Resolve a Fine at Renewal

If your library charges fines for overdues, Polaris automatically calculates the fine amount. When you attempt to renew an overdue item at the Check Out workform or the Patron Status workform - Items Out view, a message indicates that the patron owes a fine for the item. You need permission to renew overdue items to renew the items and resolve the charge. If your library charges for renewals and overdues, see Renew Overdue Items - Resolve Fines and Renewal Charges.

To pay, waive, or charge a fine when you renew an overdue item:

Important:
If your library uses Active Payment Manager (Class Point of Sale) to manage payments, you cannot pay a fine from the Check Out workform or the Patron Status workform - Items out view. Instead, you must charge the fine to the patron’s account, then pay it from the Patron Status workform - Account view.

  1. Renew an overdue item from the Check Out workform (see Check out an item) or the Patron Status workform - Items Out view (see Renew items from the Patron Status workform). The Overdue Fine dialog box appears.

Note:
If your library automatically waives overdue fines at renewal, the Overdue Fine dialog box does not appear. However, an auto-waive transaction line item appears in the patron’s account in the Transaction Summary dialog box. See Display completed account transactions.

Tip:
To cancel the renewal, click Cancel.

  1. If you want to pay the fine and allow the renewal, follow these steps:
    1. Click Pay. The Pay dialog box appears.
    2. Type the amount to pay in the Amount box (maximum $2,000,000.00), if you are paying an amount other than the exact amount of the fine:
  • Partial payment (less than the fine) - The payment will be recorded as a partial payment on the fine, and the Account Transaction list in the patron’s record will show a balance for the charge. See Pay charges from the Account view.
  • Overpayment (more than the fine) - If your library allows overpayments to be recorded as account credits, a dialog box appears that alerts you to the overpayment and provides the choice of crediting the account or not. Click Yes to credit the patron’s account. Click No to pay the charge without recording a credit. (Click Cancel if you entered the wrong amount.)

    If your library does not allow overpayments to be recorded as credits, a message indicates how much change you should give the patron. Click OK on the message box.
  1. Select a payment method in the Method box, and click OK.

Note:
If your library accepts credit card payments, and the patron wants to pay with a credit card, select Credit card in the method box. For more information about taking credit card payments, see Take credit card payments for fines and fees - PayPal Payflow Pro or Take payments for fines and fees - Comprise SmartPAY

A record of the charge and payment appears in the Transaction Summary dialog box for the patron account. If the fine was only partially paid, or if an overpayment was credited, the transactions appear in the Account Transaction list for the patron account. See Viewing Patron Financial Accounts and Processing Charges and Payments.

  1. If you want to waive the fine and allow the renewal, click Waive. The dialog box closes. A record of the waiver appears in the Transaction Summary dialog box for the patron account.
  2. If you want to charge the fine to the patron’s account and allow the renewal, click Charge Account. The charge appears on the Patron Status workform - Account view. To resolve the charge later, you must pay or waive the fine from the Account view. See Pay charges from the Account view.

If you set Polaris for fine receipt printing at this workform, a fine receipt prints (see Setting Up Receipt Printing from Workforms).

Note:
Your library may suppress fine receipts for waive transactions.