Transaction Service Charge Configuration - Fees and Waivers

Description

This is the unique identifier for this service charge.  A monthly fee will be charged for running this service charge.  This is populated by the system.

(Input capable when adding or copying a new service charge)  

When adding a new service charge, use the lookup to access a screen where you select an application type of SH (Share/savings products),  IR (IRA share products), SD (Share draft/checking products), TX (Tax/escrow share products), CD (Certificate Products), LN (Closed-end loan products) or OC (Open-end loan products).  Only one can be selected.

On existing service charges, this will be view only.

(Input capable when adding a new service charge)

When adding a new service charge, once an Application Type is selected, use the Select button to access a screen where you select the Dividend Type/CD Type or loan category (based on the Application Type selected). Multiple products can be selected by holding down the Ctrl key while making a selection.  No selection indicates that all are selected.

The transactions of accounts of these products will be used to determine if a fee is charged.

(See Important Notes section above.)

Fee Details

Use this tab to configure the details of the fee.

Enter a description to be used for the member fee (or rebate) transaction.

Enter the amount of the service charge (or rebate; see Transaction Type below). This field has two decimal positions; enter 15 for 15 cents, or 100 for $1.00.

Enter the general ledger account number to be used for the total fee amounts generated by this service charge posting.

• Remember that if this is a rebate (see Transaction Type below) the funds will be debited from this G/L and credited to member accounts.

Use this to indicate from which account the fee itself should be taken. If checked, the fee will be pulled from this DIVAPL. If left unchecked, use the If not, charge Div Appl field below to charge the fee to a different dividend application (such as your base share DIVAPL).

If Charge Same Account is unchecked, enter a valid DIVAPL code to indicate from which account the fee should be taken. The most common is SH for the base share DIVAPL, since all members are required to have at least that one account type.

These fields can be used if you want the posting program to look for the fee in other accounts, should the normal fee account (either this account or the account specified in the If not, charge Div Appl field) not have sufficient funds. The system will first look for accounts with Dividend Application 1, then 2, then 3 and will pull the entire fee from the first account found that has sufficient funds.

The fee will be charged only if the entire fee amount can be found in a single account (the program cannot pull portions of the fee from multiple accounts).

• NOTE: This feature has not been used extensively and therefore should be tested thoroughly before implementation.

Use this to indicate whether accounts opened during the month should be included in that month's service charge posting. If unchecked, the system will waive that month's fee and begin charging the service charge the following month.

• Generally, for a minimum balance fee the flag should be unchecked since new members begin with $0.00.

Check this if you wish to allow the fee to be charged even if it will take an account below its Available Balance.

Available Balance is calculated as Current Balance minus Secured Funds minus Uncollected Funds. For the base share account (suffix -000), Par Value is also subtracted.

Leave it unchecked to honor secured and uncollected funds on the account. The fee will be charged only if the Available Balance on the account is high enough to cover the fee.  

• NOTE: You can also elect to check Allow fee to take account balance negative and Post partial fee.  See descriptions below.)

In either case, if the fee cannot be charged, the account will appear on the monthly service charge fee exception report and should be handled manually.

• NOTE: The service charge posting program will always obey any freeze indicator on an account, unless "Post fee to frozen accounts" is selected.

Check this box to indicate that a fee should be charged, even if the account has a freeze indicator that does not allow disbursements.

Use this to indicate how the system should handle the fee if the account has insufficient funds to cover the fee amount.

Check the box if the system should take the account balance negative in order to charge the fee. These accounts can be monitored using the Work Collections feature.

Leave the box unchecked if the fee should not be charged when funds are not available. The account will listed on the monthly service charge exception report and must be handled manually. 

• NOTE: The service charge posting program will always obey any freeze indicator on an account, unless Post fee to frozen accounts is selected.

• NOTE:  You can also elect to charge a partial fee.  See Post partial fee below.

This allows a credit union to set up a fee that will take the member’s entire account balance down to the available balance of $0, depending on the selections above.  This allows you to post a partial fee if the full fee amount is not available within the constraints of the selections above.   

