DMBM402020 - Interest: Charging interest – by IT system: Charging interest in SAFE: Automatic calculation and raising of an interest charge

Interest may be calculated and raised automatically in the following circumstances

• When a payment fully clears a charge.
• When a reallocated payment clears a charge.
• Where a charge amendment (decrease) clears the balance outstanding.
• When a previously returned (Dishonoured) payment is re-posted and clears a charge.

Interest will not be calculated and raised automatically in the following circumstances

• Where a payment on account is processed.
• Where a small remission clears a charge and there are previous payments on account.
• (This text has been withheld because of exemptions in the Freedom of Information Act 2000)
• The Interest Exception signal (known as an Interest Lock in SAFE) has been set at Customer Account level.
• The Inhibit Interest signal (known as an Interest Lock in SAFE) has been set at Individual Charge level.

Payment received includes tax and interest

Where a payment application has been issued showing tax, etc. and accrued interest the customer will normally pay this amount. The accruing interest is calculated to the date of issue of the application. There will be a delay between the date of issue of the application and the Effective Date of Payment (EDP) during which additional interest will accrue. On processing the payment the system will recalculate the interest due to the EDP and proceed as follows.

• (This text has been withheld because of exemptions in the Freedom of Information Act 2000). The charge will be cleared and that part of the payment which relates to interest will be temporarily posted to the Unallocated Payment suspense account attached to the Customer Account. The interest charge will be created when the payment clears the tax charge and the auto clearing process will reallocate the interest payment from Unallocated Payments.
• A charge notification for the interest is not issued in these circumstances.
• (This text has been withheld because of exemptions in the Freedom of Information Act 2000). The charge will be cleared and that part of the payment which relates to interest will be temporarily posted to the Unallocated Payment suspense account attached to the Customer Account. The interest charge will be created when the payment clears the tax charge and the auto clearing process will reallocate the interest payment from Unallocated Payments. This will be treated as a payment on account of the interest charge.

A charge notification for the interest is issued showing total interest payable including details of the payments on account.

Display and print interest calculation

For a specific charge in SAFE it is possible to display and print the interest calculation when either interest has been charged or is accruing. Accruing interest can be calculated and displayed to either today’s date or a future date. There is no stand alone interest calculation facility.

If you wish to print the interest calculation depress the ‘Alt’ and ‘Print screen’ keys together, open Word and paste.