Applying Unallocated Payments to the Correct Accounts

Our water client found that their customers would pay their bills using a bank transfer but did not always use the correct payment ID. This meant the client was unable to identify the correct accounts to allocate these payments to. Over time, an increasing backlog developed creating a large credit in the financial statements. This problem was highlighted by a growing credit that the client could not allocate, and in addition, they were aware that 16% of customer complaints were due to unallocated payments.

By using our data cleanse tool, we delivered a client-specific solution that allowed us to analyse and categorise the client’s unallocated payments. There is no standard payment reference protocol for paying bills so customers would routinely include as much detail as possible thinking this would help the client to identify the payment. However, this resulted in strings of ‘coded’ references that were not easy to decipher.

See how our data analytics and segmentation capabilities enabled the successful allocation of 90% of the unrecognised customer payments totalling £1.87m.