Taking Payments

The Take Payment Wizard allows you to do several processes within one wizard. You can include multiple payment methods within one payment (for example, a tenant/customer could give you a check, a money order, and cash at the same time — all of which you could include in one payment), and then distribute that payment to the tenant’s/customer’s multiple accounts and transactions. If the tenant/customer also wants to pay more than their total amount currently due in order to pay for future expenses (such as rent or utilities), you are then able to distribute their “prepayment” to specific transactions within a selected account.

Hint: Your agency can customize the Take Payments process so that it better fits your needs. See "Customizing the Take Payment Wizard"

Hint: You can also set up payment apply order for account types from the Setup area of the program. See "Setting Up Account Types"

Note: Click here to find out how payments affect General Ledger. See "Payment on Account"

1. From the Main Menu screen, click TENANTS or RECEIVABLES. The Browse Tenant Leases or Browse Customers screen appears with all current leases or active customers displayed in a table.
2. Select how you want to order the tenant or customer table from the ordered by drop-down list, enter the search criteria in the search for field and click GO. The first tenant/customer to match the criteria is highlighted in the table.
3. Highlight the tenant/customer record you want to work with and click on the toolbar.
4. Select “Take Payment” from the menu that appears. The Take Payment Wizard is initiated.

Hint: You can also access the Take Payment Wizard from the Account Summary and Account Details tabs on either the Tenant Management screen (for tenants), or the Maintain Customer Information screen (for customers who are also tenants).

Hint: The non-editable customer name field appears at the top of the screens. Use this to verify that you are entering information for the correct account belonging to the correct tenant/customer.

Enter All Payment Types and Amounts

5. If necessary, select the appropriate cash drawer in which to take the payment. Depending on your agency's policy, you may be able to select from multiple cash drawers in which to take a payment.

Note: If the tenant lives in a development that has multiple cash drawers mapped to it, those cash drawers will display in the cash drawer field and the payment will be appropriately distributed.

6. Depending on your agency's policy, you may see an only take payment on current lease accounts checkbox. If you want to apply payments to any other account/any account NOT attached to the tenant's current lease (an account without a unit number or with a different unit number from the unit in which the tenant is currently living), uncheck the checkbox. By default, this checkbox will be checked, but unchecking the checkbox allows you to override the current policy during the payment process for a particular customer.
7. Verify or enter the payment date (defaults to today’s date) and choose whether or not to print a receipt by checking or unchecking the print receipt checkbox.
8. In the payment table in the middle of the screen, click within the first cell immediately below the Amount header. If you have not changed the payment date or print receipt field, this cell of the table is active by default.
9. Type in the amount of the payment.
10. Press TAB on your keyboard to highlight the next, Type of Payment table cell. Select the type of payment from the drop-down list that appears.
11. Press TAB on your keyboard to highlight the next Reference Number table cell.
12. Enter the reference number, if any (for example, a check number or money order number).
13. Press ENTER on your keyboard. A new table row appears with your cursor already placed in the first Amount cell and ready for another payment entry, if necessary.

Hint: You can include multiple payment methods within one payment; for example, a tenant/customer could give you a check, a money order, and cash at the same time — all of which you could include in one payment. Just enter all the separate amounts, payment types, and reference numbers in the payment table to equal the correct Total Amount Due.

Optional Step 1: Select Accounts to Pay Now

If the tenant/customer is paying more than the Total Due Now, you can take a prepayment on selected accounts. In order to make a prepayment, the total payment, as displayed in the Amount Received field, must be greater than the Total Amount Due field.

14. Click ; the View Account Balances for Payment Distribution screen opens. On this screen you can view the tenant’s/customer’s account balances and exclude accounts from receiving any of the payment. By default, the program includes in the distribution of the payment all accounts that have outstanding balances.
15. Uncheck the include checkbox for any account you do NOT wish to include for distribution of the payment. If you exclude an account that has a Due Now balance, it will change the Total Amount Due field back on Step 1 of the Take Payment Wizard.
16. Click to apply your changes and return to Step 1 of the Take Payment Wizard.

Optional Step 2: Specify Transactions to Pay Now

If the tenant/customer is paying more than the Total Due Now, they can choose to apply the excess as a prepayment of future expenses in a specific account. The customer may then choose to restrict the prepayment to specific amounts for specific kinds of transactions within the selected account (such as rent expenses or utility expenses within the tenant accounts receivable account).

17. Click . The View Payment Distribution/Apply Manually screen opens with a table of the customer’s transactions with balances due for all accounts you previously “included” in the payment (in step 14) displayed.

Note: Using this button and screen allows you to override any default payment apply orders your agency set up by applying a payment manually to transactions with outstanding balances.

18. Click in the amount to apply field for any transaction and change the amount of this payment to apply to that transaction.
19. After all amounts to apply have been entered, click to apply your changes and return to step 1 of the Take Payment Wizard.
20. If necessary, check or uncheck the create pre-payment checkbox. This is checked by default when the Amount Received is greater than the Total Amount Due.
21. Click START to continue. If you are not creating a prepayment, review and confirm the payment information you have set up, and then click FINISH. You have successfully taken a payment!

OR

If you chose to create a prepayment, you are directed to an additional step in the wizard where you can set up prepayment information.

Optional Step 3: Select Account and Transaction to Prepay

22. Select the customer account to be prepaid and press TAB on your keyboard or click within the first cell of the transaction table located immediately below the Transaction Type header.
23. Select the first transaction type to be prepaid and then press TAB on your keyboard to highlight the next Description table cell in the table.
24. Enter a description to identify the prepaid transaction.
25. Press TAB again to access the Amount table cell and enter the amount of this prepaid transaction.
26. Press ENTER on your keyboard. A new table row will appear with your cursor already placed in the first Transaction Type table cell and ready for another prepayment entry.
27. Repeat steps 22-25 until all prepayments have been entered into the payment table.
28. Click NEXT to continue, review and confirm the payment information you have set up, and then click FINISH.

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