Assistance pledges from agencies

How do we take assistance pledges from agencies on their own link, protect the account the moment a pledge arrives, and match the payment when it lands?

Give every agency a link and make the pledge a state on the account. Callvu gives each assistance agency (the LIHEAP grantee, a community action agency, a charity, a faith organization) a secure link to submit pledges with the customer, the account, the amount, the program and the expected payment date, matches the pledge to the account (the name, the address, the account number), classifies it (a full or partial pledge against the balance or the disconnection amount, a crisis or a regular benefit, a pledge that needs a customer contribution), writes the pledge hold to the billing system and the collections schedule the moment it is accepted so no disconnection proceeds while it is pending within the rules' period, tells the customer, tracks the pledge to its payment date and chases the agency when it is late, matches the agency's payment when it lands (by the pledge reference, the batch file or the remittance), routes an unmatched or expired pledge to the credit desk in the Decision Desk, and records every pledge and payment for the program reporting.

In scopeComplex: multi-party handoffsCallvu moves: chase and verify, classify, write back

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Last updated November 7, 2026.

The problem today

The agency faxed the pledge at four, the fax queue was read at nine the next morning, and the customer had been disconnected at eight.

Today, without Callvu

Energy assistance moves through pledges: an agency commits to pay part of a customer's bill, and the payment follows days or weeks later. The pledge is what keeps the service on in between, and it arrives by fax, phone or email to a queue nobody owns. A pledge not posted before the shutoff order releases is a disconnection of a customer the public program had just protected; a pledge never matched to its payment is a balance the customer is chased for twice.

The federal program's rules and the state's program rules require the utility to accept pledges from the designated agencies, to hold disconnection for a pledge within the rules' period, and to apply the payment to the account; the commission's disconnection rules make a pledge a protective state; the program reporting requires the pledge and the payment records. Each is a rule on data the agency can enter itself.

A pledge entered by the agency on a link is on the account in seconds, and the shutoff check reads it.

How it runs

From the requestto the system of record.

An agency submits a pledge for a customer through its link (or the utility receives one by its legacy channels and enters it). Callvu matches the pledge and opens the case on the account.

Assistance agency: Submits the pledge on its link, confirms the payment date and pays through its program's channel.
Customer: Is told the pledge and any contribution it requires, and sees the account protected.
Credit and collections desk: Decides unmatched, partial and expired pledges in the Decision Desk.
Callvu: Matches, classifies, writes the hold, tracks, chases, matches the payment, routes and records.

Chase and verify the pledge
The agency enters the pledge on its link with the customer's name, address and account number, the amount, the program (LIHEAP regular or crisis, a state program, a charity fund), the expected payment date and any customer contribution the program requires; the pledge is matched to the account by the identifiers, and a pledge that does not match or lacks an element is chased from the agency with the specifics; the agency's authorization to pledge under the program is checked against the utility's list.
Classify and protect
The pledge is classified: full or partial against the balance or the amount required to avoid disconnection, a crisis pledge with its program clock, a pledge requiring a customer contribution; the pledge hold is written to the billing system and the collections schedule at once, so the disconnection sequence and any pending order are held for the rules' period, and the customer is told the pledge, the hold and any contribution due.
Track and match the payment
The pledge is tracked to its expected payment date, the agency is chased through its link when the payment is late, and the agency's payment is matched when it lands (by the pledge reference on the remittance, the program's batch file, or the amount and the account) and applied to the balance; a pledge that expires unpaid beyond the rules' period or a payment that does not match goes to the credit and collections desk in the Decision Desk with the record and only the allowed outcomes (extend the hold, apply a partial, release the hold with the notice rules restarted, or reconcile with the agency).
Write back and report
The pledge, the hold, the payment and its application, the customer contribution and the outcome are written to the billing system and the CIS, and recorded for the program's reporting (the pledges and the payments by agency and program), with the customer's arrears updated and the collections state set from the result.

