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 payoff 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
2-Apr-99	Adj: Mar 3, 97 bill incorrect due to meter exchange discrepancies; manual correction of -$33.	17	0

Notice the adjustment of -$33 affects only payoff amount. This is because the customer is on a budget. The adjustment will not affect their monthly payment and therefore it doesn't affect how much they think they owe.

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.
Utility 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.
Loans	Payoff balance holds the payoff amount for the loan, which is the current balance (the billed loan amount) plus the principal balance (the unbilled loan amount) and any accrued interest charges.	Current balance holds the amount the customer owes in respect of the billed amount (the periodic payment amount).

Parent topic

Adjustments - Current Balance versus Payoff Balance