Archive for the 'Payday Loan Software' Category
September 26th, 2008 by Mo Cheng
The development of the call center software (previously referred to as the CSR module) has indeed been a long journey, and we’re starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel. Its times like these that make me anxious to finish - mainly because I just can’t wait to give it a full out test drive! In case you haven’t read up on the previous posts about this specific module heres a small recap:
The call center software was designed to run and manage a payday loan call center. If you aren’t familiar with the purpose of call centers in relation to payday loans, its simple - Call centers enable payday loan companies to focus customer service and collections operations in one central unit. As opposed to running a collections and customer service operation out of retail stores. This enables retail locations to focus on basic operations like loan origination, pay out, and payment acceptance while call centers specialize in reminder calls, past due accounts, and processing new applications. Not only is the call center fully integrated with retail operations, but also accepts internet applications as well!
The call center is indeed a fine crafted ship. 
Our new module handles everything from employee and floor management , third party risk management (Teletrack, CL Verify, etc), new and return application processing, all the way to collections. Heres a few snap shots of what we have so far… theres still more to come!
CSR management Screen
CSR Item Queue
CSR Item Processing
Embedded Activity Journals
September 3rd, 2008 by Mo Cheng
Wow. An entire work day finished! It seems to me that I should be a little further along than where I am at right now but, oh well. I’d rather take a longer time to make sure things are done right than rush through it. Anyways.
I just wanted to give you guys an update of the call center module. For those who aren’t familiar with call center operations, the CSR module im creating is used to manage the applications, collections, and follow-up items within a payday loan operation. Its used mainly for managing internet operations. The specific screen im going to show you is the Queue Management screen. We’re anticipating that a lot of floor managers will love this functionality. When im done with the screen, we’ll be able to manage, assign, approve, deny, and fund any applications that show up in this screen. Think of it as the single point of control for your entire call center. Im not completely done with it - so bare with me if there are buttons and things missing! Let me know what you think. Queue Management
August 13th, 2008 by Mo Cheng
One of the requirements in carrying out a full scale internet payday loan operation is the CSR module. The purpose of the CSR (which btw, CSR means customer service representative) module is to enable customer service clerks to finish out the rest of the underwriting process. The web application as advanced as it is, will never have the advanced thinking skills of a human - much less underwrite applications correctly to generate you interest revenue. Within this CSR process, telephone clerks should be calling all employment, banking, and personal referrences to make sure the information is reliable. Which is the reason im building the module we’re talking about here.
Its always exciting starting out a new module because the process is so fun! Theres a lot of creativity in the process, and thats what makes it so great - its like creating a sculpture from scratch and seeing it manifest as the day grows older. This is what I call a paper doll.
There used to be captions on this picture but I took them all off (haha competition!). The paper doll is kind of a way for development to shape the way a piece of software works before putting any real technical work into it. Over the next few days, ill be coinciding with a few industry experts to see if this imaginary version is something they’ll want to work with. From there, its a series of edits on the paper doll until we come up with something picture perfect. Then wha-laa! A new application is born.
August 12th, 2008 by Mo Cheng
For a long while, I always felt a little timid when explaining to people what it is I exactly do for a living. Because of the recent stigma generated by the mass media, payday loan merchants are despised and viewed as “loan sharks”. Being the smart person that I am, I never bought into the mass media movement for the nationwide shut-down of payday loan institutions.
I’ve seen the money I’ve saved for my borrowers.
I know the difference between paying 20 dollars to borrow 100 dollars, and paying the bank 150 dollars for over drafting 5 transactions in the sum of 100 dollars.
I know the difference between 500% APR, and 2000% APR.
When I picked up the Oregonian (a local city wide newspaper) and read up on the latest movement in the crack down of payday loans, I always thought to myself: “This movement isn’t for the people. APR caps sound great for the consumer up front, but the realistic result is total annihilation of the payday loan industry in Oregon”. Then I would think to myself: “This movement is funded by the banks and credit unions because the payday loan industry is biting into their NSF and over draft revenues.”
Well boys and girls - The time has come where proof of my hunch has surfaced into reality. According to one of my friends in the payday loan business, recent proof has shown that banks and credit unions loose 20% to 60% of their revenues when in the presence of unregulated payday loan institutions. 60%!!!! What this should tell you is one thing: Our financial banking institutions are the REAL predatory lenders of today. Not only are they charging our customers up to 5 times the amount of interest we charge for our loan products, but they are also MONOPOLIZING the financial market to make sure payday lenders like us are unable to give our consumers options. If you want to read more about this (which you should) check out Jerry’s Payday Loan Industry Blog.
With all this said, I feel like the technology me and my team is developing is supporting a GREATER cause. I firmly believe that the Empower software platform will bring us (the payday loan industry) together to form a stronger more resilient industry through business to business communication and networking. We have conscience on our side people, its just a matter of communicating that to the mass majority!
