When Current Balance Differs From Payoff Balance

For some service agreements, payoff balance and current balance differ (or in colloquial speech - the amount the customer thinks they owe differs from what they would owe if they wanted to pay off their account).

Let's run through an example of a customer on a budget to illustrate a classic service agreement where these two balances are not the same. The values in the payoff balance and current balance columns reflect the amount due after the financial transaction has been applied:

Date

Financial Transaction

Payoff Balance

Current Balance

1-Jan-99

Bill: $125, Budget $150

125

150

15-Jan-99

Payment: $150

-25

0

2-Feb-99

Bill: $175, Budget $150

150

150

14-Feb-99

Payment: $150

0

0

3-Mar-99

Bill: $200, Budget $150

200

150

15-Mar-99

Payment: $150

50

0

The following table describes the various types of service agreements where these balances may differ.

Type Of Service Agreement

What Payoff Balance Holds

What Current Balance Holds

Deposit

Payoff balance holds the amount of deposit you are holding on behalf of the customer's debt. This amount is showed as a credit (with a negative sign) because you truly owe the customer this money.

Current balance holds the amount the customer owes for a deposit.

Charitable contribution

N/A - charitable contribution service agreements never have a payoff balance.

Current balance holds the amount the customer owes for a charitable contribution.

Payment arrangements

Payoff balance holds the total amount of delinquent debt that remains unpaid. When a payment arrangement is started, you transfer the payoff balance from the utility service agreement to the payment arrangement service agreement. Each billing period, the customer pays down this balance.

Current balance holds the amount the customer owes in respect of the billed payment arrangement amounts.

Service agreements on a budget plan

Payoff balance holds the actual amount owed (actual bills minus payments).

Current balance holds the amount the customer owes in respect of the billed budget amount.