What is an Enrollment Plan?

This article describes the Enrollment Plan page within the FORTH CRM and the segments of that page that need to be completed. It was developed for users with permission to configure enrollment plans in the CRM.

This article is organized into the following sections:

• Overview
• Prerequisites
• How to Access
• How it Works
  • General
  • Program Length
  • Settlement Savings
  • Qualifiers
  • Fee Profiles
  • Processor Fees
  • Comp Templates
  • Role-Based Permissions for Shared Enrollment Plans
  • Internal and External Access Controls
  • Role Access
  • Fees
  • Show Fee Subtotal Column
  • Notify at % of Total Debt
  • Client Savings
• Troubleshooting/FAQ

Overview

Our Enrollment Plan feature is able to define Performance Fees and Settlement rates for System and Custom Debt Types, ensuring each plan perfectly aligns with your client’s needs. 

Prerequisites

Users with permissions to configure enrollment plans in the FORTH CRM.

How to Access

1. Log in to the FORTH CRM.
2. Click the Enrollments tab
3. Select "Plans" in the Navigation Bar.
   
4. Open an existing enrollment plan or create a new one.  If editing an existing plan, select it from the dropdown menu in the navigation bar at the top left of the page (see the red highlighted image below).
   

How it Works

General

This section provides control of the overall general settings for the enrollment plan.

Active: This checkbox should be selected if the plan is going to be actively used in the CRM. If left unchecked, the plan will not be available when selecting an enrollment plan for a contact.

File Type: A File Type must be selected for each enrollment plan. Despite Any File Type being an option, this should not be used as it can cause unintended errors. If multiple file types require the same fee structure, multiple enrollment plans should be created, one for each file type.

• Options include: Debt Settlement, Student Loans, General / Not Defined, Business Loans, Debt Validation, and if enabled, Consumer Loans.

Plan Name: A unique plan name is recommended.

Select First Payment Date: Checking this box will allow a user to select a First Payment Date and a Recurring Payment Date when filling out the plan for a contact.

First Draft Scheduling Limit in Days (only appears when Select First Payment Date checkbox is checked): This option allows a user to restricts the maximum number of days a contact can delay their first payment. In this field, enter a numeric value to define the maximum number of days allowed between the enrollment date and the first draft. The minimum number allowed is "1".

1. Before clicking Save Plan, the system automatically enforces the scheduling window you just selected:
   • If the selected date is within the allowed range, the user can save the plan or generate a contract.
   • If the selected date exceeds the limit, the system blocks the action and displays an error message: "The first payment cannot be scheduled more than {X} days from the enrollment date. Please select a date within the allowed range to continue."

Assigning other payment frequency and occurrence options are assigned by your account manager. For more information on these other options, go to our "Enrolling a Contact" article in the Help Center and go to the "Filling Out an Enrollment Plan" section.

Program Length

This section determines how long a client can be enrolled in this plan.

Program Length Default: The default Program Length for this Enrollment Plan when selecting it for a particular contact. Options available are One (1) month to 300 months.

Minimum: The shortest program length this enrollment plan can be set to. Options available are One (1) month to 300 months.

Maximum: The longest program length this enrollment plan can be set to. Options available are One (1) month to 300 months.

Increment: The amount by which the Program Length will increase or decrease within the Minimum and Maximum Range. For example: if the minimum program length is set to 6 months and the maximum program length is set to 12 months, and the increment is 2, then the available length options will be 6, 8, 10, or 12.

Settlement Savings (Only for Debt Settlement Plans)

This section determines the available range of what the Debt Settlement company estimates that they can settle the client's debt for (based on percentage of enrolled debt value).

Est. Settlement %: The default "Estimated Settlement Amount" to be set on the Enrollment Plan when selecting it for a contact.

Minimum: The lowest that the Estimated Settlement % can be set to.

Maximum: The highest that the Estimated Settlement % can be set to.

Increment: The amount or by which the Estimated Settlement % will increase or decrease within the Minimum and Maximum Range. For example: if the minimum is set to 45 and the maximum is set to 60, and the increment is 5, then available Estimated Settlement % options will be 45, 50, 55, and 60 Percent.

This is a Performance Plan: This option should ONLY be selected if no fees are being collected before a settlement is achieved. This also includes if legal fees are present (such as Veritas). If the company is a performance-based company, you only need to set the fee as deferred (see the section below on Fees)

Draft Fee’s Separate: This checkbox will cause each Fee to process as separate transactions instead of combining their sums into single payments. ***Very few cases where this is ever needed as many payment processors will charge based on the number of transactions.

Includes Veritas Legal: Select this option if this plan includes fees to be paid to Veritas Legal.