August 12th, 2008 by Mo Cheng
Before I started out in the payday loan industry, I was a software developer for big companies like Sungard and other software vendors of the like. Thats not counting all the millions of trips ive taken as a technical consultant for these companies to visit blue chip energy companies like BP, Calpine, and Shell. Back then a job was a job - If it paid my bills and I could live comfortably off of the income, I didn’t have much to complain about.
After a while I started to see just exactly what I was contributing to - helping big corporate energy giants create technology to make millions of dollars in trading profit per day. My six figure salary literally was pennies considering the profits they would amass in a single month. It wasn’t long before I started entertaining the idea of getting into another career. Between my obsession of writing picture perfect business applications, and a sharp know-how in some of the most advanced topics in finance I decided to take my first step into the payday loan industry.
The adventure began with a cash-out in savings that I had saved over the last few years as a software developer. With less than 40k in startup capital I started Green Valley Financial. Green Valley Financial was a special payday loan startup because we were focused on the look and feel of service rather than making obscene amounts of money. We figured that if we have the right presentation and a comfortable look and feel, we would attract the right kind of borrower and lower our default numbers. With that in mind, we did away with the classic bullet proof glass. In its place we setup couches and desks for borrowers to meet lenders face to face. Our aim was to create a presence which resembled the feel of a small size bank.
This “financial presence” formed the foundation of our business operations. In combination of providing advanced loan options, and customer payback programs we were able to break every conventional rule for starting a payday loan business - we were in a mid high to high income demographic, regularly attracted customers from beyond 20 miles away, and our average borrower income was around 50k a year (I even had a small group of borrowers making as much as six figures a year!). We had accomplished all this without the use of conventional advertising, and road side visibility. Our “advertising campaign” strictly relied on craigslist. - Can you believe that?!
Long story short - state regulation for APR crack downs forced by business to close in mid 2007. I wasn’t exactly bummed because I saw it happening a year before it happened. On top of that, I had developed a loan management system that was tried and true for the payday loan industry. Between then and now, is the story of Empower - but ill tell that one another day.
August 11th, 2008 by Mo Cheng
The suggested accounting processes of Synaptic Database have been built to mark and document its business activities for several different reasons; profitability, economic trends, tax savings, and transaction reconciliation. The documentation of Synaptic Database’s accounting process contains 6 steps: Transaction Capture, Daily Activity Detail Invoice, Transit Reconciliation, Month End Actualization, Month End Journal, and Accounting Month Close. Disclosed below is the detail of each step.
Transaction Capture – This step of the accounting process is used to capture the financial activities of your payday loan store (YOUR PDL). Transaction capture is used to record loan origination, loan renewals, due date changes, late fees on loans, origination charges, payments, petty cash activities, etc.
Daily Activity Detail Invoice – At the close of everyday, managers are required to download the Daily Activity Detail Invoice. This report will serve as a detailed summary of all financial activity for the day. Payments, originations, late charges, ACH transactions, etc will be captured and documented as transactions for the current closing day.
Transit Reconciliation – This process is used to actualize the cash flow of the bank account. Since check and ACH transactions do not hit the banking ledger until post Federal Reserve approval, many of the financial activities of YOUR PDL will be delayed up to 8 days. Transit reconciliation was created to take the guess work out of pending ACH and check cashing activities. Corporate offices will email bank activity batches to its store managers in the morning.
Using the bank activity batch, opening managers will upload the batch file containing all transactions in the bank account and reconcile realized activities from prior invoiced activities. All prior invoiced activities not captured in the current day reconciliation will remain in the invoicing system until a batch picks up the transaction. This step of accounting allows YOUR PDL to originate as many loans as possible without the possibility of bouncing a check to a customer in need.
Month End Actualization – After submitting the financial activities of YOUR PDL through the Transit Reconciliation process, a last look is produced and a final step of actualization between your software application and the bank is performed. Final adjustments are made to month end balances and documented. A Month End Store file is produced for the corporate office in preparation for the Month End Journal.
Month End Journal – In the Month End Journal process, a monthly journal will log a summary of the store’s activities. The summary of the log documents activities based on forward and realized receivable/payables, deposits, withdrawals, collection totals, write-offs, and expenses to compute the grand intra month PNL as well as the rolling month PNL. In the Synaptic Database accounting process, the journalizing process not only helps in keeping track of income and expenses but also helps build references to track yearly activity trends, marketing accuracy, and ROI. Because each step of the Synaptic Database accounting process is a summary of its proceeding step, a journal entry can be broken back down to its originating transaction for taxing or auditing purposes.
Accounting Month Close – After journal entry, the accounting month is closed for further adjustments. Any adjustments with a date taking place in a closed month will be prohibited without the consent of the general manager. In the case of post journal adjustments, the adjustment will take place in the forward accounting month. The account month close should be enforced by the software application forbidding adjustments to activities made in the closed accounting month.