Comforting to hear I am not the only treasurer dealing with members who forget the penny amount, or write it in on the amount line and not on the word line. With over 50 members it is a chore to peruse every check. Then you have people who can't be bothered putting in the pennies. The easiest thing is when people set up auto bill pay with their bank. The checks come every month and they have the correct amount. Our only problem is with the bill pay checks that come from Chase. Most times Fidelity scanners cannot read them so it takes a lot longer to make a deposit.
Linda
Pointe Players
From: club_cafe@bivio.com [mailto:club_cafe@bivio.com] On Behalf Of Liz Schambach via bivio.com Sent: Wednesday, March 16, 2016 9:40 AM To: club_cafe@bivio.com Subject: Re: [club_cafe] Folio Accounting
Be cautious. Members sometimes forget to include their "assigned penny amount" or write it in one place on the check and not in the other. For example numerical amount shows $50.04 but word amount shows fifty & 00/100.
Check each one before submitting them to broker. Liz
We have Schwab and they also don't include check copies so we assign a number to each member starting with 1 and each member adds that amount of pennies to her check. As treasurer that has made it easy for me to identify to whom the payment belongs. We do not reuse the number, but I suppose that in few years they could be reused.
Jean Wochna
Dollars and Sense
On Friday, March 11, 2016 11:18 AM, Deborah Emerson <einvest20@gmail.com> wrote:
Our newly formed club has sent checks via their bill pay to Folio. How do we reconcile who sent what since your transaction history does not list the name of the person. One of the checks did not post to our account and Folio cannot tell us which one. Please help!
Most of our members also use autopay from their bank which means that as treasurer you don't have to be responsible for handling the mailing and the payment. Another great perk for using the penny method and autopay. I used to get checks at different times and not wanting to hold until I received all of them I would have to send them in several batches.
Comforting to hear I am not the only treasurer dealing with members who forget the penny amount, or write it in on the amount line and not on the word line. With over 50 members it is a chore to peruse every check. Then you have people who can't be bothered putting in the pennies. The easiest thing is when people set up auto bill pay with their bank. The checks come every month and they have the correct amount. Our only problem is with the bill pay checks that come from Chase. Most times Fidelity scanners cannot read them so it takes a lot longer to make a deposit.
Be cautious. Members sometimes forget to include their "assigned penny amount" or write it in one place on the check and not in the other. For example numerical amount shows $50.04 but word amount shows fifty & 00/100.
Check each one before submitting them to broker. Liz
We have Schwab and they also don't include check copies so we assign a number to each member starting with 1 and each member adds that amount of pennies to her check. As treasurer that has made it easy for me to identify to whom the payment belongs. We do not reuse the number, but I suppose that in few years they could be reused.
Jean Wochna
Dollars and Sense
On Friday, March 11, 2016 11:18 AM, Deborah Emerson <einvest20@gmail.com> wrote:
Our newly formed club has sent checks via their bill pay to Folio. How do we reconcile who sent what since your transaction history does not list the name of the person. One of the checks did not post to our account and Folio cannot tell us which one. Please help!
I used to get checks at various times, especially when someone had to miss our monthly meeting, We changed our bylaws to require that checks be delivered to the Treasurer by or on the meeting date or incur a $10 late fee. After that I seldom received a late check since the fee was large enough to encourage promptness. The result was a few late fees that made the point and I could deliver the checks the first working day after our meeting..
Mike Jones
Wall$treet Wannabees
Bloomington, MN
From: Norma Wochna <jean.wochna@sbcglobal.net> To: club_cafe@bivio.com Sent: Wednesday, March 16, 2016 10:00 AM Subject: Re: [club_cafe] checkwriting
Most of our members also use autopay from their bank which means that as treasurer you don't have to be responsible for handling the mailing and the payment. Another great perk for using the penny method and autopay. I used to get checks at different times and not wanting to hold until I received all of them I would have to send them in several batches.
Comforting to hear I am not the only treasurer dealing with members who forget the penny amount, or write it in on the amount line and not on the word line. With over 50 members it is a chore to peruse every check. Then you have people who can't be bothered putting in the pennies. The easiest thing is when people set up auto bill pay with their bank. The checks come every month and they have the correct amount. Our only problem is with the bill pay checks that come from Chase. Most times Fidelity scanners cannot read them so it takes a lot longer to make a deposit.
Be cautious. Members sometimes forget to include their "assigned penny amount" or write it in one place on the check and not in the other. For example numerical amount shows $50.04 but word amount shows fifty & 00/100.
