Collection Agency / Unique Management Services

Several Pinnacle libraries utilize collection agency services provided by Unique Management Services (UMS).  In general, UMS will manage all collection communications with patrons who have delinquent accounts, but patrons will still make payments directly to the library.

The Collection Agency service utilizes automatic reporting options in Polaris, which periodically transmits two reports:

1. Submission Report - accounts who have recently become delinquent
2. Update Report - recent activity on accounts who have previously been marked as delinquent

Additionally a synchronization report can be when requested. UMS will periodically request a synchronization report to ensure their information matches what is listed in Polaris.

Criteria for Collection Agency Submission

For libraries that have enabled collection agency processing, a patron's account is considered delinquent when they meet all of the following conditions:

• The patron has account charges greater than the library's defined limit.
  
• Those charges have been on the patron's account longer than the library's defined length of time.
• The patron has not been excluded from collection reporting (the Exclude from collection agency check box in Patron Registration has not been checked).
• The patron's patron code has not been excluded from collection reporting. (For example, some libraries might exclude "Juvenile" patrons from collection submission.)

Individual settings can vary by library.  Those settings can be found via the Collection Agency Settings WebReport.

Accrued overdue fines that have not yet been charged to the patron's account are not included in these calculations.

The Collection Agency Process

The collection agency process includes the following steps:

• Polaris identifies patrons who meet the criteria listed above and generates a patron report. This report is sent to UMS as part of the system's overnight processing.
  
• A system-generated Collection Agency Block is added to the patron's account.
• A $10 charge is added to the patron's account to recoup the costs of the UMS service.
• The collection agency contacts the patron directly and encourages the patron to settle their account with the library.
• If the patron pays all charges on the account, the block will be automatically removed from the patron's account and the patron will no longer be considered in Collections.

If the patron pays a portion of their balance, but not all of it, the account will still be in Collections.  The patron's account balance needs to be $0.00 in order to be removed from Collections.

Manually Removing Patrons from Collections

If you manually remove a patron's account from collections, you must inform the collection agency. The removal is not recorded in any of Polaris' automated reporting functions.

To remove a patron's account from Collections manually:

• Open the patron's record and select the Account tab
• Change the view to Collection Agency
• Click the Remove button.

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