| Doc. Number | Article Title | Effective Date | Version |
| FHC-XX | Setting Up a Settlement Offer | June 04, 2025 | 1.0 |
This article outlines the steps required to set up a Settlement Offer in the Forth CRM. The article is organized into the following sections:
- Initial Steps
- Selecting a Client
- Setting Up Settlement Payment - Offer Terms Tab
- Payment Information Tab
- Settlement Other Offers
Initial Steps
1. Log in to the Forth CRM and click on the Contacts tab. Select the contact you are setting up a settlement offer for, and click Settlements on the navigation bar from the Client Dashboard.
OR, you can start a new settlement from the Settlements Tab (see below).
Selecting a Client
You will then need to select a client you wish to set up a settlement for. Enter the client's name in the field beneath "Select a Client To Begin". See below.
Once your client is selected, choose the debt associated with that client for which you are working on a new settlement offer, by clicking the right-facing arrow at the far right of the debt listing (see below).
Once you select a particular debt to settle, this will take you to the New Settlement page.
In the middle left of the page (just above the Client Info section) are four images that may prove helpful to you (see below).
They are shortcuts to other portions of the CRM. From left to right, they are:
- Go to Client Dashboard
- Go to Enrollment Details
- Go to Creditors
- View Monthly Summary
2. Next, in the middle of the page, enter some basic information for the settlement.
- OFFER AMOUNT: The amount you are offering to settle the debt for.
- OFFER PERCENTAGE: The percentage of the total debt that your offer constitutes.
- OFFER MADE BY: This designates which party has submitted the settlement offer (i.e., creditor or negotiator).
- NEGOTIATOR: Select the representative negotiating the settlement.
- VALID UNTIL DATE: The expiration date for this offer. It will need to be accepted or declined by this date.
- OFFER STATUS: This dropdown menu, available at the top right of the page, sets the status of the offer. Start the offer "In-Review". Setting the offer status to "Accepted" or "Declined" will close the settlement offer and transition it to the next steps.
Setting Up Settlement Payment - Offer Terms Tab
3. Next, set up Settlement Payments by going to the "Offer Terms" section, and ensure a payment amount is listed in the "Offer Amount" field (see example below). The "Offer %" field should automatically fill based on the dollar amount you list in the "Offer Amount" field.
You will next go to the "Offer Made By" dropdown menu and select if the offer is being made by a "Negotiator" or a "Creditor" (see below).
Now go to the "Payment Schedule" section of the page, and enter the Start Date and number of Payments.
NOTE: In the "# of Payments" field, you may enter "0", but you will not be able to select "0" using the arrow keys.
Click the "Check Terms" button to confirm.
Once you've entered the Start Date and number of Payments you will see them in detail below.
**NOTE: Ignore any error messages for the moment, Forth will set up the performance fees after the settlement payments have been set.
You can now view all individual payments, which are displayed for you to edit if needed. You can change individual amounts, dates, processing gateway, and transaction type.
You can change all transaction gateways (Processor) and type (Method) at once with the drop-down menus at the top of each of those columns.
4. Next, set up the Earned Performance Fee. To start, enter an amount in the Minimum Fee field (this indicates the minimum fee amount the system will schedule for a single transaction) as well as the Minimum Balance field (which prevents you from liquidating the entire client balance).
Once you enter a Minimum Fee amount and an amount in the Maintain Min Balance field, the Performance Fee Schedule segment will look similar to the image below.
**NOTE: The Ending Balance is displayed in green to the right of each transaction row. This will help predict if the balance will be sufficient throughout the payments. It factors in other transactions that may affect the balance (debits, credits, scheduled earned performance fees, or other settlement payments). This projection assumes all scheduled transactions occur as scheduled.
5. Once you've completed setting up the Payment Terms and the Fee Schedule, scroll down to the Amortization Schedule to see the new transactions, which show in bold. As shown in the example below, the Disbursement Fee in blue (fee charged to the client by Forth for sending a physical check to the creditor), the Settlement Payment in orange, and the Earned Performance Fee in red. Make note of the estimated Client Balance (far right column) available so you can track the possible effects of the payment.
At this point, you can go back to make adjustments to the Payments and Fees.
NOTE: Editing a settlement will delete future open transactions, and you will need to re-save the settlement.
6. You may need to return to the offer to make adjustments as the settlement is negotiated with the creditor.
Payment Information Tab
Before clicking to accept the offer and moving to the next step, confirm that the information shown under the "Payment Information " tab is correct (see examples below).
IMPORTANT: Make sure all information provided here is accurate. Any errors can cause the settlement payment to be returned, which will delay your earned performance fees.