Includes Consumer Defense Partners: Select this option if this plan includes fees to be paid to Consumer Defense Partners.

Use custom Debt Type Settlement Percentage: Select this option to use a custom Debt Type-assigned settlement percentage.

Estimated Settlement Percentage Display

If you have selected use Custom Debt Type Settlement Percentage, return to the Enrollment tab and follow these steps. 

1. Select an enrolled customer by clicking the right-facing green arrow in the table shown on that page. 
2. Click Edit Enrollment Plan in the Navigation Bar.
3. proceed to the Choose Debts to Enroll section.
4. Locate the Estimated Settlement % column in the Choose Debts to Enroll section (see image below).
   

Qualifiers

This section determines when a plan could be applicable for a contact. If a contact does not meet the criteria selected here, this plan will not be available when choosing an enrollment plan for them.

Legal Plan: By checking this box, the plan is labeled as a Legal Plan in the CRM.

Debt Amount: If selected, a minimum to maximum debt value must be entered. This plan would then only be available to contacts whose Enrolled Debt falls between those values.

Debt to Income Ratio: If selected, a minimum to maximum debt-to-income ratio must be entered. Income is determined by what is entered for a contact’s budget analysis.

States: If selected, States must be chosen from the list on the right. Only contacts living in one of the selected states will be eligible to use this plan.

Fee Profile

Fee Profiles allow for more dynamic fee ranges based on the debt information listed within a contact's record. Please read the Fee Profile article in the Help Center for more information on this topic.

If this option is missing, there are no fee profiles yet established in this account. To add the first Fee Profile to the CRM, navigate to the Admin Tab and then modify the URL to where page=feeprofiles ( example: https://login.forthcrm.com/index.php?module=administration&page=feeprofiles ) Once a fee profile has been created, this option will now be selectable from the Edit Enrollment Plan screen.

Processor Fees

Gateway / Monthly / Setup

This section shows which gateways/payment processors are currently integrated with the account and their monthly/setup fees. While some of these values are set on the backend (for example - ForthPay), many can have their fees changed from the Settlements Tab > Settings > Gateway Fees.

Comp Templates

Require Compensation Template to Save Plan Checkbox: Selecting this checkbox requires a Compensation Template selection when saving an Enrollment Plan, so that no plan is created or saved without a defined compensation structure.

Comp Templates to Show: This allows a user to specify what Compensation Templates (aka Fee Splits) can be selected for this plan.

Comp Template Default: This is where the default Compensation Template is selected for this plan.

Available Gateways: This allows a user to specify what Gateway they wish to have available for this plan.

For more information, see our Help Center article titled, Compensation Templates.

Role-Based Permissions for Shared Enrollment Plans

The Shared Enrollment Plans feature enhances the enrollment plan functionality by allowing limited editing by the receiving account. This enables the receiving account Admins to manage user role access and company-sharing settings while preserving the integrity of the original enrollment plan.

On the Enrollment Plans page, a Shared Plans section appears within the dropdown menu in the Navigation Bar, where the receiving account can view shared enrollment plans.

Each subsection within Shared Plans includes the name of the parent account that shares the enrollment plan. The parent account in the example image above would be "Greg Test Company."

Additionally, when configuring an enrollment plan, the Enrollment Plan settings page displays the accounts with which the parent account can share the plan.

Internal and External Access Controls

Shared With Companies (Internal Access Control): Controls what companies in the CRM have access to this enrollment plan.

Inter-Account Plan Sharing (External Access Control): This controls what account(s) this plan can be shared with.

This will be available if the Sharing Enabled checkbox is active. This can be done by contacting the FORTH support team.

Role Access

This controls what roles in the CRM have access to this enrollment plan.

Fees

This section is where all fees for the enrollment plan are described; up to seven (7) fees can be on a single enrollment plan. Each row of values is for a different fee “number.” 

NOTE: the Custom option in the "Fee Type" dropdown menu allows you to inherit fee percentages directly from the Debt Type settings for each debt in the enrollment plan, as well as set fallback values in the “Amount” field when a value doesn't exist for the debt type.