• NOTE If sales tax is charged, the system will be smart enough to charge the correct amount and tax to stay within the account balance constraints.

This allows the credit union to fee even if it brings the account over their available credit limit.  Check to allow the fee to bring the account over the disbursement  limit.  (This applies to OC - MEMBER6 loans only.)

(Defaults to unchecked)  Uncheck if you wish to leave this account in dormancy status when the fee is charged.

Enter the minimum balance the program should use to determine whether or not the fee should be charged. (Enter dollars and cents.) If the member's monthly minimum balance falls below this amount, the fee will be charged.

• NOTE:  This configuration does not reference a member's average daily balance.  It is evaluating the balance amount at all times.

• HINT: There are two fields in MEMBER1 and MEMBER2, MEMBER3 and MEMBER4 files:  MINBAL and MMBAL. MMBAL is the field used here. (MINBAL is used by the Min Bal to Earn feature in DIVAPL configuration.)

• This feature allows you to charge the fee only for members who do not maintain a certain balance in the account. (Depending on your situation, this could also be accomplished using the normal Minimum Balance Service Charge feature.)

For example, you may wish to charge a “check clearing” transaction fee for members who do not maintain at least a $200 minimum balance in the checking account.

Use this field to check the member's Current Balance as of the time of the fee posting to determine whether or not the fee should be charged. (Enter dollars and cents.)

If the member has at least this amount in the account when service charges are being posted, the fee will not be charged.

Check this checkbox if this fee should be charged for every occurrence of the defined transactions. Leave the checkbox unchecked if the fee should be charged once if any of the defined transactions occur during the month, no matter how many times.

Select either one fee per occurrence or one fee per month. If one fee per occurrence is selected then select the number of free items per month (or day) in the following field.  (If one fee per month is selected, then "N/A" must be selected for the number of free items,

(Required only if Occurrence Charge is checked.) Use this field to define whether the number of free items should be counted per day or per month.

• For example, if this fee is charged after a member makes more than 6 withdrawals in a month, choose Month here and the member will be granted only 6 free items for the entire month.

This must be the same as the frequency from the program number configuration (EOD or EOM). (In other words, if you charge the fee on a monthly basis, you can offer a certain number of free items per month, not per day, and vice versa.)

Choose one of the following to indicate how the fee should be posted to the member's account:

Debit - This is a standard fee; the money will be withdrawn from the member's account.

Credit - This is a rebate; the money will be deposited into the member’s account.

Use this to define the maximum fee that can be charged to the member in a single fee transaction.

This field can be used to avoid charging fees for high dollar transactions by setting a minimum transaction amount. Any transactions greater than or equal to this amount will be ignored when calculating the overall service charge (including when counting free item.

• For example, if you charge a service charge for withdrawals, this setting would let you discourage members from making frequent small withdrawals (at higher cost to the CU) in favor of larger withdrawals, made less frequently.

Relationship Waivers

Use this section to define relationship waivers.

This refers to the fee waivers that can be configured in Marketing Club configuration (Fee Waivers and Benefits). If checked, the fee waivers configured there will be used when determining if a member is eligible for fees. If unchecked, the fee will be charged regardless of Marketing Club status.

• For details on setting up these fees waivers, refer to the CU*BASE Marketing Clubs booklet.

Use the Select button to reveal a screen.  Here select a membership designation, or hold down the Ctrl key to select multiple items from this listing, then use Select to return to the previous screen.  

The fee is waived for members with these membership designations.

• Learn more about Membership Designations.

Place a checkmark in one or more of the Application Type codes listed. If the member has at least one of any of these accounts, the fee will be waived.

• NOTE: The original account will not be counted towards the exclusion.

If you wish to waive the fee for members who have certain types of accounts or cards, place a check mark in one or more of these fields.

• ATM card - Waiver for ATM card. For online ATM card, card must be in active status (not, for example hot carded) for fee to be waived.  For Off Trial Balance (OTB) ATM card, waives if a card is present, regardless of status.

