Setting up and using credit ratings
CareHQ allows you to define a set of credit ratings which can be assigned to billing parties related to resident/service user records, to help categorise and assist with reporting on current debts.
This article covers how an Account owner user can set up credit ratings, assign ratings to billing parties, and view a report based on these ratings.
How to set up credit ratings
To add a credit rating for use on CareHQ, follow these steps:
- From the main navigation menu, select Account.
- At the top of the Account details page, select the Finance tab.
- Scroll down to the Credit rating definitions section. Any credit ratings listed can be updated by selecting one, but select Add credit rating definition to create a new rating.
- Enter a descriptive Name such as High risk, Low risk, or anything else that fits your needs.
- Enter a short Code for this rating which will appear under the Credit control tab for each resident/service user, against their billing parties.
- Select a Severity for the rating, from 0 to 9. At least one credit rating must be the lowest setting of 0, as this is the default for all billing parties initially.
- Enter a Colour for this rating in hexadecimal format; a hash symbol followed by three or six characters. See Good to Know, below, for more details about colours.
- Optionally, enter a Description for the credit rating, then select Save.
When adding or updating a credit rating, the Colour field uses a hexidecimal format to show your preferred colour for the rating on CareHQ, allowing for easy recognition at a glance. A hexidecimal colour example would be #FFD700 for a deep yellow. Online resources such as the Google Colour picker are an easy source of a huge range of colours; click on a hue and pick a shade to select your colour, then copy its hexidecimal (HEX) code. Remember to include the hash symbol (#) at the start of the Colour code before saving.
How to assign credit ratings
To assign/change a credit rating for a resident/service user billing party, follow these steps:
- Select Service users from the main navigation menu.
- Select a service user/resident that you wish to amend credit rating(s) for.
- At the top of the page, select the Credit control tab.
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Either:
- Select the coloured credit rating to the left of the billing party name, and then select Change rating from the Credit rating history page.
- Or select the three dots just to the right of View statement and then select Change rating.
- On the Change credit rating page, select an appropriate Rating and then enter a Reason for the rating change, which will be stored as a comment on the Credit control tab for the resident.
- Select to Save the credit rating change.
A credit rating set for a location contact such as a council will only be associated with the service user/resident record where any change was made. The rating will not automatically apply to every resident connected to the location contact, so for example Oxford County Council might have a High risk credit rating flag set for one resident but may show a low risk rating against all other residents that it funds.
The Credit ratings report
To view the Credit ratings report, follow these steps:
- Select Reports from the main navigation menu.
- Select the Finance tab.
- Select the Credit ratings report.
- If you wish, select Filters to target a Rating and/or Location group/Location, then Update to filter the report.
The Credit ratings report shows a range of figures including total debt in each credit rating category, excluding the lowest (category 0) severity. The report also displays the number of debtors in each category, the average amount of debt and the average age of the debt.
Below the By rating section is a table showing a breakdown of any records included in the categories, with details of service user/resident name and billing party, the debt amount, the reason for the rating and when it was assigned.