1. Processor Fee: This checkbox identifies if the fee is a Processor Fee. We recommend that the fees needing this checkbox be set to Fee 7 wherever possible to remain consistent with other accounts.
2. Active Checkbox: This checkbox lets the CRM know that this fee will be used on the enrollment plan. If left blank, the CRM believes this fee is to be ignored.
3. Name: This is what the fee is to be called for the Enrollment Plan
4. Fee Type: This dropdown menu is combined with item 5 to define the fee value.
   • Debt Percent: the fee will be calculated by taking the amount (item 5) and multiplying it by the Enrolled Debt value
   • Fixed Amount: the fee will be the exact amount specified for this fee every time a payment is made with it.
   • Sett Savings: the fee will be calculated by taking the amount (item 5) and multiplying it by the Estimated Settlement Amount (Est Savings x Enrolled Debt). Only applicable for Debt Settlement Enrollment Plans.
   • Fixed Amort: the fee will be the exact amount specified, divided by the number of payments it appears in.
   • Per Debt: the fee will be calculated by taking the amount (item 5) and multiplying it by the number of Enrolled Debts.
   • Custom Debt Percent: the fee will be calculated by taking the amount (item 5) and multiplying it by a value established.
     • This allows you to inherit fee percentages directly from Debt Type settings for each debt in the plan, as well as set fallback values in the “Amount” field when a value doesn't exist for the debt type.
   • Monthly Fee: the fee will be the exact amount specified. 

5. Amount: This is the value compared with item 4 to determine the fee value. See item 4 for Fee Type definitions.

6. Defer: This tells the CRM that this fee can only be paid out to the payee(s) upon the completion of a settlement offer. Only applicable for Performance-Based Debt Settlement Enrollment Plans.

7. Discount: This allows a discount for the fee to be listed. Rarely used.

8. Starts: This specifies when this fee starts in the program.

9. Ends: This specifies when the fee ends in the program.

10. Weighted Fee: This allows a user to specify if the fee needs to be paid out faster earlier in the program, and then it’ll be a lesser amount later in the program. For example, if there was a yearlong program, a user could specify that the first 50% of a fee is to be paid out in the first 4 months, and the remaining would then be paid out over the last 8 months.

11. Paid By Check: Defaults to No. If set to Yes, the CRM will not process this fee and it will be scheduled separately from the others, believing the enrolled client is sending in a check directly.

12. Hide: Defaults to No. If set to Yes, the CRM will hide this fee. Rarely used.

13. Method: Allows a user to specify if this fee will be ACH or CC. Rarely used since this will also cause this fee to process separately from other fees on the same enrollment plan.

14. Sub-Type: This allows the user to specify a custom sub-type label for the fee. This can be customized from the Enrollments Tab > Sub Types.

15. Gateway: This allows the user to specify if a fee must use a specific integrated gateway/payment processor. Rarely used since this will also cause this fee to process separately from other fees on the same enrollment plan.

Show Fee Subtotal Column

At the bottom left of this page is a checkbox letting you display a fee subtotal column in the enrollment plan.

Notify if fees exceed a Percentage of total debt

Just below the Show Fee Subtotal Column checkbox, there is a field where you may establish at what percent of the total debt that the your consumer will be notified if fees exceed that percent.

Client Savings

Only applicable for Debt Settlement file types (usually left blank)

Savings Start - This tells the enrollment plan when to start collecting money to go toward the savings account by the number of months in the future, or after Fees 1-7.

Savings End - This tells the enrollment plan when to stop collecting money to go toward the savings account. This option allows for the number of months, after Fees 1-7, or the program's lifetime.

Savings Adjustment - If checked, this setting will tell the CRM to balance the money going towards savings so as each payment made by the enrolled client can attempt to be as consistent as possible. Because of fee values, this may or may not be possible, but the CRM will attempt to do so.

Show Savings Accumulation - If checked, the CRM will add a column to be displayed when setting a contact up with this enrollment plan. The new column will display the accumulation of savings after each payment is made, assuming that each payment is to be cleared.

Once you finish with all sections of the Enrollment Plan, click Save Plan in the Navigation Bar (see below).

Troubleshooting/FAQ

Why is a critical payment frequency missing from my enrollment plan options?

The Two Monthly Drafts checkbox is an outdated legacy tool. Do not use it. Have a CRM Administrator contact the FORTH support team to toggle advanced multi-frequency scheduling permissions on your account.

The Fee Profile selection field is completely missing from my configuration screen. How do I fix this?

This occurs when your CRM account lacks preconfigured profiles. Navigate to the Admin tab and modify your browser URL to end with page=feeprofiles to set up your first profile. Once saved, the field will automatically appear on your enrollment plan setup page.

Why do I get an error when saving a contract?

If an agent schedules a payment beyond the configured limit, the system restricts the Save Enrollment Plan or Save & Generate Contract action. The system displays this validation message: "The first payment cannot be scheduled more than {X} days from the enrollment date. Select a date within the allowed range to continue."

How do I handle First Payment Limitation exceptions for specific customers?

Create multiple enrollment plans with identical attributes. Restrict your primary plan with a scheduling limit and leave your secondary plan unrestricted for agents to use when handling exceptions.