Check each one before submitting them to broker. Liz
We have Schwab and they also don't include check copies so we assign a number to each member starting with 1 and each member adds that amount of pennies to her check. As treasurer that has made it easy for me to identify to whom the payment belongs. We do not reuse the number, but I suppose that in few years they could be reused.
Jean Wochna
Dollars and Sense
On Friday, March 11, 2016 11:18 AM, Deborah Emerson <einvest20@gmail.com> wrote:
Our newly formed club has sent checks via their bill pay to Folio. How do we reconcile who sent what since your transaction history does not list the name of the person. One of the checks did not post to our account and Folio cannot tell us which one. Please help!
Replying to concern about not knowing who sent in check.
Our club uses TD Ameritrade. Each month I collect checks from those who do not
use autopay. I have a form that I use to fill in the name, check number, and
amount of each check. I send a copy of this to the broker with the total number
of checks and total amount of deposit. I keep a second copy in my records. On
the end-of-month brokers statement, the number of each check deposited shows up
under 'Credits." This is the cross check you need to be sure your deposits have
been made accurately. Having a record of the check numbers is also useful
for inquiries from members about their checks. It's easy to set up a form
that you update each month with new information and that becomes part of your
permanent records.
Those members who use autopay add a certain amount of
pennies to each month's deposit so that I know who sent that deposit. This may
not be necessary as the name of the depositor shows up on the brokerage
statement at the end of the month, but knowing the person from the amount
deposited allows me to credit that person as soon as Bivio swipes the deposit
into our accounting.
Good luck to all treasurers and enjoy investing.
Remember to keep green on your screen!
Peg Wentworth
Treasurer, Women's Investment Network, Lancaster,
PA
Most of our members also use autopay from their bank which means that as
treasurer you don't have to be responsible for handling the mailing and the
payment. Another great perk for using the penny method and autopay. I used to
get checks at different times and not wanting to hold until I received all of
them I would have to send them in several batches.
Comforting
to hear I am not the only treasurer dealing with members who forget the penny
amount, or write it in on the amount line and not on the word line. With
over 50 members it is a chore to peruse every check. Then you have
people who can't be bothered putting in the pennies. The easiest thing
is when people set up auto bill pay with their bank. The checks come
every month and they have the correct amount. Our only problem is with
the bill pay checks that come from Chase. Most times Fidelity scanners
cannot read them so it takes a lot longer to make a
deposit.
Be cautious.
Members sometimes forget to include their "assigned penny amount"
or write it in one place on the check and not in the other.
For example numerical amount shows $50.04 but word amount shows fifty
& 00/100.
Check each one
before submitting them to broker. Liz
We have Schwab and they also don't include check copies
so we assign a number to each member starting with 1 and each member adds that
amount of pennies to her check. As treasurer that has made it easy for me
to identify to whom the payment belongs. We do not reuse the number, but I
suppose that in few years they could be
reused.
Jean Wochna
Dollars and Sense
On
Friday, March 11, 2016 11:18 AM, Deborah Emerson <einvest20@gmail.com>
wrote:
Our newly formed
club has sent checks via their bill pay to Folio. How do we reconcile
who sent what since your transaction history does not list the name of the
person. One of the checks did not post to our account and Folio cannot
tell us which one. Please
help!
I do not accept anything but checks so that the member has a record of payment. I do not accept late checks ( later than 1 day after our monthly Thurs mtg. ). I do not care if individual members keep up with their payments, pay with a lump sum or pay at a following meeting if they missed a payment. I don't keep track----Bivio does. We have a club checking account where payments are kept until necessary to make a transfer to the brokerage account. We were going to switch to a system with individual direct payments to the brokerage account but after hearing about the "problems" with the penny system I'm not so sure.
I used to get checks at various times, especially when someone had to miss our monthly meeting, We changed our bylaws to require that checks be delivered to the Treasurer by or on the meeting date or incur a $10 late fee. After that I seldom received a late check since the fee was large enough to encourage promptness. The result was a few late fees that made the point and I could deliver the checks the first working day after our meeting..
Most of our members also use autopay from their bank which means that as treasurer you don't have to be responsible for handling the mailing and the payment. Another great perk for using the penny method and autopay. I used to get checks at different times and not wanting to hold until I received all of them I would have to send them in several batches.