- COMP TEMPLATE: Choose the "Comp Template" that is used to split up the Earned Performance Fees. This will default to the compensation template currently saved with the contact.
- FEE MEMO: Enter any relevant information regarding the Earned Performance Fees.
- PAYEE: Select the Creditor Payee for this debt.
- PAYABLE TO: This information will be populated on the physical check sent to the creditor for the payment. Be sure to enter it exactly as the creditor specifies.
- Mail to Company, Address 1 and 2, City, State, Zipcode, and Phone Number: Identifying information for the Creditor
- CREDITOR REFERENCE #: Be to get a reference number from the creditor. Typically, this is an account number or reference number for the settlement. You must provide this to "Accept" the settlement. This will be included in the check memo section to identify the account.
- YOUR REFERENCE #: If there is a need to provide a secondary reference number, enter that number here.
- SPECIAL INSTRUCTIONS: Add notes specific to the settlement.
Finally, provide the Client ID to the creditor. This is needed by Forth when releasing and/or reconciling payments later.
8. Once the offer is accepted, return to the settlement offer and adjust the Offer Status to "Accepted" via the dropdown menu at the top right of the page (if needed, it can also be marked "Declined").
Once finished, save the offer by clicking the "Save Offer" button at the top right of the page.
Now that you have "Accepted" the Settlement, you will be taken to the Settlements Tab automatically. If you return to the settlement, you will see payment details like those displayed below. If you need to make edits, click the "edit this settlement" hyperlink in the top right of the page (see below).
On the Enrollment Details page (Click "Enrollments" on the navigation bar of the client dashboard), in this example, you will find that Settlement Payments (Blue), Disbursement Fees (Gray), and ACH Client Debit (Green) are listed in the payment schedule.
Settlement Other Offers
The Other Offers tab enables users to overlay other existing settlement offers onto the one they are currently working on. While not required, it is a useful tool for assisting in scheduling multiple settlement offers.
When enabled, this function allows users to compare settlement offers and ensure that their current offer does not interfere with other offers. When the tab is selected, if there are any existing offers available to compare, they will appear in one of two ways:
If the circle icon on the left displays a yellow hourglass followed by a checkbox, this indicates that the settlement offer is still being processed and may be affected by your settlement offer.
If the circle icon is a green checkmark with no follow-up checkbox, work on this settlement offer has concluded. This could be because of completion or voiding. No other work is required on the offer, so there is nothing to compare it to.
Overlaying an Offer
If you select the checkbox for an “Other Offer,” this settlement offer will now overlay on top of your current settlement offer.
When you return to the “Offer Terms” tab, the CRM will be able to detect if both settlement offers can exist simultaneously.
If there is a problem, a red ERROR message will appear. Additionally, WARNING messages may also appear, followed by further information on what the problem can be.
Looking to the Payment Schedule section, you can see if there would be a negative balance at the end of any specific payment.
Scrolling down to the Amortization Schedule, you can see what other dates would be impacted by both of these settlement offers existing at the same time.
How to Resolve
Resolving multiple settlement offers that cannot overlay at the same time can be done in a few ways, and is at the discretion of your account. Regardless of the method chosen, at least one of the settlement offers must be modified:
- If applicable, the Earned Performance Fee may need to be held for a longer period before it can be scheduled for payment. This fee comes directly from the escrow account, so holding off on paying this can allow additional funds to go towards more settlement payments in a shorter time.
- Additional settlement payments may need to be scheduled to reduce the settlement payment amount per transaction. By lowering the value of the payments, this can allow multiple settlement transactions to be scheduled at or around the same time, allowing client debits to maintain the escrow balance.
- If possible, a settlement offer may need to be negotiated to be a lower amount. Less money leaving the escrow account frees up more money to be used on other settlements.
- One of the settlement offers may need to wait longer before the system can start sending settlement payments.
Article Version History:
| Version | Effective Date | Description |
| Basic | 08/31/2019 | Initial Release |
| 0.1 | 06/23/2022 | Updated several screenshots |
| 0.2 | 12/28/2022 | Added header and Version Control Footer |
| 0.3 | 04/21/2023 | Refreshed all screenshots necessary to reflect the current user interface of the CRM and updated any language to match the new screenshots. |
| 0.4 | 09/15/2023 | Updated screenshot for Step 6 to remove one DPG reference. |
| 0.5 | 10/23/2023 | Updated "payment information" screenshot to reflect the current "name on account." |
| 0.6 | 10/22/2024 | Refreshed several screenshots to improved readability and better reflect the current interface. |
| 1.0 | 06/04/2025 | Added a new "Other Options" section at the end of the article. |