How to Record a Partial Payment, Missed (Zero) Payment, and Catch Up Payment

What happens when your borrower makes a partial or $0 payment?
This guide will show you your options. 

Firstly, Bryt has default waterfall rules in place.
Waterfall rules are a priority of payment categories that funds are designated to based on a natural hierarchy evaluated by our system.
Note: If these default categories aren't applied to your desired categories, you can always select the Enter Manually button (shown below) when recording a payment. 

Waterfall Rules (Payment Category Hierarchy) - Documentation Link
Current Payment (Pay Period) Impound
Current Payment (Pay Period) Due Lender Fees
Current Payment (Pay Period) Interest
Current Payment (Pay Period) Late Fee
Outstanding Lender Fees
Outstanding Interest
Outstanding Late
Principal

Addressing a Partial Payment
If a borrower may only be able to make a partial payment, it is beneficial to understand how that payment will be allocated.
In the example loan below, the monthly payment amount is $155 to cover interest, lender fees, and principal. The borrower was able to make the first payment at the full amount, but for one reason or another was only able to pay half of the due amount the next month.

Although the $75 payment doesn’t cover the full amount of interest that is owed, Bryt will allocate the payments according to the Waterfall rules previously noted.

In the Assign Payment Values page, we see how the payment is being allocated for this pay period. The lender fee is paid first, followed by the interest owed. Any outstanding interest will automatically go towards Outstanding Interest*.
Once this payment has been accepted by clicking Accept These Values, we will have $24.03 in Outstanding Interest**. In the following pay period, current interest and current lender fees will be paid first, followed by any outstanding dues, then principal.
*Note: However, one can click the Enter Manually button and have any outstanding interest applied toward the principal balance instead (shown in the image below).

**The amount that is set to Outstanding Interest can be viewed by going to the loan's Summary page and seeing the Interest Balance amount.

Addressing a $0 Payment
If a borrower missed a payment, you’d want to record that within Bryt as a $0 payment to 'close' out that pay period.
The difference between an Open or Closed Pay Period
If you have late fees that apply to the loan, you’d want to record the $0 payment after the grace period so that a late fee is generated.
Explanation - If you wait until the borrower makes payment before updating a loan's payments, we'd suggest recording $0 payments using the day they finally record the following payment. This way you'd be closing out Open pay periods in the past, until you reach the pay period they actually paid dues within, noting the following payment activity date was on their next 'True' payment date. Ultimately, it doesn't matter (if you want to trigger the late fees), but this explained version is a bit less arbitrary. Full example titled 'Open/Closed Pay Periods and Catching up on Payments' in the next section.
Using the same loan from the previous example, we will enter a $0 payment to reflect a missed payment after the grace period. This loan has a grace period of 5 days.

If we were to record the $0 payment any day before the grace period was over, we would not get a drop-down menu for the late fee.
In the Assign Payment Values page, we will see that the Interest, Late Fee, and Monthly Service fees will be assigned as outstanding and due the next pay period.
Note: One can click the Enter Manually button and have any outstanding interest applied toward the principal balance instead.

The following month, the current dues will be paid first, followed by any outstanding dues, then principal.

Open/Closed Pay Periods and Catching up on Payments
For this loan scenario, the borrower made their first payment on time but missed 3 pay periods and caught up on the fourth. As you'll note, the 'Paid On' date for those missed pay periods would denote the date they actually made a payment (within that pay period). 

Note: If you're curious about where the 'Other' values are applied, check the Register on the left-hand column to see that the $3,300 Other amount was applied to $3,000 Oustanding Interest and $300 Outstanding Late Fees.
Also, if you're entering historic data for an old loan and your schedule shows dues under the 'L Due' (Late Due) column, the reason it shows amounts under the L Due column is due to Today's true date. The system shows calculations based on today's date, so it'll show late-due amounts based on today's date. Once youenter the payment's date within the grace period it'll disappear. You can also manually skip the late fee when recording the payment. There is no correct way, only your way.