Can Margill Loan Manager be used to manage rentals (rent)?

/in /by

Question: Our company does loans and rentals. Can Margill Loan Manager be used to manage rentals (monthly rents)?

Answer: As strange as this may sound for a loan servicing software, yes Margill Loan Manager can manage rentals.

The difference between a loan and a rental is that loans begin with a principal amount borrowed that usually will decrease as payments are made for the interest and principal portions. Rent on the other hand, is due (accrued), and payable every month. So rent accrues usually on the first of the month and then is paid, hopefully, on the same day. Usually, interest is not charged on rent.

First, in Tools > Settings > Custom Column Titles, change the Column “Fees” title to “Rent”.

Create a new Record. Under Data enter the date at which the first rent is due. The same date should be entered in both Origination Date and First Payment Date. The rents are payable monthly. Principal (Original) should be 0.00 and since there is no interest on the rent, Annual Nominal Rate (%) should also be 0.00%. This is a three year rental for 575 per month. Press on “Add Fees” and a window will allow you to enter the monthly rent amount.

Then press on Compute and answer No to this pop-up. We do not want Margill to compute the Principal (remains 0.00).

The rental payment schedule then appears. I moved my column called “Rent – Accrued” to the left to see it readily without needing to scroll to the right. The rent is “charged” with the “Rent – Accrued” and paid with the “Payment” column.

Notice on line 3 that my rent is a few days late. This does not change anything mathematically since interest is not charged, but this allows you to balance with your banking transactions. A partial rent amount could also have been entered and the schedule then changed based on what was agreed for later repayment between the “landlord” (or equipment rental) and the person who rents.

To be fancy, I renamed a Paid Pmt (x) Line status to “Paid Rent”. Go to Tools > Settings > Line status.

A little banking humor! His name was Boudreaux…

/in /by

His name was Boudreaux. He was from Cutoff, Louisiana … and he needed a loan, So…….. 

He walked into a bank in New York City and asked for the loan officer. 

He told the loan officer that he was going to Paris for an International Cajun festival for two weeks and needed to borrow $5,000, and that he was not a depositor  of the bank. 

The bank officer told him that the bank would need some form of security for the loan, so Boudreaux handed over the keys to a new Ferrari. The car was parked on the street in front of the bank. 

Boudreaux produced the title and everything checked out. The loan officer agreed to hold the car as collateral for the loan and apologized for having to charge 12% interest. 

Later, the bank’s president and its officers all enjoyed a good laugh at the Cajun from Louisiana for using a $250,000 Ferrari as collateral for a $5,000 loan. An employee of the bank then drove the Ferrari into the bank’s private underground garage and parked  it. 

Two weeks later, Boudreaux returned, repaid the $5,000 and the interest of $23.01. The loan officer said, “Sir, we are very happy to have had your business, and this transaction has worked out very nicely, but we are a little puzzled.” 

 “While you were away, we checked you out on Dunn & Bradstreet and found that you are a distinguished alumni from LSU, a highly sophisticated investor and multi-millionaire with real estate and financial interests all over the world. Your investments include a large number of oil rigs around south Louisiana. What puzzles us is, why would you bother to borrow $5,000?” 

The good ‘ole boy replied, “Where else in New York City can I park my car for two weeks for less than $25.00 and expect it to be there when I return?” 

His name was Boudreaux…. Keep an eye on those Louisiana boys! 

Just!! cuz we talk funny doesn’t mean we’re stupid ! 

 

Importing batch payments in Margill Loan Manager (CSV, Excel)

/1 Comment/in /by

Question: Our company collects weekly (bi-weekly or monthly – no matter) payments drawn directly from their bank accounts in some cases and in others as payroll deductions. We receive CSV files from the bank and processors. Can these transactions then be imported back to Margill Loan Manager?

Answer: As you guessed, since I blogged this, Margill does this no problem.

Each and every line of a payment schedule includes a unique line identifier. If this line identifier can be sent back to Margill from your processor (or accounting or ERP system), the software will automatically change a “Due payment” to a Paid, Late or Partial payment or even an Unpaid payment if your system can send back the Line ID with a payment of 0.00 (most systems don’t actually, so a human may have to decide when this payment eventually is considered Unpaid).

To send the transactions to the bank or to the payroll deduction processor, use the Transaction report with any data you want. Let’s keep it simple by supplying the Name, Transaction date, Transaction amount and Unique Line ID.

This report can then be sent to the processor in Excel, CSV or Text format.

Please note. The file created by Margill is not in NACHA format. We work with third party processors Intrix (US) and Perceptech (Acceo)(Canada) for electronic funds transfers to debit your borrower accounts.

