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Managing Electronic Funds Transfer Payments

Keystone provides support for electronic funds transfers (EFTs). The Mortgage Payment - Electronic Funds Transfer screen shows the homeowners who are in the Electronic Funds Transfer program. To indicate that a homeowner either is using or is eligible for EFTs, check the Electronic Funds Transfer check box for that homeowner on the Administration tab on the Mortgage/Payments Information screen.

Review the report under Finance > Electronic Funds Transfer > Candidates on the Reports screen to see a list of candidates for this program.

Making mortgage payments via electronic funds transfer can be done in two different ways. The homeowner can initiate the transfer, which we will call a "Push"; or the affiliate can initiate the transfer, which we call a "Pull".

Some homeowners always pay by check and are never late. These homeowners are excellent candidates to make their mortgage payments via electronic funds transfer. The benefits to the homeowner are that they do not have to remember to write a check and mail it or take it to the affiliate each month.

The "Push" benefits to the affiliate are that you do not have to handle checks from these homeowners, create a deposit slip for these checks, or take them to the bank.

The "Pull" benefits to the affiliate include the "Push" benefits with the additional benefit of being able to post the electronic funds transfer as a group, thereby taking less time and effort. Under the Pull method, your affiliate works with your bank to set up an Automated Clearinghouse (ACH) account. ACH is a banking service provided to banks that manage funds transfers between banks.

When homeowners have given their approval and provided the necessary information to you, your affiliate’s bank can transfer the funds from the homeowner’s bank account to your affiliate’s bank account at a designated time each month, even when a homeowner's account is at a different bank. Most banks that provide this service also provide an Internet online service to report the results of this transfer. Since all transfers from all participating homeowners occur at the same time, this report is a list of all the homeowners who are using electronic funds transfer.

To post electronic funds transfer payments

You can use the arrow keys on this screen for navigation like in a spreadsheet.

1. Open the Finances tab in the Keystone ribbon and click Electronic Funds Transfer.
   The Mortgage Payment - Electronic Funds Transfer screen appears.
2. Review the payments listed against the bank’s deposit report.
   The payments shown are the expected monthly payments for each homeowner participating in the EFT program.
3. Enter the date of these payments in the Date Paid field.
   This is the date that will be recorded for each homeowner listed when you post the payments.
4. Record any notes about the payments in the Notes field.
   These notes will be recorded in the Notes field for each payment record for each of the homeowners included in the payment.
5. If the homeowner's payment for this month differs from what is shown, you can edit the payment amount, as well as the amounts for each allocation.
6. If no transfer payment was made by a homeowner this month, uncheck the Inc. check box next to their name.
   This omits them from the list of payments to be posted.
7. Click the Post button to post these amounts to the homeowners’ payment accounts.

For more information about the fields on this screen, refer to the Electronic Funds Transfer screen section.