Loan Servicing Supplements

If you are required to prepare 1098’s for your borrowers, this supplement can make the process easier and faster. The program reviews all loan activity identifies which activities fall within a calendar year, and totals the interest portion of appropriate repayments for 1098 reporting. You can print 1098’s for all the
loans in your portfolio, or be as specific as necessary. The supplement prepares a report prior to printing the 1098 forms, allowing you to review the accuracy of the data prior to actually printing on IRS forms. There is also an option to prepare a file to be sent electronically.

Even if you don’t send IRS form 1098 to your borrowers, you can use the report feature of this supplement to document total interest paid within a calendar year. This information can then be communicated to the client without actually printing IRS forms.

This supplement is designed to produce monthly invoices to be forwarded to your borrowers. Invoicing is routinely done once a month for each loan. If you have loan payments all due on the same day of the month, a simple monthly routine utilizing this supplement will result in printed invoices with up-to-date information. If your loans are due on different days of the month, the program can be run more than once a month. The process hinges on the field “payment dates” in the Loan Master file, which holds the day of the month when the payment is due. Invoices can be run for loans due on the 1st and then again for loans that are due on the 15th. Invoicing batches are identified by the due date along with the invoicing cutoff date.

Operating in a manner similar to credit card invoicing, the amount due from the last invoice is shown, as well as any payments received, and a revised amount due which includes the next scheduled payment. The invoice also shows the beginning loan balance, any activity recorded since the last invoice, as well as the loan balance as it is now.

There are several ways to review a complete loan history in RLSS software. However, the reporting requirements of funders may require reports showing activity within a given date range. This could be an issue when submitting quarterly, semi-annual, or even annual reports. It is also likely an issue during an annual audit. This supplement allows entry of a specific date range, producing a report that reflects loan activity within that range. Selection criterion allows you to limit the loans which will appear on the report, especially helpful if reporting to a specific funder. Reports can be in Detail (each activity within the selected date range itemized) or Summary (reflecting totals only for each selected loan).

Do you need to prepare an annual escrow analysis for your clients to determine if you need to increase or decrease their monthly payment amount for the upcoming year? The Escrow Analysis is designed to compute loan escrow amounts, print an escrow analysis for mailing to loan recipients, and automatically change the payment and escrow amounts in the Loan Master upon posting.

Up to five individual escrow items per loan may be specified. The required escrow amount to be withheld from each repayment is computed by taking the total amount to be paid, frequency of payment, and number of months since the last payment. In addition, it calculates what the required escrow balance needs to be as of the effective date and includes 1/12th of this overage/shortage in the escrow amount for the upcoming year so that you will have enough on hand as escrow payouts become due. You may select to Post this escrow calculation to the Loan Master, updating both the Payment including Service Fee & Escrow and the Escrow 1 Amount. The Escrow Analysis can be saved for later retrieval, editing and/or posting.

This supplement is only available to clients using both GMS Accounting and Financial Management System and GMS Revolving Loan Servicing System. It allows the cash receipts batch entered into accounting to be pulled into the RLSS system for posting loan payments without duplicate data entry. Additionally, it allows the voucher batch to be pulled in for posting of disbursements.

Some setup is initially required: 1) borrowers are entered into the accounting program as customers or vendors, and 2) each of those customers/vendors identified as a borrower is attached to a loan ID number within the RLSS system. When the batch is posted in RLSS, the user will determine the activity period, thus ensuring the disbursements and repayments are reflected on the Monthly Activity Report for the chosen period.

It is recommended that the loan payments and disbursements are entered into a separate cash receipt or voucher batch in the accounting system. However, if mixed revenue or disbursements are included in the same batch, they can be eliminated from the posting once the batch is in RLSS. Also, separation of duties is often a part of internal control and accounting procedures, and this supplement may impact that procedure. You may want to discuss it with your comptroller or auditor prior to ordering the supplement.

