7.1.2 Credit Control Cases
he Credit Control system utilities Credit Control Cases to keep track of the interactions with a property owner.
To access go to the Workbench menu: Credit Control -> Credit Control Cases
The default Credit Control Cases screen will show any Cases that are Active across All Blocks, All Units and All Case Types with a Next Action date of today’s date or earlier for the user who is logged into the system.
There are various preferences that can then selected to search by:
Assigned To – this is the user who is logged in and will display those Credit Control cases where the user is set as the ‘Assigned To’ user dealing with those cases. Another user or All users can be selected to display cases.
Select Block – an individual Block or all Blocks can be selected.
Select Unit – an individual Unit or all Units in a Block can be selected.
Case Type – either Service Charge (SC) or Ground Rent (GR) cases can be displayed or if selecting All then both SC and GR cases will be displayed.
Case Status – a specific case status can be selected or all statuses. For more details on the various Case Status types see 7.1.3 Case Status: https://support.blocksonline.co.uk/portal/en/kb/articles/case-status
Action by Date – the default date is today’s date and means that all Credit Control Cases being displayed for the relevant preferences selected are to highlight to the system user that they should be reviewing and taking action on next steps to do the with relevant cases. If you wish to view Cases with a future action date then the ‘Action by date’ field should be altered.
Tenant Reference – a specific Tenant Reference can be entered and that will displayed all credit control cases active or closed for that Unit.
The column headings show the following:
Block Name: displays the Block reference and name.
Unit Name: displays the unit name.
Owner: displays the legal owner name.
Type: displays ‘SC’ denoting a service charge case or ‘GR’ denoting a ground rent case.
Case Status – denotes what specific case status currently applies to the case. For more details on the various Case Status types see 7.1.3 Case Status:
Amount Overdue – is the amount of either service charge (SC) or ground rent (GR) that remains unpaid after its due date (This amount excludes any current period demands for which the due date has not yet passed).
NB: In addition if a red ‘!’ is displayed then that denotes that the case has an Amount Overdue which is greater than the last amount chased in the last reminder letter produced.
1st Reminder – If a credit control first reminder letter has been produced the date it was created will be displayed, if no date displayed then a first reminder letter has not been produced for the case.
2nd Reminder – If a credit control second reminder letter has been produced the date it was created will be displayed, if no date displayed then a second reminder letter has not been produced for the case.
Next Action – displays the date due for the next action to be taken on the case.
Bulk Update feature for cases
There is a Bulk Update button at the top right of the screen which this enables you to update the ‘Next Action Date’, ‘Case Status’, ‘Assigned To’ user, ‘Payment Plan’ amount as well as adding a ‘Comment’ to multiple cases at the same time.
When you click on the ‘Bulk Update’ button the following pop-up screen will appear:
Selecting one or more tick boxes against the associated item will then enable you to change the parameter(s) for the item(s) and then once you have made those parameter changes click on the ‘Update’ button and they will be applied for the cases you have selected.
A Credit Control Case is raised against a single unit in relation to either service charge or ground rent.
Typical situations when you may wish to create a Case are:
- When reminder letters are being sent to leaseholders for unpaid service charges or ground rent
- When a leaseholder makes contact to agree a payment schedule to clear an outstanding balance
- When a leaseholder makes contact to inform you that their payment will be late
- When a leaseholder registers a dispute regarding a service charge or ground rent.
Multiple credit control cases can be raised for a single unit, but it is normal to only have one case open, in relation to either service charge or ground rent, at any one time.
Once a Credit Control Case has been opened, commentary can be captured to record any interactions with the leaseholder (e.g. telephone calls, emails sent).
The Credit Control Case screen provides a summary of the leaseholder’s financial position and allows the credit controller to quickly produce a leaseholder statement which can be sent to the leaseholder.
Through the Credit Control screen a first and second reminder letter can be produced for unpaid service charges and a first reminder letter can be produced for ground rents.
In addition, you can upload additional documents to the case.
To see the details of an individual case then click on the ‘View’ button next to the particular case you wish to look at from the Credit Control Case summary screen.
The following pop-up screen will then be displayed:
Each credit control case has a unique system created reference number which is displayed at the top of the case details pop-up screen along with the owner name, unit number and block name.
The following fields are displayed:
Amount Overdue – is the amount of either service charge (SC) or ground rent (GR) that remains unpaid after its due date (This amount excludes any current period demands for which the due date has not yet passed). NB: the overdue amount shown will automatically take account of any Unallocated Amount that has been received but not yet matched to the oldest invoice.
Total Unpaid – is the total amount that remains unpaid including amounts that are not yet overdue.
Unallocated Amount – is where receipts have been recorded against the unit but not yet matched to relevant invoices. It is good practice to allocate these amounts to make sure the case is up to date as that may have a bearing on how you wish to proceed with the case.
Last Updated – displays the date when the case was last updated
Next Action Date – displays the date when the case will require further action.
Case Status – displays the current status for the case.
