Customer Mailing List Letters

To access this feature go into the customers area of CAPITAL and select from the customer menu Tools|Letter Runs.

This function can be used to produce debt collection letters and general notifications to customers.

It can also be used to place accounts that are overdue automatically on hold.

Category

Enter the customer category if applicable.

Account Code

Enter the account code or click on to select from the list that you wish to print the form for. Leave blank to include all applicable accounts.

From Date

This defaults to the current day. It is the date that account balances, and therefore "lateness", should be calculated from.

Include Not Dues

Select to include all transactions with money owing, not just those overdue for payment, on the print-out, if your overdue letter form incorporates a transaction list. (The transaction list is the section of the letter that shows all transactions relating to the customer in summary form. Transaction lists are optional as they can be added to or removed from your letters by editing your forms inside Visual Builder.)

If this option is not selected, only transactions prior to the current period will be included on the transaction list.

All Accounts

Select to include all accounts, even those with zero balances (no money owing). This can be useful if you wish to print a general notification, i.e., a change of address letter, rather than a debt collection letter.

In other words, if All Accounts is ticked the account may be included in the print run even if the amount owed is zero or less.

Skip Held Accounts

Select to skip printing overdue or notification letters for accounts that have already been placed on hold.

Accounts that are not yet on hold, but will be placed on hold by this procedure will still be printed an overdue letter.

Overdues On Hold

Select if you wish to automatically place all accounts that are overdue on hold.

Be careful that you allow reasonable overdue terms.

Customers Letters

By default, CAPITAL will not print letters for those accounts where you have indicated that the account is not to receive letters. (This is the Customer letter setting on the customer accounts screen.) You can override this default setting by unticking this option. CAPITAL will then ignore the state of this setting for all accounts when deciding whether to include them in the print run or not.

If you will be printing letters for central billing (head office) accounts then it is unlikely that you will need or want to print a separate statement for each sub account. In these cases set the Customer Letter field ticked for each head office account and unticked for each associated sub account.

Limit To Terms

Enter the terms to print, i.e., "30" for 30 day accounts, or leave set to zero to print all terms. (You cannot therefore only print C.O.D. accounts).

Current Period

Enter the amount this account must be over by in this period. For example, if you specify "1000" then the account must owe you $1,000 dollars or more in order for the letter to be printed. By default, CAPITAL includes a very high number here as overdue letters are generally not printed for the current period.

Period 1

(Or actual terms). Enter the amount this account must be over by in this period.

Period 2

(Or actual terms). Enter the amount this account must be over by in this period.

Period 3 or Over

(Or actual terms). Enter the amount this account must be over by, in this period and over. For example, if you entered $100 here, CAPITAL would only print a form letter on condition that the account owed you $100 or more, and this amount was in the 3rd ageing period or earlier.

CAPITAL will print the letter if any of the above period conditions are true. That is, if you specify $100 in period 2 and $50 in period 3 or over, then CAPITAL will print a form letter if your customer owes you $100.00 or more in period 2 or $50 or more in period 3 or older.

Minimum Balance

Enter the minimum balance to print a letter for. If zero is specified all accounts (except negative balances) will be included on the print run. If 10 is entered, for example, then only accounts with an overdue balance exceeding $10 will be included.

If you have ticked Overdues on Hold then accounts will not be placed on hold unless they have more overdue than this minimum balance.

After you press the Process button a Select Form box will appear. If you need to select a different form do this by clicking on the letter you require.

For information on creating your own form letters consult the topic in the Visual Builder Help file.

Hints & Tips

Central Billing Accounts. Remember that this facility can be used to print general letters in addition to debt collection letters! If you will be using the system for debt collection, untick the Customer Letters facility in Customer Accounts for each one of your sub-accounts. Then the debt notification will only go to the central billing/head office account.
If you need to do both--i.e., send general notifications and debt collection letters, you should consider dividing your customers into different categories and selectively printing letters according to the category code you specify.

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