Where it ends: The pledge protected the account the moment the agency entered it, the customer was told, the payment was matched and applied when it landed, and the billing system holds the pledge and the payment for the program reporting. The Decision Trace shows the match, the classification and any decision; the Audit Trace shows the pledge, the hold, the chases and the payment with time.

Runtime enforcement

What is enforcedwhile the work runs.

The regulations preloaded in Callvu Studio and the bank's own policies, applied as steps that run, not lines in a binder. A step that breaks a rule does not run, so a completed run was compliant.

Regulations

LIHEAP and state assistance program rules: The Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program (42 USC 8621 and following; 45 CFR part 96 subpart H) funds state grantees that pay benefits to utilities on behalf of eligible households, including crisis assistance within the program's response times (forty-eight hours for a crisis, eighteen hours for a life-threatening one); the state's program rules and the utility's vendor agreement require the utility to accept pledges and payments from the grantee and its agencies, to apply them to the household's account, to not disconnect while a pledge is pending, and to report payments to the program.
State commission disconnection notice rules: The commission's rules treat an assistance pledge from a recognized agency as a protective state: disconnection is held for the rules' period while the pledge is pending (commonly thirty days or until the payment is received), and a pledge that covers the required amount satisfies the condition for avoiding disconnection or for reconnection.
State commission tariff rules on payment application: The pledge payment is applied to the account under the tariff's application rules (to the arrears or the amount the program designates), the customer's contribution where required is billed, and the program's payment is not refundable to the customer.

Company policies

Agencies pledge on their own link; the pledge is on the account the moment it is accepted, never in a queue.
The pledge hold is written to the collections schedule at once, and the shutoff check reads it.
The pledge is tracked to its payment date and the agency is chased; the payment is matched to the pledge, never left as an unexplained credit.
The billing system and the CIS are the systems of record for the pledge and the payment, with the program reporting written from them.

Controls

Agency link with authorization check.
Account matching with chases for mismatches.
Pledge classification and immediate hold.
Customer notice.
Payment date tracking, agency chases and payment matching.
Decision Desk for expiry and mismatches, and billing write with program reporting.

Clocks and deadlines

Pledge hold: The rules' period from the pledge (commonly thirty days or until payment), on the collections schedule.
Crisis response: The program's response times for crisis pledges, with the hold applied at once.
Payment chase: From the expected payment date, through the agency's link.

Documents and checks

The pledge as submitted and matched
The hold record and the customer notice
The chases and the payment match
Any decision
The billing record and the program report

In the Decision Trace

The match and the classification.
The hold applied and why.
Any decision and the person.

In the Audit Trace

The pledge with agency and time.
The hold with time.
Each chase, the payment and the write.

The handoff

Between the front doorand the back office.

The front door

The agency's own link; the customer is told and sees the account protected.

The back office

The credit desk decides only expiries and mismatches; collections reads the hold; the program report is written from the record.

The Decision Desk

An expired pledge, a partial payment or an unmatched payment goes to the credit and collections desk in the Decision Desk with the record and only extend, apply a partial, release with the notice rules restarted, or reconcile with the agency.

Proof

In scope.Proof at scale, not one process at a time.

The kind of process Callvu runs in production for customers in this industry. Ask for a reference on this exact process. The results below are the industry's published proof; each claim code links to its record on agents.callvu.com.

More than 1,000 processes are live across Callvu customers.

Across Callvu customers

PSEG Long Island runs start, stop and move service on Callvu, live in 4 weeks.

Across Callvu customers

Questions

What buyers ask next,answered plainly.

How does an agency pledge?

On its own secure link with the customer, the account, the amount, the program and the payment date; the pledge is matched to the account and the hold is written the moment it is accepted.

Does a pledge stop a disconnection?

Yes, for the rules' period while the pledge is pending; the hold is in the collections schedule and the shutoff eligibility check reads it.

What happens when the agency pays?

The payment is matched to the pledge by its reference or the program's file, applied to the account, and recorded with the pledge for the program's reporting.

Related processes

Low-income program enrollment Shutoff eligibility check before field order Hardship applications Payment arrangement or deferral Try it in the sandbox All utilities processes

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