How to Reverse Posted Payments with Ease

Advantage allows you to reverse a check or credit card payment after it has been posted to a customer's account. The instances when you may want to use this feature are to back out a bad check or to correct a payment that was entered against the wrong customer.

ARPCGP Entry Defaults

The ARPCGP workspace contains the following control group defaults to support entry of credit reversals.

• Account Shortcut Code: if you enter a miscellaneous debit code here (set up at ARPTBL/GLD) this value will default into the miscellaneous debit dialog, if you enter a returned check fee.
• Credit Reason: if entered, this value defaults into the Credit Reason field for RC transactions at ARPCSH. Note that other ARPCSH transactions can include a credit reason code; this control group default is used for the RC function only. This can be used for automatic generation of a customer note when the RC function is performed.
• Bad Check: this can be used to default the Bad Check indicator to Y for the RC function. It could be used, for example, if you are entering an entire batch of bad checks. It is also used if you are trying to reverse a CC payment on a customer’s account.
• Prompt for bank fee: checking this box causes the debit entry dialog to automatically display during the RC function. It could be used, for example, if your organization routinely charges a fee for returned checks.

Setup of Credit Reason (Customer Service Reason)
for Automatic Note

Set up Credit Reasons that will generate a customer service note (and optional letter) at the SVCTBL/RSN view.

Note that the Advantage field for customer service reason codes is CNTC-RSN, while the Credit Reason field is CRD-RSN, with valid values set up at CDSVLU. To auto-generate a note through the RC function at ARPCSH, you must set up the customer service reason code record, and also a credit reason code record at CDSVLU, where the customer service reason code and the credit reason code are identical.

Note the following points for setting up customer service/credit reasons:

• The Reason Category must be blank.
• The Area must be ARP.
• The Text for Note may be filled in (or left blank). If filled in, this defaults as the text for the note, with any entry in the Comments field at ARPCSH (during the RC function) prefixed to this.
• Respond With may be used to link to an action code, to generate a customer service letter.

The note is automatically generated when the transaction is entered. If the transaction is deleted before posting, the note is deleted as well.

RC Function at ARPCSH

At the ARPCSH workspace, use the SPC - Search Posted Checks function and provide the customer number. ARP will display all of the payments that have been posted for the customer.

Enter RC (Reverse Credit/Bad Check) in the function field click on the payment you want to reverse, and press <ENTER>. ARP will ask for more information.

• Entry Date: The current date will default into this field. Press <TAB>.
• Bad Check?: This is a required field. Enter Y or N. Bad check information is recorded on the customer's credit record - displayed at the ARPCRD workspace.
• Comment: This is an area where you can record information that may be helpful if this reversal is investigated in the future. It is optional. Press <TAB>.
• Suspense Acct & Cash Ctl: These fields will be filled with the value from the control group. You can change them if you wish.
• Credit Reason: You can associate a reason code with the reversal. Valid codes are established at the CDSVLU workspace under keyword CRD-RSN. This is an optional field. Press <ENTER>.

If you are reversing a credit card payment, the system will ask you whether this reversal should credit the customer's charge card. A "Yes" answer will credit the customer's card. Also, make sure Bad Check is set to Y.

When the transaction is posted, the check will be shown as a "B" type of transaction at the ARP view of SVCDAT. The original check amount is displayed under the Amount column and the Remaining column will show zero.

Returned Check Fee

If you want to charge a customer a fee when a payment is reversed, you can do this at the time of the RC function. One method is to press the DBT button to enter the details for the debit memo as shown below. Another is to indicate "Prompt for bank fee" on the ARPCGP control group---which causes the system to automatically prompt for the fee payment.

Either method opens a dialog with the miscellaneous debit code defaulted in---if you have set up a default at ARPCGP.

The debit is created when the transaction is entered. If the transaction is deleted before posting, the debit is deleted as well.

When posted, this will create a debit memo (invoice) on the customer's account for the amount shown. That invoice can be picked up by your billing selections to send a notification to the customer.

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Molly Mathe is a super support analyst in the Advantage Support Center and The Molly Minute is a regular feature on the AdvantagePoint blog. Molly welcomes your comments, ideas or suggestions and may be reached at mmath@advantagecs.com.