Pay charges
Circ. Desk
►Circulation> User Charges
Fines and other charges are paid or waived in the User Charging domain which you can access either:
- by clicking the Pay Charges button in the Circ. Desk screen
- or from the Circulation menu
Note: fines reference data must first be set up before any charges can accrue.
Fines are displayed as either Terminated or Accruing and you can pay amounts from either. A fine is 'terminated' by return or renewal of the item on loan; an accruing fine is still increasing in value and is for an item that is still on loan and overdue.
User charges fields
When the barcode of a user with outstanding charges is entered on the Circ. Desk screen the following message will be displayed:
The user has charges to pay.
To pay (or waive) the charges, click the Pay Charges button. This displays the User Charging layout. Some fields need explanation:
| Field | Description |
|---|---|
| Balance (Total) | Shows the balance of terminated and accrued fines and manually applied fines. |
| Balance (Terminated) | Displays money outstanding on items that have been returned or renewed (or the Fine Sequence has terminated). |
| Balance (Accruing) | Displays money outstanding on items still on loan. The amount owing for manually applied charges is displayed in Balance (Manual). |
| Payment /Waive Type | This drop down list shows, for example, Cash. These choices have been set in reference data. The list includes waive types as well as payment types, so whether the amount is 'paid' or 'waived' will be determined by the payment/waive type you specify in this field. |
| Audit No | The system generated number for the fines payment audit trail. |
| Step | The step, e.g. Step 3, in this fine sequence (library definable). |
| Amount | The amount at the point of termination. |
| O/S Amount | The outstanding amount due. This will decrease if part payments are made. |
| Paused | On an accruing fine this indicates that the fine would have exceeded that User's 'maximum debt'. Once an amount is paid off, the fine will start accruing again if the item is still on loan. |
Fast payment
- Enter either the full amount owing in the Amount to Pay/Waive, or some of the amount owing.
- Click Register Payment /Waiver.
- If you entered some of the amount owing, the amount will be deducted from the Terminated/Accruing Fines in Audit No order (ie oldest first).
Choose which charge to pay
To pay off a specific charge, this can either be a Terminated Fine or an Accruing Fine or a Manually Applied fine. This may be useful if for example some of the charges are disputed.
- Tick the box to choose a specific step in Terminated, Accruing or Manually Applied fines.
- In Actions select Pay/Waive Selected Items in Full to pay off the full amount.
- Or enter an amount in the Amount to Pay/Waive box and in Actions select Pay/Waive Selected Items.
When you have made a payment using any of the above methods and the screen refreshes, the amount specified is deducted from the outstanding amount on that fine. The Fine/Charge/Payment/Waive History also registers the payment.
Tip: save the details and use the breadcrumbs to navigate back to the Circ Desk screen.
The amount paid is automatically deducted from the outstanding amounts shown in O/S Amount field - starting with the terminated charges at the top of the list. Any terminated charges that are paid off/waived in full are removed from this Terminated Fines / Charges list. If a charge was only part-paid/waived before the amount ran out, this charge will remain in the list, with the remaining outstanding amount displayed.
Audit trail
A full audit trail of all charge, payment and waive transactions is maintained and displayed in the Fine/Charge/Payment/Waive History field at the bottom of the User Charging screen. It is also displayed in the Fine History field on the Circulation History screen on the Users layout. The User Auditing search from the Menu also displays transactions and charge types.
Note/comments
A comment can be added in the Note field. The note will display in the Fine/Charge/Payment/Waive History section, under the Copy Barcode Column.
Maximum debt
The system manager can configure how fines should accrue beyond the maximum debt defined in the User / User Category record.