• Debit card - Waiver for debit card. For online debit card, card must be in active status (not, for example hot carded) for fee to be waived.  For Off Trial Balance (OTB) debit card, waives if a card is present, regardless of status.

• Credit card - Waiver of fee for credit cards.  For online credit card, the loan must have a Process Type of V (credit card) with a status of Active (A) and not be written off (WRTOFF of 0) for fee to be waived.  For Off Trial Balance (OTB) credit card, waives if a card is present, regardless of status or balance.

• OTB savings acct - Waives fee if member has Off Trial Balance (OTB) savings account, regardless of status or balance.

• OTB loan acct - Waives fee if member has Off Trial Balance (OTB) loan account, regardless of status or balance. 

• SEE ALSO: Tracking "Off Trial Balance" (OTB) Products with CU*BASE

Check this box to waive the fee for any members that are currently enrolled in eStatements.

Use these fields to waive the service charge based on the member's age. Enter both a low and a high age. Only members whose age falls within this range as of the end of the month will be charged. Members younger than the low age or older than the high age will be exempt from the service charge.

• For example, if you want to waive the fee for children age 18 and under, enter 19 here. Anyone age 19 and older will be charged. If you want to waive the fee for seniors age 55 and older, enter 54 here. Anyone age 55 and older will be waived.

• If you want there to be no minimum age, leave the low age field blank.

Aggregate Balance Waivers

Use this section to waive the service charge based on a member's balances in other accounts. You may waive using a separate balance for shares and/or loans, or create a combined waiver that looks at both share and loan accounts for a combined aggregate total.

• This can be used to prevent penalizing a participating member for taking an account below the minimum when other account balances are still high

• Use either separate aggregate share and/or loan balance features, or the combined feature, not all three. For example, if you wish to waive any members who have at least $500 in their share accounts, or owe at least $1,000 in outstanding loans, you would use the separate aggregate share and loan balance features. If you wish to waive any members who have at least $750 in any combination of shares or loans, use the combined aggregate balance feature instead.

• CU*TIP: Fees that are waived because of these parameters will be recorded in the Fee Waiver Information file (FWHIST) and can be viewed using the Fee Waiver Information Report.

To waive the service charge according to the total balance in all of the member's share accounts, use this field to enter the total aggregate balance to be used for the exemption. If the total of all share account types marked under Include equals or exceeds this amount at the end of the month, the member will not be charged the fee.

Place a check in one or more of the Application Type codes listed to be used for the exemption. Balances in each of these account types will be added together at the end of the month and compared to the Aggregate Share Balance amount to determine if the member should be charged the fee.

• NOTE: Leave these fields blank if you wish to use Waive if combined aggregate balance is equal to or overto combine the balances in both share and loan accounts for the exemption.

To waive the service charge according to the total balance in all of the member's loan accounts, use this field to enter the total aggregate balance to be used for the exemption. If the total of all loan account types marked under Include equals or exceeds this amount at the end of the month, the member will not be charged the fee.

Place a checkmark in one or both of the loan Application Type codes listed to be used for the exemption. Balances in each of these account types will be added together at the end of the month and compared to the Aggregate Loan Balance amount to determine if the member should be charged the fee.

• NOTE: Leave these fields blank if you wish to use Waive if combined aggregate balance is equal to or over to combine the balances in both share and loan accounts for the exemption.

To waive fees according to the total balance in any combination of member accounts (loans and shares combined), use this field to enter the total aggregate balance to be used for the exemption. If the total of all account types marked under Include equals or exceeds this amount at the end of the month, the member will not be charged the fee.

Place a check in one or more of the Application Type codes listed to be used for the exemption. Balances in each of these account types will be added together at the end of the month and compared to the Combined Aggr Bal amount to determine if the member should be charged the fee.

• NOTE: Leave these fields blank if you are using either or both of the Waive if aggregate share (or loan) balance is equal to or over fields.