Notice the “Line Unique ID” above – your provider must be able to accept this data and return it with the paid payments in the format below. We highlighted special payments (need not for real…):

  • In C2  we have a Partial payment
  • C4 – Unpaid payment
  • B7 – Late payment
  • B15 – Partial Late
  • C23- Unpaid payment
  • The rest are all normal Paid payments – on time, right amount…

This Excel file is imported to Margill and all payments will be updated in seconds… Errors will be flagged the case being.

See also: How can I enter multiple payments and advances in a loan without having to enter them one by one? I have over 100 in one loan. I have the data in Excel.

Margill Loan Manager: Is there a way for me to see if users are logged on to the system?

/in /by

Question: Is there a way for me to see if users are logged on to the system?

Answer:

Go to Tools > Users and see this:

A borrower missed a payment last month. This month he doubles up his payment to compensate. Doubling should get him back on track but I get a higher balance at the end of the loan? Help!

/in /by

Question: A borrower missed a payment last month. This month he doubles up his payment to compensate. Doubling should get him back on track but I get a higher balance at the end of the loan? Help!

Answer: Your borrower will be CLOSE to back on track but there was accrued interest for the month he missed so this is why you are not back to the same end balance (0.00).

To get the exact payment that should have been paid to compensate, he will have to pay the outstanding interest. An easy way to get the exact payment is to highlight that payment line,  right click and do this:

Can I apply a payment only to principal even if there is outstanding interest?

/in /by

Question: Can I apply a payment only to principal even if there is outstanding interest?

Answer:

Yes when this advanced feature is activated. In the Trial version, this is not activated by default since a more advanced feature.

To activate, go to Tools > Settings > User Settings > “Options: Interest-only and Fixed Principal” (blue link). The third option will allow you to pay principal first. You can set this as your default or have Margill give you the three options when you are in a loan. I would check “Offer the three option when creating a loan” for maximum flexibility.

Go back to your loan. Go on the payment that is to pay principal only. Right click with the mouse:

This window will appear allowing you to enter the amount of principal to pay back. I wish to pay $1000 in principal in this example:

This window will appear allowing to choose the third option that will pay back principal before paying any outstanding interest. Notice we write “NOT SUGGESTED”. We wrote this because it is not a standard refund order but we will be taking this off since we see in practice that this is in fact used quite often, particularly in inter-company loans.

Now you will see that this payment ($1000) pays principal even if there is outstanding interest.

 

New “Paid Principal” Line status in version 5.0 of Margill Loan Manager!

The “Paid Principal” Line status will, at the time of payment pay principal (and corresponding APR Fees financed, case being) before paying outstanding interest.

You cannot though, create a schedule with Paid Principal if there are Due Pmt lines before. You would have to use the method explained above (right mouse click > Payments > Fixed Principal Payment).

Can Loan Manager be used to collect invoices with payments here an there? Each invoice only starts accruing interest after 30 days.

/in /by

Q: Can Loan Manager be used to collect invoices with payments here an there? Each invoice only starts accruing interest after 30 days.

We are a medium-sized law firm and send out invoices to our clients irregularly. Many of our clients do not pay within the  30 days allotted (invoices are Net 30 days otherwise the monthly interest is 1% per month (12% annually)). We charge simple interest, not compound.

Example:

  • First invoice: Dec. 1 2016 for $2950.00
  • Second invoice: Jan 4, 2017 for $4381.25
  • Third invoice: Nov. 6, 2017 for $5000.00
  • Payment was made Jan 26, 2017 for $1000.00
  • We are now November 7, 2017 and the assistant must easily see how much is due today or any day.

A. This is done easily but a little thinking must go into it. Below will show you what has to be done…

In Margill Loan Manager, a Record must be created for each of your clients. Each Record will contain many invoice and (we hope) many payments. This is very similar to a line of credit with one exception, that interest starts accruing only 30 days after the invoice date. You will thus enter the invoice on the day it was sent BUT with a payment date 30 days (or one month) after the invoice date. So for the Dec. 1 invoice, the payment date will be Jan 1.

Click on File > New Record > Data

The Compounding Period is grayed out since in Advanced we changed to Simple interest

With an Irregular payment frequency, this window (optional) allows you to enter the invoices and payments quickly and these need not follow the chronological order in which invoice are sent and payments received. Any transaction entered in the window can be changed afterwards in the actual payment schedule.

Press on Save.

Now press on Compute to produce the payment schedule (called Payment Table in Margill). A comment could have added or can be added now in the Comment column (there is also a Check number column to the right that can be moved).

Fees can even be added in the Column Fees (Called “Admin – Accrued” below) which could be added above and beyond the interest on the invoices (we will not add any here).

