Both IDI Desktop Client and the web modules (Customer Care and Orders) support credit scoring and deposits. The IDI Billing and Operator Support platform integrates with the TransUnion credit bureau to let you perform credit evaluations on new, prospective, and existing customers. The results returned from TransUnion can be used to assign the customer a carrier-configured credit class to set credit limits, deposit requirements, and other credit-related rules.
In addition, you may require your customers to pay a deposit when they open an account or make a substantial purchase, based on their credit history. Deposits are held in a designated bank account for a specified time, and then returned to the customer if they pay their bills reliably. Depending on prevailing state law, deposits may accrue interest which is posted to the deposit balance by a scheduled job that runs nightly.
This article provides a quick overview of this functionality. Links to articles with more detail on setting up and managing this functionality are provided at the end of this article.
A Quick Look a Credit Evaluations
Note:
While some menus in IDI Desktop Client related to credit evaluations display options for Experian and Equifax, these credit bureaus are no longer supported.
For web-based transactions, credit evaluations are triggered by a starting block configured to have the order perform a credit evaluation. This has the benefit of allowing credit evaluations on any type of transaction initiated by an appropriately configured starting block (new service/service/feature, reconnects/restores, and so on).
In IDI Desktop Client, credit scoring is supported for designated POS Make Sale transactions as specified through configuration. IDI Desktop Client also supports doing credit evaluations on-demand, independent of a sales/order transaction.
Whether doing credit evaluations on the web or IDI Desktop Client, your credit evaluation process is customizable through four sets of logic configured by an IDI specialist per your requirements.
First, Credit CheckRequired logic is evaluated on initiating a transaction to determine if the transaction requires users to submit a request for credit score to TransUnion. It will indicate whether a request must be submitted, and display error, confirmation, and informational messages as may be generated by the logic. If the logic determines a new request must be submitted, the transaction will present a form for entering the personal and address information required by TransUnion to evaluate and return a response. If a request is not required, it will indicate this, display messages as applicable, and skip the submit request step.
Then, the following logic is evaluated at different phases of the transaction to set credit class, credit limit, and deposit amount as applicable.
Credit ReportResponse logic is evaluated when a response is received from the credit bureau or when the credit check is skipped.
Credit Scoring OrderChanged logic runs when new items are added, modified, or removed on the transaction.
Credit Scoring CompleteSale logic is evaluated at checkout. It may make credit-related adjustments for the transaction, for example, if more services than are recommended (based on credit class) are being added by the transaction.
A Quick Look at Deposits
Web orders support automatically adding a deposit to a transaction based on a credit evaluation. Deposits may also be manually added to a transaction when the system is configured to support this.
Both Customer Care and IDI Desktop Client support creating and managing deposits on a customer account and allocating deposit funds after the deposit has been held for the required length of time. Funds may be returned to the customer (outside of the IDI platform) or be applied as an adjustment to the postpaid balance.
Where to Go for More Detail
Setup – Much of the setup is common to both applications, and some setup is specific to the application (Client or web) where you’re using the functionality. This article covers setup for both.
Credit Evaluations – Both Web Orders and IDI Desktop Client POS Make Sale support performing a credit evaluation during the transaction. The processes are similar. This article covers the web process in detail. If you require more detail on the mechanics of using POS Make Sale, refer to the IDI Desktop Client online help.
Note:
IDI Desktop Client also supports on-demand credit checks. This is covered in Managing Credit Evaluations and Deposits in IDI Desktop Client (below).
Managing Credit Evaluations and Deposits in IDI Desktop Client
Other topics: