Incoming Payments

The Incoming Payments section of the dashboard Accounting page shows all of the wire/check payments made from insureds and agencies to your FBO account. Wire payments are initiated from the insured's side, as opposed to the ACH/Credit card payment where Ascend charges the insured's payment method a certain amount. As a result, insureds can send the wrong amount owed -- either too much or too little.

The wire reconciliation process allows your accounting team to view funds wired by your insureds and apply them to invoices and programs as needed.

Understanding Incoming Payments

From the Incoming Payments section of the dashboard Accounting page, you can view funds sent by your insureds via wire or check and apply them to invoices and programs as needed. See below for a walk through of each column on the wire payments view:

• Sender: This column indicates the owner of the bank account the funds were sent from. This information is passed from the bank.

• Applied: The status of a wire/check payment is either Not Applied, Partially Applied, Applied, or N/A

• Description: The memo line or reference field from the wire or check

• Cleared: The date the funds cleared to your FBO account

• Payment Type: How the funds were received, either ACH, Wire, Check, or Credit Card

• Applied On: The date the funds were applied against an invoice

• Gross Amount: The total amount of funds sent

  

Understanding Applied Statuses:

The applied status indicates whether the inbound funds have been reconciled.

• Not applied: The payment has been received but not yet reconciled to an invoice. Action required.

• Partially applied: the payment has been partially reconciled — some funds remain unapplied. Action required.

• Applied: The payment has been fully reconciled to one or more invoices. No action needed.

• N/A: Reconciliation is not applicable for this payment (e.g. failed or canceled payments).

Reasons why a wire payment remains Not Applied:

Common reasons a payment is not automatically applied:

• Payment amount is too high — more was sent than the invoice total

• Payment amount is too low — less was sent than the invoice total

• No invoice number in the memo — The payment couldn't be matched automatically

• Insured has multiple programs — funds need to be split across invoices.

Reconciling an Unreconciled Payment

From the Incoming Payments section of the dashboard Accounting page, you can view funds wired by your insureds and apply them to invoices and programs as needed.

To begin your review, check the Status of the wire payment. For Unreconciled wire payments, you can click on the payment to enter reconciliation view. Enter the view and follow the steps below:

Table View

Detail View

1. Locate a payment with a Not applied status

2. Click the row to open the reconciliation view

3. Review the payment details

4. Under Matching Invoices, find the relevant invoice(s) using the search bar using:

   • Program name

   • Sender name (most often insured name)

   • Invoice number, which should have been entered by the insured using the invoice wire instructions

5. Select relevant invoice(s)

6. Review the summary at the bottom of the page

   1. If the payment matches the invoice exactly, you're ready to apply

      

   2. If there's an overpayment or underpayment, you'll be prompted to resolve it (see below)

7. Click Apply payment to complete reconciliation

Overpayments (excess funds)

If the insured sent more than the invoice amount, you'll see an excess funds warning in the reconciliation summary. You must resolve this before applying the payment.

Overpayment resolutions

• Refund the insured: send the overage back via check

• Apply to loan balance: apply the overage to the insured's outstanding loan balance (if applicable)

• Refund financing company: return the overage back to a financing company

Underpayments

If the insured sent less than the invoice amount, you'll see an outstanding balance warning. You must resolve this before applying the payment.

Underpayment resolutions

1. Cover the difference — your agency absorbs the underpayment (subject to your configured underpayment limit)

   To adjust your underpayment limit contact [email protected].

2. Partially apply — apply what was received and leave the remainder on the invoice.

   Related payouts are blocked on partially paid invoices. The invoice balance must be cleared to unblock payout.

How to return funds (full refund)

If a payment cannot be matched to any invoice, you can return the funds to the sender.

1. In the empty invoice section, click Return funds (visible when no invoice has been selected)

   

2. Select a recipient for the refund

   

3. Click Confirm

Incoming Payments from Financing Companies

• If a payment is from a premium finance company, you can select the 'Mark sender as financing company' button and then select the finanicng company in the dialogue box

• If the company is not on the current list please reach out to [email protected] and we will add it

• Once a financing company is selected future refunds for that agency bill program will be sent to the finance company

Editing Applied Amounts

From inside the Detailed Reconciliation view, select at least two invoices and toggle the 'Edit applied amounts' slider. This will display edit icons for the amounts to apply to each invoice. Click on them, and you can configure the amounts to apply.

Excess funds are resolved in the same way as other overpayments.

Notes and activity

Use Notes to provide additional context to your team. A note icon will appear in the table for any payment with notes.

Check upload

You can also upload checks directly to the FBO account from the Incoming Payments page.

1. Click Upload check in the top right corner of the table

2. Follow the prompts to upload a check image and enter the amount

3. The check will appear in the table once submitted

For a full walkthrough of check deposits, see this article.

Notifications about wire reconciliation

• Your company's Accountant users will receive email reminders when there are unreconciled wire payments, as the agency is responsible for reconciling wire payments.

FAQ

Can I reconcile a payment that was applied to the wrong invoice?

No, reconciliation cannot be undone from the dashboard. Contact [email protected] for assistance.

What if the payment is for a program that has been archived?

Reconciliation is blocked for archived programs. Un-archive the program first or return the funds.

Who can reconcile incoming payments?

Only users with Admin or Accounting permissions.

Can multiple payments be reconciled at once?

No. Only one payment may be reconciled at a time. Invoices can be partially paid, and additional payments can be reconciled in quick succession.

Contact Us

Need more help? Contact us at [email protected] for more help.