Overview of Collections in Vantaca

Collections is Vantaca's term for the process of managing homeowner delinquency, covering everything from an initial friendly reminder notice through to foreclosure proceedings. Vantaca uses a Collections action item to define each step of your collections process, including the rules that determine how and when accounts advance. Each step can be configured to automatically generate collection letters, send templated emails, turn accounts over to a collections attorney, and more.

This article explains how Collections works, describes the available settings, covers the Balance Settled process, and describes how to preview and roll back collection runs.

Note: The Collections process and the late fee process run independently. Delinquent fee and interest rules are configured under Association > Assessments and have no effect on when collection activity is created or how it advances.

Contents

• Before You Start
• Collections Settings
• Charge Exclusions
• How Collections Work
• Balance Settled
• Preview and Rollback

Before You Start

Role Security: Verify you have the correct Collections permissions under Settings > Roles:

• Collections > View: Required to view collection action items.
• Collections > Add/Edit: Required to step, edit, or manage collection action items.
• Collections > Delete: Required to run rollbacks or access Collections Preview in Mailroom.

Collections Settings

Navigate to Association > Settings, Collections section.

Note: Enabling or disabling Collections for an association is typically done by your SCC. Contact your SCC before changing the Active setting.

• Active: Toggle Collections on or off for the association. If you select the Model association, toggling Active turns Collections on or off for all associations that follow the Model association’s settings. Any changes made to the Model association apply to all associations using that model.
• Collection Model: Select which Collections action item the association uses. This allows you to assign different collection models to associations with different processes. For example, an association that sends three notices before a lien uses a different model than one that sends two.
• Processing Days: Select whether the Collections process runs on weekdays only or every day of the week.
• Minimum Balance: The minimum balance an owner must owe before a collection action item is created.
• Age of Balance (Days): The minimum number of days a balance must be outstanding before a collection action item is created. Factor in a 2-day processing buffer when calculating your target start day. For details, see the "Collections: Troubleshooting" article.

Charge Exclusions

Individual charge types can be flagged to exclude them from the balance calculations that determine collection eligibility. The following exclusion options are available on each charge type record:

• Exclude from Collections: Charges of this type are not counted in the owner’s balance when Vantaca evaluates whether to create or advance a collection action item.
• Exclude from Balance Threshold: Charges of this type are excluded when Vantaca evaluates the Balance Threshold decision criterion.
• Exclude from Lien Threshold: Charges of this type are excluded when Vantaca evaluates the Lien Threshold decision criterion.

How Collections Work

Vantaca uses a Collections action item to define each step of your collections process. Each step can be configured to automatically generate collection letters, send templated emails, turn accounts over to a collections attorney, and more. Configure step rules under Settings > Action Types/Steps > Rules. For more information, see the "Action Type Rules" article.

Creating Collection Action Items

When the Collections process runs and an owner account meets both the Minimum Balance and Age of Balance requirements, Vantaca creates a collection action item in the first step of the configured collection model. Any communications configured for that first step, such as a zero balance statement or a first notice letter, send automatically.

Note: New owners and new associations may be subject to a grace period before the Collections process begins scanning their accounts. Contact your SCC for details on grace period configuration.

Advancing Through Steps

After a collection action item is created, the rules of the current step control how and when it advances. Each step is configured with the following settings under Settings > Action Types/Steps > Rules:

• Days to Remain at this Step: The number of days the action item stays at the current step before Vantaca evaluates whether to advance it.
• Decision Required: The criteria Vantaca uses to determine how the action item advances:
  • Balance > Threshold: If the owner’s balance exceeds the Balance Threshold, the action item advances to the step defined in Next Step if Yes. If not, it advances to the step in Next Step if No.
  • Balance > Lien Threshold: Works the same way as Balance > Threshold, using the Lien Threshold value instead.
  • Management Decision: A team member must manually review the account and choose the next step.
  • No Decision Required: The action item advances automatically after the defined number of days.

Collections Hold

Individual action item steps can be configured with a Collections Hold. When an owner’s collection action item is at a step with Collections Hold enabled, the Collections process skips that owner’s account: it does not create new collection action items or advance existing ones for that account until the hold is lifted.

Collections Hold is configured per step under Settings > Action Types/Steps > Rules.

Board Member Collections Tab

The Board Member Collections tab in the Home portal only shows action items that have reached a step configured with a Board Decision type. Action items at steps where Decision Required is set to Balance > Threshold or Balance > Lien Threshold do not appear in this tab, because those steps are automated balance evaluations, not board approval requests.

Balance Settled

The nightly Collections process checks every owner with an open collection action item. If the owner’s balance falls below either the Minimum Balance or the Age of Balance (Days) value configured under Association > Settings > Rules, Vantaca moves the collection action item to the Balance Settled closing step and removes the account from collections.

Notes:

• Because Balance Settled runs automatically, you do not need to manually step a collection item to Balance Settled as long as the Collections process is active.
• If you manually step a collection item to Balance Settled while the owner still meets the minimum requirements to remain in collections, the Collections process will open a new collection action item in the first step the next time it runs.
• One step in your collection action item must have the Balance Settled additional action attached. If no step has Balance Settled attached, or if more than one step does, Vantaca generates an Action Item Configuration Error.

Preview and Rollback

Mailroom includes tools to preview what the Collections process will generate before it runs, and to reverse a completed collection run if needed.

Preview Collections

Navigate to Mailroom > Collections Preview to see which accounts will receive new collection action items and which open items will advance to the next step the next time Collections processes. Use this to review proposed changes before they take effect.

Note: Generating a preview for all associations runs as an overnight job. You can also generate a preview for a single association at any time.

Rollback Collections

Navigate to Mailroom > Collections History to view a log of past collection runs by date range. Each entry shows the run date, the number of letters generated, and the total fees charged.

To reverse a run, select the date and use the rollback option. A rollback reverses the following for the selected run date:

• Newly created collection action items are deactivated.
• Action items that were stepped forward are returned to their previous step.
• Collection fees posted to owner ledgers are reversed.