Collecting Money for Fines

If your library set the Fines/Bills: Authorization required to collect circulation option to "YES," you must be assigned permission 95 (Collect fines) to collect money.

When a patron pays a fine at the circulation desk, you can collect money to record the fine as paid. To collect money for a fine (or for multiple fines):

  1. Select Circulation Desk from the Function list.
  2. Retrieve the patron record.
  3. Click the Fines tab, or, alternately, select Go | Circulation | Circulation Desk | Fines.
  4. Select the charge(s) you want to collect, then click Collect Money. The Collect Money dialog shows the total amount of the selected charge(s).
  5. Enter the amount you want to collect. You can either collect the total amount of the selected charge(s), or collect a partial payment. (Note that you cannot collect more than the total amount of the selected fines.)

Collecting the Total Amount

To collect the total amount of the fines you selected, perform the following steps:

  1. Verify that the patron's payment matches the amount displayed in the Amount to Collect text box.
  2. Click OK.
  3. Enter fine payment data, if the Fine Payment Data feature is enabled.
  4. If desired, print a fine payment receipt by clicking Print. Otherwise, click OK.

If another user is in the process of waiving or collecting money for the same patron, Sierra displays the following error message and prevents you from completing the transaction.

Another payment action is pending for patron <record_number>. Try again later. Invoice No. <#> could not be paid.

If the transaction can be processed, the system removes the paid fine(s) from the patron's record and writes an entry with payment status Full Payment in the patron's paid fines for each fine you collected.

Collecting a Partial Payment

If the Fines/Bills: Authorization required to waive circulation option is set to "YES," you must be assigned permission 93 (Waive or adjust fines) to waive remaining fines after a partial payment. See Permissions Used by Sierra for more information. When you choose to waive remaining fines, an entry is recorded in the circulation overrides and fines paid files.

To collect a partial payment:

  1. Enter the payment amount in the Amount to Collect text box. Note that you cannot enter an amount greater than the amount displayed, nor can you enter a negative number.
  2. Click OK. The system asks if you want to waive the remaining amount:

Waive remaining fines?

  1. To waive the remaining fines, click Yes. To leave the remaining fines on the patron's record, click No.
  2. Enter fine payment data, if the Fine Payment Data feature is enabled.
  3. If desired, print a fine payment receipt by clicking Print. Otherwise, click OK.

If another user is in the process of waiving or collecting money for the same patron, Sierra displays the following error message and prevents you from completing the transaction.

Another payment action is pending for patron <record_number>. Try again later. Invoice No. <#> could not be paid.

If the transaction can be processed, the system removes the charges from the patron's record as follows:

  1. Applies the partial payment to the selected charge. If you are collecting money on multiple charges, the system applies the partial payment to the first charge in the group of selected charges. If the charge is covered in full by the partial payment, the system applies the remainder of the partial payment to the next charge in the group. This process continues until the partial payment collected is applied in full.
  2. Removes the fully paid and waived fines (if applicable) from the patron's record.
  3. Writes an entry in the patron's paid fines for each partial, full, or waived payment currently being applied to the patron's record. The type of entry is reflected in a payment status of Partial Payment, Full Payment or Waive.
See also:
Reinstating Fines
Fining and Penalizing Patrons
Fines Display