I would first change the “Due Pmt” Line status to “Paid Pmt” since this was already paid. Notice “Add. Princ. (Loan)” – this is where each invoice is sent. These could be changed to a more user friendly name such as “Invoice” (you can rename many Line statuses – take “Add. Princ (2)” and rename as desired)).

I now wish to know how much is owed today Nov 7, 2017. This step is not required since the data is all computed an accessible directly in the Main window but for the sake of learning, let’s do it. We insert a line (right mouse click or  ). Change the date to today’s date. So this client owes the law firm $6937.95 + $5000 = $11937.95 but does not YET owe the $60.59 in accrued interest.

Now let’s get this information on to the Main window for very easy access.

I created an Equation in Margill that takes the balance today and adds the Principal (my invoices) that is added after today (so the 5000 billed yesterday but that will start bearing interest only 30 days from Nov 6).

We now see the “Total due (maybe should have been or “owed” not “due”) TODAY” that is the number we are looking for. The amount will increase tomorrow by $2.09 which is the daily interest on the interest bearing portion (not on the 5000 that only starts bearing interest on Dec. 6).

Here is the calculation for the daily interest on the proper amount:

If you are dealing with a large volume of transactions (invoices and payments) on a daily basis, you can mass import the invoices and payments manually for all your accounts in one window or through a very simple Excel sheet containing the account number, the date and the amount and whether the transaction is an invoice or payment. This is done in Tools > Post Payments > Bulk Payment Import > Import New Payments.

Example below of manual entry for multiple accounts at once.

Contact our Support for more information.

Margill Loan Manager – Features inquiry…

/in /by

Is there a limit on the number of notes that can be tracked at one time?

Not really. The number of loans you can enter in the system is based on your license package. Our largest users have 30,000 loans, our smallest maybe 5? Price is based on number of loans and users.

Can the interest rates adjust as the Prime rate (or other) adjusts and payments recalculate automatically? 

You can update all your loans at once with the Prime rate (or other). You can have interest-only payments recalculated. You cannot have P&I payments recalculated automatically although this feature could be added.

Can the system handle balloon payments?

Yes

Terms of the notes can be different? Interest rates fixed vs variable, length of loan

Yes

Types of reports available?

You create your own with over 1000 fields. Various types are available:

  • Executive summary including graphs
  • Record list (where you chose the fields to report on – name, interest, principal paid, balances, outstanding amounts, etc.)
  • Record list with period breaks (totals by month, quarter or year)
  • Transactions report
  • Accounting report to send transactions directly to your General ledger with Excel, CSV, TXT, QuickBooks, Sage.
  • Merge documents to create invoices, statements, contracts, letters

Reports customizable? 

Yes, see above

Able to customize reports on own or does the software company have to do it?

You customize, see above.

The Margill team can also create very specialized customized reports if needed.

Able to track short term vs long term portion of notes?

Yes

Able to assess late payment fees automatically after a specific grace period?

No and yes. You can configure Automatic fees but a human has to tell the system that the payment is paid on that date (10 days late for example) and human must change the transaction from “Due Payment” to “Paid late > 10 days” so $x fees apply. You create your own fees rules. Not very complicated actually.

Able to upload payments by csv or excel to multiple accounts at one time?

Yes but you need not do this since the schedule already exists. You change a payment from Due to Paid (or Unpaid, Late , Partial….). This can be done in bulk and there is also an option to post these payments via an Excel sheet since every single payment has a unique ID – BUT you have to give this ID to your ERP system or Accounting package in  order to post back to Margill after… To be discussed…

Is there a notes section available for collections, etc?

Yes – even automatic emails if, for example there is an unpaid payment, system sends out an auto email: “Dear John, Your payment of $123.45 bounced on November 3, 2017. Please call us ASAP.”

Auto print invoices? Automated email delivery of bills?

Yes but not Auto – a human has to tell the system to send these every month – but yes sent automatically by email with a subject, text and PDF attachment.

Is the software server-based? Cloud based or both?

Server-based but about 25% of our clients use on THEIR cloud. We do not store your data.

Number of users allowed per license?

No set limit.

Automated payment notification to debtor when payment is received?

Yes by email

Able to create amortization tables within the software?

Of course!

Able to create loan docs in the software? Example: Promissory Note Agreement   If so, able to use our format or required to use software company’s format?

Yes. RTF, DOCX and PDF – this is called Document Merge. You can copy/past your Word document and add images and merge fields.

ACH payment processing available within the software?

Yes

US partner: Intrix (based in Colorado and California)

Canada partner: Perceptech (Acceo) (based in Montreal)

Contract required when purchasing the software?