It is nearly impossible to manage a loan portfolio without needing to eventually write-off bad debts. Some funders require loans be written-off once they reach a
specified level of delinquency, sometimes 90 days, 120 days, or another trigger point. Although loans may be written-off at any time, it becomes especially important at the end of a fiscal year. If outstanding loan balances are included in the financials as an asset account (Notes Receivable), the accuracy of year-end reports may depend on clearing bad debts.

Write-off Analysis allows you to enter a cutoff date, which creates a report that reflects loan activity through the specified cutoff date. Users then enter the range of write-off dates to be included on the report, which is especially helpful for year-end reports. The report offers the standard RLSS report selection criteria, allowing you to print for a specific fund should your funders request this information. A report reflecting your agency’s total portfolio may be prepared by not limiting selection criteria when creating the report.

Managers, administrators and funders often ask for a report showing the condition of the lending portfolio in total. This supplement provides an easy-to-read report that reflects loans that are current, those delinquent 1-30 days, 31-60, 61-90 days, and so forth. The report shows the number of loans falling within each category, along with the loan balances for those loans. A calculation is provided indicating the percentage of the total portfolio for each category.

The validity of the report depends on accurate “next payment due” dates being recorded when loan activity is posted, as well as the loan’s status as recorded in the Loan Master file. There are specific categories on the report for loans with the status of delinquent, default, and write-off. The report will recognize the status of the loan as it is when the report is generated.

Sometimes the best way to ensure prompt payment with high-risk lending is to automatically withdraw funds from your borrower’s bank account. Supplement #816 Direct Deposit can assist with this process.

There are a few issues to be explored when considering this supplement. First of all, check with your bank and make certain their policies and procedures conform to your needs. For example, you will want notification from your bank when funds are transferred. Experience has shown that some banks only reflect the transfer on the end-of-month bank statement. This is usually not an acceptable timeframe, because you want to know the funds were transferred when the payment was due. Second, you need authorization from your borrowers to access their bank accounts. Check your closing documents and see if this is allowed, and if not, consider a mailing informing borrowers of your plans to begin using the supplement. Your bank can provide you with authorization forms to be completed by your borrowers, which will allow access to their account. As usual, we recommend you check with your auditor or legal advisor prior to instituting any new practices within your lending program.

This supplement will allow you to identify which loans are to be accessed, when the transfer is to take place, and the amount of the payment, or funds, to be transferred into your account. It will create a file that can be submitted to your bank detailing the transfer specifics. Loan Activity is processed for payments transferred, a report may be prepared detailing the transfer, and Loan Acknowledgement forms are available for printing. Any transfers will appear on the Monthly Activity Report with a notation that it was processed via Direct Deposit and the date of the transfer.

A frequent issue with non-profit lending is How much money do we have to lend? Combining lending activity tracked automatically within the RLSS software and a bit of optional data related to revenue and expense, this supplement will produce a Revenue and Expense report to assist in fund monitoring.

Not only does it produce a fund balance available for lending, but revenues and expenses are reported by current month, fiscal year-to-date, and cumulated totals. The user determines the fiscal year, inputs pertinent revenue and expenses (beyond loan disbursements and repayments) and selects an ending date. Because the user controls cutoff date and fiscal year, the report will provide timely information to assist with lending plans. It may also be helpful when reconciling lending records with your accounting system. Each loan fund can be set up to create reports specific to that fund. Reports can then be created for each specific fund, or the total lending portfolio. As new sources of revenue are found, they are easily added to the report. The process of entering miscellaneous expenses is just as easy. If accurate data is maintained, this report can provide loan counselors and managers with details of a fund’s activity from its inception. It can also be a valuable tool during audits.

If your agency is subject to an annual audit, you are likely required to send letters to your borrowers confirming their loan balance as of the end of the fiscal year. Supplement #825 Confirmation Letters is designed as a tool to assist with this task.

This supplement produces letters for mailing to your borrowers, specifying the loan balance as of a cutoff date. An option is available to also include loan closing date, loan amount, maturity date, payment amount and frequency, and interest rate. Opportunity is given for the borrower to indicate their agreement or
disagreement with the loan balance. You can include all loans, or select by loan fund, loan number, status, or even optional field. Confirmation Letters setup allows you to enter the auditor’s name and address, as well as who will be signing the letters and their title. The export feature allows you to use word processing to format as desired, which might include printing on letterhead.

