Payment arrangement or deferral

How do we offer a payment arrangement or a deferral by rule, have the customer accept it, confirm it in writing and write it to billing in one flow?

Compute the arrangement from the account and make the acceptance the record. When a customer cannot pay the balance, Callvu identifies them and prefills the account (the arrears and the current charges, the collection state, the prior arrangements and their outcomes, any protection or program), computes the arrangements the tariff and the policy allow (the down payment, the term, the monthly installment with the current bill, a deferral where the rules provide one), presents the options in plain terms with the consequences of a missed installment, captures the customer's acceptance on a secure screen, routes a request outside the standard terms or a repeat default to the credit desk in the Decision Desk, sends the written confirmation the rules require, and writes the arrangement to the billing system and the collections schedule so disconnection is held while it is kept.

In scopeComplex: multi-party handoffsCallvu moves: prefill, decide, write back

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Last updated November 7, 2026.

The problem today

The arrangement existed in a note, the installment was keyed wrong, and the customer was disconnected in the second month while paying.

Today, without Callvu

A payment arrangement is the commission's preferred alternative to disconnection and the utility's most error-prone collections record: terms agreed by voice, arithmetic done in the agent's head, nothing in writing, the collections calendar unaware. When the arrangement is broken by the utility's own error, the complaint is justified.

The commission's rules require the utility to offer a reasonable arrangement before disconnection (with minimum terms in many states, longer for protected customers and in winter), to confirm it in writing, to hold disconnection while it is kept, and to apply the rules for a broken arrangement (a notice and a limited right to a second one). The computation is the tariff's; the acceptance is the customer's; the record is one.

An arrangement the customer can read and accept on a screen is one the collections system can keep.

How it runs

From the requestto the system of record.

A customer asks for an arrangement, or one is offered on a disconnection notice, a medical hold, a pledge or a collections contact, in any channel. Callvu identifies them and opens the arrangement.

Customer: Chooses among the options, accepts on a secure screen and receives the written confirmation.
Credit and collections desk: Decides non-standard terms and repeat defaults in the Decision Desk.
Callvu: Prefills, computes, presents, captures acceptance, routes, confirms and writes.

Prefill and compute
The arrears, the current charges, the collection state (a notice, a pending order, a reconnection condition), the prior arrangements and whether they were kept, the protections (a medical certificate, a life support registration, a protected status, a program enrollment) and the season are prefilled; the arrangements the tariff and the policy allow are computed: the down payment, the term (the standard, or the longer minimum for a protected customer or in the winter period), the installment with the current bill, and a deferral where the rules provide one.
Present and accept
The options are shown in plain terms with each installment's date and amount, the total, the requirement to pay the current bill on time, the consequence of a missed installment (the notice and the disconnection sequence resuming) and the right to a renegotiation under the rules; the customer chooses and accepts on a secure screen, with a payment of the down payment where the terms require it taken on the same screen.
Decide
A standard arrangement accepted proceeds by rule; a request for longer terms or a smaller down payment than the rules allow, a second arrangement after a default within the period, or an account in the final disconnection step goes to the credit and collections desk in the Decision Desk with the account and only the allowed outcomes (grant the standard terms, grant an exception, refer to assistance programs, or decline with the reason).
Confirm and write back
The written confirmation with the terms goes to the customer as the rules require, the arrangement is written to the billing system and the collections schedule as a hold on disconnection while it is kept, each installment is tracked against the schedule, a kept arrangement closes with the arrears cleared, and a missed installment triggers the broken arrangement rules (the notice, the resumed sequence, the renegotiation right where it applies).

Where it ends: The customer accepted an arrangement computed under the tariff with the terms in writing, the billing and collections systems hold it, and disconnection waits while it is kept. The Decision Trace shows the computation and any decision; the Audit Trace shows the presentation, the acceptance, the confirmation and the installments.

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

State commission tariff rules: The tariff and the commission's credit rules set the arrangement the utility must offer before disconnection: a reasonable down payment, the minimum term (commonly several months, longer for low-income and protected customers and in the winter period), the installment with the current bill paid on time, the written confirmation of the terms, the treatment of a broken arrangement (a notice, the resumed disconnection sequence, and in many states a right to a renegotiated arrangement once), and the reporting of arrangements to the commission.
State commission disconnection notice rules: A utility may not disconnect a customer who has an arrangement in force and is keeping it; a broken arrangement requires the notice the rules set (often a shorter final notice) before disconnection; the collections schedule applies both.
Winter and extreme weather moratorium rules and vulnerable customer protections: During the moratorium period and for protected customers, the arrangement terms are longer and the disconnection rules stricter; the computation applies the longer minimum where the protection or the season applies.

Company policies

The arrangement is computed from the account under the tariff; the agent does not do the arithmetic.
The terms are accepted on a secure screen and confirmed in writing before the arrangement starts.
Disconnection is held in the collections schedule while the arrangement is kept; a break follows the rules.
The billing system is the system of record for the arrangement and its installments.

Controls

Account, history and protection prefill.
Tariff computation with protected and winter terms.
Plain-terms presentation and secure acceptance with down payment capture.
Decision Desk for non-standard terms and repeat defaults.
Written confirmation.
Billing and collections write with installment tracking and broken arrangement rules.

Clocks and deadlines

Term: The tariff's minimum or longer, with each installment date on the schedule.
Written confirmation: At acceptance, as the rules require.
Broken arrangement: A missed installment triggers the notice the rules set before disconnection, and the renegotiation right where it applies.

Documents and checks

The account and the computation
The options as presented
The acceptance and the down payment
Any decision
The written confirmation and the billing record

In the Decision Trace

The computation and the rules applied.
Any decision and the person.

In the Audit Trace

The presentation and the acceptance with time.
The confirmation sent.
Each installment and any break.

The handoff

Between the front doorand the back office.

The front door

Any channel; the customer chooses and accepts on a secure screen, including from a link on the disconnection notice.

The back office

The credit desk decides only non-standard terms and repeat defaults; collections holds from the record.

The Decision Desk

A request for terms outside the rules, a second arrangement after a default or an account in the final step goes to the credit and collections desk in the Decision Desk with the account and only grant standard terms, grant an exception, refer to assistance, or decline with the reason.

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 are the terms set?

Computed under the tariff from the arrears and the account: the down payment, the term (longer for protected customers and in winter), and the installment with the current bill, shown as options the customer chooses from.

Does an arrangement stop disconnection?

Yes, while it is kept; the arrangement is a hold in the collections schedule, and a missed installment triggers the notice the rules set before the sequence resumes.

What if the customer breaks it?

The broken arrangement rules apply: the notice, the resumed sequence, and the right to a renegotiated arrangement where the state provides one, decided by the credit desk.

Related processes

Payment due date extension Disconnection notice on the state clock Shutoff blocked by a medical hold, with an arrangement offered Arrearage management program enrollment Compared with the alternatives Try it in the sandbox All utilities processes

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