No except the standard End-User Agreement

Cost of software?  Set up fees?  Monthly or annuals fees?  Per user cost?

Please contact us by email ([email protected])

Here’s a little more information:

Presentation of the software: http://www.margill.com/margill-loan-manager/Margill_Loan_Manager_Overview.pdf

More detail: http://www.margill.com/margill-loan-manager/Margill-loan-servicing-en.htm

Short videos: https://www.margill.com/en/support-center/video-guides

You can also try it for 30 days at http://www.margill.com/ncm

See our client comments: https://www.margill.com/en/client-testimonials/

We can also set up a live demo. Please contact [email protected] or call at 1-877-683-1815 or 450-621-8283.

New Margill Loan Manager client: Cosmo Authentic World Kitchen

/in /by

cosmo

We would like to welcome Cosmo Authentic World Kitchen as a new user of our Margill Loan Manager software.

Inspired by the best five-star hotels around the world, Cosmo has expanded throughout the UK and Ireland.  Their customers embrace global dining and flavours from all corners of the world.  To learn more about their restaurants and great food, visit their website.

The Margill Team

How to enter loan number, Federal Tax ID, set up automatic late fees, create a line of credit, etc.?

/in , /by

Questions:

In Margill Loan Manager:

1) How/where do I enter my loan #? Can I change the identifier number automatically assigned by Margill?

2) Most of my clients are businesses, and I do not see a place to enter the Federal Tax ID number. I would also like to add fields for type of company, state of formation, year of formation.

3) When posting payments, most are not made on the exact due date, so I need to right click and post the payment into the schedule, is that correct?  Also, where can I enter the type of payment and identifier, like the check number?

4) How to set up a Line of Credit account where all the payments are interest-only except the last one

5) How to automatically set up Late Fees?

Answers:

1) How/where do I enter my loan #? Can I change the identifier number automatically assigned by Margill?

A unique identifier is created automatically for each loan. You an also enter your own under Data > General:

And your loan number can show up on top of the loan window (set this up under Tools > Settings):

 

2) Most of my clients are businesses, and I do not see a place to enter the Federal Tax ID number. I would also like to add fields for type of company, state of formation, year of formation.

You can create as many custom fields as you want. You would create these for the Borrower and others for the Loan – you tie the field to the closest – Borrower or Loan (and even Creditor but you may not need these custom fields).

Tools > Settings:

 

3) When posting payments, most payments are not made on the exact due date, so I need to right click and post the payment into the schedule, is that correct?  Also, where can I enter the type of payment and identifier, like check number?

You do not need to right click. You change you Line status column from a Due Pmt to a Paid Late Pmt. This small window will then appear to enter the true payment date – in this example Borrower was supposed to pay on the 1st but paid on the 22nd. The date can also be changed directly in the Pmt Date column.

The Post payment Tool (no screenshot below) allows you to post payments in batches as opposed to one by one. They can be Paid, Unpaid, Late, Partial and you can add the check number and add fees manually if you wish (or change the automatically added fees). Very flexible…

If you did not wish to charge extra interest if the payment was only a few days late, you could have entered the true payment date in the “True Pmt Date (Grace/EFT)” column without changing the “Pmt Date.” Transaction reports would pick up this special date.

You can also add a Comment to each payment line and multiple other elements that you customize.

4) How to set up a Line of Credit account where all the payments are interest-only except the last one

You would first create a Record type called Line of credit (Tools > Settings).

You then create a Record and in the Data tab enter this information. I advanced 50,000 on 9/5/17.

 

Notice “Irregular” payments (a screen will follow allowing you to enter advances and payments if this was an existing line of credit – ignore this window if this is a new line of credit – click on:

Once the payment schedule is calculated (one line schedule at first), you simply add lines at the end depending on whether they are Advances or Payments. Here there was a second $15,000 advance and a $3,000 payment. I also added an Information line in the year 2020 to keep the interest accruing.

You can add or insert line with the right mouse click or with these icons on the far right:

 

When a payment is made, column fees and then interest are paid first, then principal. In the example above, the $3,000 payment will pay principal. You could have had Margill compute the total interest to be paid (right mouse click).

If monthly payments MUST be made by the Borrower to pay interest, then you would have set up a line of credit with Monthly payments (not Irregular) and would have specified that these pay interest. This is a more advanced feature called “Line Behavior.” Let me know if this is what you want, and I can explain this in more detail.

5) How to automatically set up Late Fees?

You can create one or multiple Automatic fees.

Go to Tools > Settings > Column Fees: Automatic. You then select the Line status and create your own rules. You can charge an amount, a percentage of the balance, a percentage of the unpaid portion, etc.