Comforting to hear I am not the only treasurer dealing with members who forget the penny amount, or write it in on the amount line and not on the word line. With over 50 members it is a chore to peruse every check. Then you have people who can't be bothered putting in the pennies. The easiest thing is when people set up auto bill pay with their bank. The checks come every month and they have the correct amount. Our only problem is with the bill pay checks that come from Chase. Most times Fidelity scanners cannot read them so it takes a lot longer to make a deposit.
Be cautious. Members sometimes forget to include their "assigned penny amount" or write it in one place on the check and not in the other. For example numerical amount shows $50.04 but word amount shows fifty & 00/100.
Check each one before submitting them to broker. Liz
We have Schwab and they also don't include check copies so we assign a number to each member starting with 1 and each member adds that amount of pennies to her check. As treasurer that has made it easy for me to identify to whom the payment belongs. We do not reuse the number, but I suppose that in few years they could be reused.
Jean Wochna
Dollars and Sense
On Friday, March 11, 2016 11:18 AM, Deborah Emerson <einvest20@gmail.com> wrote:
Our newly formed club has sent checks via their bill pay to Folio. How do we reconcile who sent what since your transaction history does not list the name of the person. One of the checks did not post to our account and Folio cannot tell us which one. Please help!
Even with direct deposit, there shouldn't be a problem. I'm in one club that uses checks and another one that uses direct deposit. Both techniques work fine, although I think direct deposit is the better choice. In both we are assigned "cents" based on the last two digits of our address. (Assigning numbers also works, but using your address makes it easy to remember.) Even if one person forgets to put in the additional cents, the others will likely submit the proper amount, and the odd one is easily identified. Should there ever be a question as to who submitted what amount, it is easy for the partners to access their own bank accounts and actually see how much was submitted. My bank shows my prior amount next to where I enter the payment so it is easy to stay on track.
(BTW, in the one where we use checks, some people forget to bring checks while some others pay quarterly. Our treasurer says it isn't a problem. I see no purpose in a late fee. Im my opinion, if they are late, the amount goes in and is recorded by Bivio [or other accounting services, if used] and is duly recorded. To avoid more than one mailing, you could also hold it until the next batch are mailed. That is sufficient "punishment" for late submissions.)
Roy Chastain
"There is nothing on this earth moreto be prized than true friendship." Thomas Aquinas
On Mar 16, 2016, at 9:27 AM, Dave & Betsy Rowekamp <rowefam@hbci.com> wrote:
I do not accept anything but checks so that the member has a record of payment. I do not accept late checks ( later than 1 day after our monthly Thurs mtg. ). I do not care if individual members keep up with their payments, pay with a lump sum or pay at a following meeting if they missed a payment. I don't keep track----Bivio does. We have a club checking account where payments are kept until necessary to make a transfer to the brokerage account. We were going to switch to a system with individual direct payments to the brokerage account but after hearing about the "problems" with the penny system I'm not so sure.
I used to get checks at various times, especially when someone had to miss our monthly meeting, We changed our bylaws to require that checks be delivered to the Treasurer by or on the meeting date or incur a $10 late fee. After that I seldom received a late check since the fee was large enough to encourage promptness. The result was a few late fees that made the point and I could deliver the checks the first working day after our meeting..
Most of our members also use autopay from their bank which means that as treasurer you don't have to be responsible for handling the mailing and the payment. Another great perk for using the penny method and autopay. I used to get checks at different times and not wanting to hold until I received all of them I would have to send them in several batches.
Comforting to hear I am not the only treasurer dealing with members who forget the penny amount, or write it in on the amount line and not on the word line. With over 50 members it is a chore to peruse every check. Then you have people who can't be bothered putting in the pennies. The easiest thing is when people set up auto bill pay with their bank. The checks come every month and they have the correct amount. Our only problem is with the bill pay checks that come from Chase. Most times Fidelity scanners cannot read them so it takes a lot longer to make a deposit.
Be cautious. Members sometimes forget to include their "assigned penny amount" or write it in one place on the check and not in the other. For example numerical amount shows $50.04 but word amount shows fifty & 00/100.
Check each one before submitting them to broker. Liz
We have Schwab and they also don't include check copies so we assign a number to each member starting with 1 and each member adds that amount of pennies to her check. As treasurer that has made it easy for me to identify to whom the payment belongs. We do not reuse the number, but I suppose that in few years they could be reused.
Jean Wochna
Dollars and Sense
On Friday, March 11, 2016 11:18 AM, Deborah Emerson <einvest20@gmail.com> wrote:
Our newly formed club has sent checks via their bill pay to Folio. How do we reconcile who sent what since your transaction history does not list the name of the person. One of the checks did not post to our account and Folio cannot tell us which one. Please help!
