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Savings Club payouts and interest

Pay money out of a goal​

A payout takes money out of a goal and hands it to the client. You can pay out the whole balance or part of it.

The Request Payout button appears on a goal's page when the goal is Active or Completed and has money in it.

  1. Open Savings Club > Goals and click the eye icon on the goal.

  2. Click Request Payout.

  3. The dialog shows the Goal and its Available Balance.

  4. Payout Amount - how much to pay out. It cannot be more than the available balance.

  5. Payout Type - type one of the three accepted values exactly as shown here, in lower case:

    Type thisWhen to use it
    goal_reachedThe client has reached their target
    early_withdrawalThe client is taking money out before reaching the target
    emergencyAn emergency withdrawal

  6. Payout Date - defaults to today.

  7. Notes (optional) - any detail you want kept with the payout, up to 500 characters.

  8. Check the summary box, which shows the Payout Amount and what will be Remaining after payout.

  9. Click Confirm Payout.

You see "Payout request submitted".

caution

The Payout Type box suggests examples such as "full" or "partial", but the system only accepts goal_reached, early_withdrawal or emergency. Anything else is refused with "Failed to submit payout request". If you see that message, check the payout type first, then check the amount is not more than the balance.

A payout takes effect immediately​

Although the button says Request Payout, there is no approval step. When you click Confirm Payout:

  • The goal's Current Balance goes down by the payout amount straight away.
  • If the balance reaches zero, the goal becomes Completed and its Completion Date is set to the payout date.
  • The payout is recorded in the accounts as cash paid out and less money owed to the saver. It appears on the day's cash book under Savings payouts.

Only hand over the cash after you have confirmed the payout and seen the success message. A payout cannot be reversed from the screen.

The goal page does not list past payouts. To see them, use the day's cash book in Cash management, or ask a manager to look at the Savings Payable account in the GL Account Statement, where each payout appears as "Payout from" followed by the goal name.

How interest is added​

Whether goals earn interest, and at what rate, depends on your organisation's settings. Some organisations pay no interest at all.

Where interest applies:

  • Interest is added once a month, at the start of the month, by the system. You do not need to do anything.
  • Each active goal with money in it receives the goal's balance multiplied by your organisation's Savings Club interest rate.
  • The interest is added to the goal's Current Balance and to its Interest Earned figure. It does not appear as a line in the Contribution History.
  • A goal only receives interest once per month, even if the monthly run is repeated.
  • Completed and cancelled goals do not earn interest.
  • If the interest takes the balance to the target or above, the goal becomes Completed.

The Interest Earned column on individual contributions normally shows 0, because interest is added to the whole balance each month rather than to each payment.

The Goal Projection panel shown when you create a goal uses an example rate, so its interest figure is an estimate only.

Interest in the accounts​

When interest is added, no cash moves. The organisation now owes the saver more, and that increase is recorded as an expense of the organisation (interest paid on savings). You can see it on the Profit & Loss (Income Statement) report. See How the books work.

Setting the interest rate​

The Savings Club interest rate is part of your organisation's product settings, managed by an administrator. See Administration.