Overview

An account using the credit limit feature will allow transactions to occur up to the value set. A warning message will appear when the customer exceeds their credit limit. A payment must be received to reduce the account balance before additional transactions can be processed without the warning message.

This feature is only available with Interact Pro. 

Terms

Leave the Terms for a Credit Account set to Use the Standard Terms. This will allow for invoice and statement processing if desired.

Credit Limit

To add a Credit Limit for a specific account select Maintain | Accounts, select the account to add a Credit Limit to and click the Terms tab. A window similar to the following appears. Enter the credit limit the account is permitted to maintain.

Two hundred ($200.00) for our example.

Exemptions

Check any exemptions that apply to the account.

Invoice

Processing invoices and statements for credit limit accounts is possible. Using account groups would be helpful.

Select Setup | Configure - Account Groups to add additional invoice and statement groups.

DataSync and Licensing

DataSync is configured to synchronize all transaction data between all locations. When Interact Pro is in use this includes payments, invoices, and statements. This ensures all locations have the current account balance after every synchronization.

In a multiple license configuration, as long as one Pro license exists to receive payments, the other licenses can be licensed for SE or Invoice. Operators will receive the credit limit warnings. The locations running Interact SE or Interact Invoice will not be able to enter payments. Receiving payments on an account is only available with the Interact Pro license.

Information about an account balance will only be available using the accounting reports available.

Processing Transactions and Reduce the Account Balances

Interact calculates the account balance based on charges and credits. An account balance can be reduced by entering a Payment.

An account with a credit limit of $200.00 can process transactions until account charges reach the credit limit of $200. During transaction processing, Interact will detect when a transaction will exceed the credit limit based on total charges and payments already applied to the account and display a message similar to the following.

In this example total charges for the account from earlier transactions totals $171.00.

The current transaction charge of $56.25 will cause the account to exceed the credit limit by $27.25.

The operator can choose Yes, to finish processing the transaction and allow the account to go over their credit limit or choose No, to force the customer to address their account balance before they are allowed to process new transactions.

Should the operator choose Yes, the transaction will be completed, and the account will exceed their credit limit by $27.25.

To reduce the account balance, apply a payment to the account.

To enter a payment for an account, select Accounting | Receive Payments. A window similar to the following will appear. Select the account from the list of accounts. Select the Payments tab. A window similar to the following will appear.

In this example the Total Estimated Balance is $227.25. 

Select the payment type from the drop-down list, enter the amount ($200.00 for our example), enter a note in the Reference field (i.e. check number), 

Click the  Save Receipt button.

The above example indicates the customer has a balance due of $27.25. This customer will be allowed to process transactions without warning until their credit balance of $200.00 is exceeded. In this case the customer will be able to process another $172.75 worth of transactions before the credit limit warning appears ($200.00 - $27.25 = $172.75).

If the customer were to make a payment for more than the balance on their account, the available credit would be added to the credit limit. For example, if a payment of $300.00 had been made the Total Estimated Balance would be a negative $72.75 (or a credit). The customer would be allowed to process another $272.75 worth of transactions before the credit limit warning appears.