For more details on the various Case Status types see 7.1.3 Case Status: https://support.blocksonline.co.uk/portal/en/kb/articles/case-status
Payment Plan – if an ‘Under Payment Plan’ case status has been selected then this field should display a monthly or quarterly amount to be paid by the unit owner.
If a receipt or receipts are recorded during the same calendar month which total or exceed the monthly or quarterly (if quarterly payment has been selected) amount in the ‘Payment Plan’ field when a Case has the status of ‘Under Payment Plan’ then the ‘Next Action Date’ is automatically updated to 6 weeks after the date of the most recent receipt.*see 7.1.4 Automatic Updating of Credit Control Cases for information why this is done: https://support.blocksonline.co.uk/portal/en/kb/articles/automatic-updating-of-credit-control-cases
In addition, if an ‘Under Payment Plan’ case status has been selected and no amount has been set in the ‘Payment Plan’ field then the ‘Next Action Date’ will not automatically update and a ‘warning symbol’ icon will be displayed which if hovered over will display a message stating that ‘this case is under payment plan but a monthly or quarterly amount has not been entered.’
First Reminder – this shows any credit control first reminder letters that have been produced, the Amount Chased, Date Issued, and Deadline Date for the owner to respond by. By clicking on ‘View Letter’ you can see a copy of the letter.
If no letter is shown you can click on ‘Produce Letter’ to create a first reminder letter and the Deadline Date defaults to 14 days after today’s date, although you can adjust this if you wish. Producing the letter automatically updates the ‘Next Action Date’ for the case.
Alternatively, if you are sending a customised letter to the leaseholder then you can upload a copy of the letter. In this scenario, you should update the Amount Chased, Date Issued and Deadline Date to reflect the information in the letter.
A message will pop-up to ask if the user wants to go to the Distribution Manager screen now to send out the letter by the appropriate method, if not they can close that pop-up message and complete the distribution action of the letter later.
Once created the letter can be viewed and printed. If necessary the letter can be deleted if you decide not to send it.
Second Reminder – this shows any credit control second reminder letters that have been produced, the Amount Chased, Date Issued, and Deadline Date for the owner to respond by. By clicking on ‘View Letter’ you can see a copy of the letter.
If no letter is shown you can click on ‘Produce Letter’ to create a second reminder letter and the Deadline Date defaults to 7 days after today’s date, although you can adjust this if you wish. Producing the letter automatically updates the ‘Next Action Date’ for the case.
Alternatively, if you are sending a customised letter to the leaseholder then you can upload a copy of the letter. In this scenario, you should update the Amount Chased, Date Issued and Deadline Date to reflect the information in the letter.
A message will pop-up to ask if the user wants to go to the Distribution Manager screen now to send out the letter by the appropriate method, if not they can close that pop-up message and complete the distribution action of the letter later.
Once created the letter can be viewed and printed. If necessary the letter can be deleted if you decide not to send it.
There is a ‘Leaseholder Statement’ button which can be clicked to display the complete leaseholder statement history for that unit.
Comment – the comment field is where relevant notes can be made by the user about the case, for example to capture information where they have spoken to the leaseholder.
In addition, as soon as the comment field is clicked on the ‘Next Action Date’ and Case Status’ fields will be displayed and the user can select a relevant ‘Next Action Date’ for the case to be reviewed again and also select a relevant ‘Case Status’ as well and click on the ‘Save’ button to update the case.
On the left hand side of the pop-up screen are menu options which will display with a blue background when selected:
Comments – this is the default menu displayed and will show all case updates taken, with date and time and which user took them since the case was created.
A ‘speech bubble’ icon next to the comment occurs when a user has entered text into the ‘Comments’ field and a ‘flag’ icon next to the comment shows any other case actions taken and what they were.
Unpaid Demands – this menu displays all unpaid demands for this unit, showing the invoice date, invoice due date, invoice number, invoice amount and amount outstanding PLUS an interest column which works in conjunction with the Calculate Interest button and if used will show the interest amount which could be chargeable (if applicable) on overdue demands and a Raise Demand button which when clicked will open up the Fee Collections in the relevant Block to enable the user to raise an Ad-Hoc demand to include an overdue interest amount plus any additional late payment administration fee.
For more details in relation to using the Calculate Interest function please see:7.1.7 Credit Control Settings
Receipt History – this menu shows the complete receipt history for the leaseholder.
Documents – this menu will show any additional documents that have been attached to the case. To add documents the user can either click on ‘Browse...’ and select a document from their local pc or server to then click on ‘Upload’ to save to the case or click on ‘Block Documents’ to select a document from the ‘Document Management’ menu in the relevant Block area.
Other Cases – this menu displays all other active or closed cases for this particular unit.
Clicking on the relevant ‘Case id’ number will open up that particular case detail screen and you will then see in the ‘Other Cases’ menu the following information:
There is a red number displayed and that indicates the active cases for that unit and as previously you can click on the relevant ‘Case id’ to display that particular case details screen.
Finally there is a ‘Login’ button on the bottom left of the pop-up screen which enables the user to login to the relevant Block where the Unit is located.
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