Managing Patrons Accounts in Collection
Your library may use a collection agency to encourage patrons to pay their fines or return borrowed items. Some collection agencies, such as Unique Management Services (UMS), manage all collection communications with patrons who have delinquent accounts. However, patrons in collection with UMS make all payments on their accounts directly to the library. For other collection agencies, the library may send a fine notice to the patron warning that the account will be turned over to collection in a specified period if the account is not cleared. Patrons may make payments on their accounts to the collection agency as well as the library.
When a patron owes an amount of money over a library-defined limit, and money has been owed longer than a library-defined period of time, the patron account goes into collection. This triggers the following events in Polaris:
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Polaris generates two reports in overnight batch processing and transmits them to the collection agency. The Submission report submits the delinquent patron information to the collection agency. The Update report contains the patron records already in collection which have had any activity (payment, waiver, or new charge) at the reporting organization since the last Submission or Update report was run.
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Polaris adds a collection fee, if specified, and a collection block to the patron record. The block appears at check-out and renewal in the staff client, the PAC, Polaris ExpressCheck, and SIP self-check. Polaris removes the block when the patron pays all the money that is owed to reporting organizations.
Patron accounts are reported to the collection agency for the amounts owed at reporting libraries only, not at libraries that do not use the collection agency function. The accounts remain in collection until the patrons have paid off the amount at each reporting library. Amounts due may include charges of all types, replacement costs, processing fees, and collection fees.
Excluding or Including Patrons
You can prevent a particular patron from being reported to the collection agency. Select the Exclude from collection agency checkbox on the Patron Registration workform - General view. See Add general data to a patron record. Through Polaris Administration, a particular patron who would not otherwise be reported can be included in collection. See
Getting Patron Accounts Out of Collection
A patron’s account is out of collection when the patron no longer owes money, including fines incurred after the reporting, to any reporting libraries. The patron may still owe money to libraries that do not use the collection agency function. If the patron’s account is paid down to $0.00, but the patron incurs a new fine before the collection agency Update report is run, the patron’s account is still in collection. For more information about collection agency reporting,
Sending Patron Accounts to a Second Collection Agency
If your library uses a second level of collections to send patron accounts to another agency when patrons do not settle with the first collection agency, see Second Level Collection Agency Management