This supplement will produce five-year cash flow projections related to your loan portfolio. It can be used to project total amount to be repaid, principal to be repaid, interest to be paid, and loan balances. Additionally, criteria may include specific loan fund, county, city, status, loan officer, loan type, or borrower type. If the information is only needed for a specific loan, that report may be produced by using the loan ID number as selection criteria.

The accuracy of the report is dependent upon accurate information within the Loan Master file, including interest rate, payment amount, and payment frequency. An amortization schedule is run using that data, along with the current loan balance, to project cash flow based on the assumption of timely payments. Although the report is usually run with a month-end or year-end cutoff date, it can be run as often as desired. Predicting cash flow can assist with future lending plans as well as expected interest income.

Red Flag provides a quick and easy way to determine if a loan is delinquent, or needs attention for other reasons. This supplement alerts the user that the loan is “flagged” by posting a red statement listing the reason at the bottom of the data entry screen in both Loan Master files and Loan Activity for any loans meeting the setup criteria. Any user with access to those programming features, whether full access or view only, can quickly see the loan needs attention. Loans may be flagged in a variety of situations:

All loans are flagged automatically when they become delinquent;
All loans within a selected fund(s) are flagged (useful if annual reports are due from those borrowers);
All loans are flagged that contain a yes in an optional field created for that purpose (useful for situations where a one-time alert is needed, for example, time to renegotiate the interest rate);
Loans are identified and flagged one by one using the loan ID number:
Loans within a particular status(es) are flagged.

Red Flag is accessed through the Supplement Menu, and any of the above 5 choices can be used to flag the loan. If option 1 is chosen, once the loan is no longer delinquent, the flag will cease. If options 2, 3, 4 or 5 are chosen, “clear selections” icon must be used to reset the loans.

This supplement was designed in accordance with the specifications provided by the Associated Credit Bureau (ACB). It will create a data file that can be forwarded to the credit bureau. Although there are four national credit reporting organizations (Trans Union, Equifax, Innovis and Experian), credit bureaus are operated independently, and reporting requirements vary from one to another. For example, some credit bureaus will not accept an electronic file unless you are reporting on 500 or more loans. For this reason, we strongly recommend you contact your local credit bureau for guidance before purchasing and installing this supplement.

Metro Status Code II guidelines are used in this supplement. The program will retrieve information from Loan Master files and loan histories, and automatically assign a status code based on the payment history with special attention to the loan balance and a next due date. However, an optional field may be used to override the automatic status code. Additional optional reporting codes may be included in the data file and relate to Special Comments, Compliance Condition, Consumer Transaction Type, and ECOA codes. The borrower’s date of birth may also be included. Should you desire to use any optional reporting codes, please request a listing of codes from your credit bureau. A booklet including all optional codes is also available for purchase from the ACB.

Designed to assist with the semi-annual reporting requirements of EDA, this supplement moves data from the RLSS database into an Excel report template creating a worksheet for data entry to the EDA website. Information from the Loan Master files related to loan status, job creation, usage of funds, and loan type are utilized, along with Loan Activity records to determine dollars associated with EDA loans. The Excel format allows editing of data as you see fit.

This supplement does require you have Microsoft Excel 2007 or higher installed and basic Excel skills.

This new supplement will create two different Excel spreadsheets. First, select your Loan Fund(s) and then select the From and To dates. The first worksheet includes all Repayments received within the specified timeframe and will list the Loan #, Loan Name, Activity Date, Repayment Amount, and Totals for number of clients and Repayment Amounts. The second worksheet will list all loans that are not included in the first worksheet that have Conversations for the selected timeframe. This worksheet will list Loan #, Loan Name, Conversation Date, Conversation and if the loan has a $0 balance that will be noted and will total the number of clients on the report. Colorado clients reporting to the Colorado Division of Housing will find these worksheets meet their reporting backup documentation needs.​