Our club is in the process of streamlining our member contribution process using "Penny payment". We will shortly be able to eliminate our separate Bank account which only acted to consolidate our payments and cash checks. We now have members submit payments directly to TD Ameritrade. The members are handling their direct payments in 3 ways:
A few send their own personal checks to TDA
Others use their personal bank to pay on line:
If their bank does little business with TDA, it will send a check
If their bank does a lot of business with TDA, it will do an electronic transfer. In this case, the member's name appears in the credits section next to the transaction in TDA.
We have so far had no problem with the Penny Payment process and the direct payments. It saves me as the treasurer, a lot of manual entry and trips to the bank, and funds transfers. It also allows the members to send in their payment whenever they want and bivio keeps track. Bivio automatically notifies me of an unidentified credit that needs to be defined, but after a while it learns who owns which penny and enters the payment next to their name in the table. I simply have to change the valuation date of the contribution to match the transaction date in bivio per our club's rules. TDA also provides free checks.
Even with direct deposit, there shouldn't be a problem. I'm in one club that uses checks and another one that uses direct deposit. Both techniques work fine, although I think direct deposit is the better choice. In both we are assigned "cents" based on the last two digits of our address. (Assigning numbers also works, but using your address makes it easy to remember.) Even if one person forgets to put in the additional cents, the others will likely submit the proper amount, and the odd one is easily identified. Should there ever be a question as to who submitted what amount, it is easy for the partners to access their own bank accounts and actually see how much was submitted. My bank shows my prior amount next to where I enter the payment so it is easy to stay on track.
(BTW, in the one where we use checks, some people forget to bring checks while some others pay quarterly. Our treasurer says it isn't a problem. I see no purpose in a late fee. Im my opinion, if they are late, the amount goes in and is recorded by Bivio [or other accounting services, if used] and is duly recorded. To avoid more than one mailing, you could also hold it until the next batch are mailed. That is sufficient "punishment" for late submissions.)
Roy Chastain
"There is nothing on this earth moreto be prized than true friendship." Thomas Aquinas
On Mar 16, 2016, at 9:27 AM, Dave & Betsy Rowekamp <rowefam@hbci.com> wrote:
I do not accept anything but checks so that the member has a record of payment. I do not accept late checks ( later than 1 day after our monthly Thurs mtg. ). I do not care if individual members keep up with their payments, pay with a lump sum or pay at a following meeting if they missed a payment. I don't keep track----Bivio does. We have a club checking account where payments are kept until necessary to make a transfer to the brokerage account. We were going to switch to a system with individual direct payments to the brokerage account but after hearing about the "problems" with the penny system I'm not so sure.
I used to get checks at various times, especially when someone had to miss our monthly meeting, We changed our bylaws to require that checks be delivered to the Treasurer by or on the meeting date or incur a $10 late fee. After that I seldom received a late check since the fee was large enough to encourage promptness. The result was a few late fees that made the point and I could deliver the checks the first working day after our meeting..
Most of our members also use autopay from their bank which means that as treasurer you don't have to be responsible for handling the mailing and the payment. Another great perk for using the penny method and autopay. I used to get checks at different times and not wanting to hold until I received all of them I would have to send them in several batches.
Comforting to hear I am not the only treasurer dealing with members who forget the penny amount, or write it in on the amount line and not on the word line. With over 50 members it is a chore to peruse every check. Then you have people who can't be bothered putting in the pennies. The easiest thing is when people set up auto bill pay with their bank. The checks come every month and they have the correct amount. Our only problem is with the bill pay checks that come from Chase. Most times Fidelity scanners cannot read them so it takes a lot longer to make a deposit.
Be cautious. Members sometimes forget to include their "assigned penny amount" or write it in one place on the check and not in the other. For example numerical amount shows $50.04 but word amount shows fifty & 00/100.
Check each one before submitting them to broker. Liz
We have Schwab and they also don't include check copies so we assign a number to each member starting with 1 and each member adds that amount of pennies to her check. As treasurer that has made it easy for me to identify to whom the payment belongs. We do not reuse the number, but I suppose that in few years they could be reused.
Jean Wochna
Dollars and Sense
On Friday, March 11, 2016 11:18 AM, Deborah Emerson <einvest20@gmail.com> wrote:
Our newly formed club has sent checks via their bill pay to Folio. How do we reconcile who sent what since your transaction history does not list the name of the person. One of the checks did not post to our account and Folio cannot tell us which one. Please help!