Also known as the settlement date, the effective date is generally the date in which the transfer of monies should take place.

When the ACH Operator processes an ACH file, the effective entry date is read, and entries are settled according to that date. If the ACH Operator cannot settle on the effective entry date due to untimely file delivery, a stale date, weekend, or holiday (holiday calculations only apply to USA locale, the ACH Operator will apply a settlement date of the next business day.

  • How is the effective date calculated?

The effective date is the greater of the loan's next debit date and next banking date from today. In other words, the effective date must be no less than one banking day in the future and not a Saturday, Sunday or legal holiday. Note that holiday calculations only apply to USA locale.

  • Why are some loans excluded from the list?

Below are some of the most common reasons loans don't appear on this list:

    • The ACH Next Debit Date is before the Starting Debit Date entered in the prior step.
    • The loan has been excluded because of categories entered in the prior step.
    • The ACH Next Debit Date is after the Ending Debit Date entered in the prior step.
    • The ACH Service Status is not set to Active.
    • The ACH Debit Amount is zero
    • The ACH Stop Date has expired.
  • Why are some of the check boxes selected and other not?

The system doesn't select payments that need your attention. You should print the exemption report and the reason why they were not automatically selected, and then decide whether you want to go ahead and manually select some or all for processing.

  • Why are some of the check boxes (blank check box) grayed out?

These are loans that can't be processed due to one or more of the following reasons:

    • Loan is not active (missing Active category)
    • Loan is in foreclosure (assigned the Foreclosure category)
    • Loan is in bankruptcy (assigned the Bankruptcy category)
    • Loan has a paid off date.
    • Loan has been placed on hold.
    • Loan is missing a paid-to date.
    • Loan is missing a next payment due date.
    • The loan's next payment due date is past it's revision date.
    • The loan is not fully funded, or the funding is in error.
    • The loan is a line of credit or construction and is missing a closing date.
    • This is an ARM loan, and it has overdue rate and/or payment calculations.
    • This loan has pending modifications.
  • Once you've made your selections, click NEXT in blue box Next.
  • At this point you're ready to print a payment register, apply the payments and create the NACHA file to be exported to disk or transmitted to the ACH processing center using the Print Register and Apply Payments assistant. 
  • The following actions are available in the Print Register and Apply Payments assistant: 

Field:

Description:

Click to Print a payment register.

TIPS:

  • It is recommended that you print and review the payment register before applying the payments.
  • You'll also be allowed to print a final payment register after applying the payments.

 Click to Apply the payments.

Click to send the payment Notices to the borrowers via e-mail.

Click to send the payment messages to the borrowers via SMS.
  • Click CANCEL Cancel or black X Exit to exit the assistant. 

 

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