Returned payment handling

How do we handle a returned check or a failed bank payment with the notice, the tariff fee, the cash-only flag where the rules require, and a request for a new payment?

Reverse by rule and tell the customer at once. When a payment is returned (a check returned unpaid, an ACH debit returned for insufficient funds or a closed account, a card chargeback), Callvu reverses the payment on the account and prefills the case (the amount, the return reason code, the account's returned payment history, the collection state the payment had satisfied), classifies the return (a first return, a repeat within the tariff's period, an unauthorized return that needs the mandate checked, a bank error), applies the tariff's fee and the cash-only designation where the rules require it after the allowed number of returns, restores the collection state the payment had cleared (with the disconnection notice rules' timing respected), sends the required notice with the amount, the fee, the methods now accepted and the deadline, offers the new payment on a secure screen, routes a disputed return or a hardship to the credit desk in the Decision Desk, and writes everything to the billing system.

In scopeSimpleCallvu moves: classify, decide, write back

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Last updated November 7, 2026.

The problem today

The returned payment was processed nine days later, the fee was applied twice, and the shutoff happened without the notice the rules required.

Today, without Callvu

A returned payment unwinds a payment the account had already relied on: the collection hold lifted, the disconnection order cancelled, the reconnection done. When the return is processed late or by hand, the account's state is wrong for days, the fee is inconsistent, the cash-only flag is applied to a first-time bank error, and the disconnection resumes without the notice sequence restarting as the rules require.

The tariff sets the returned payment fee and the cash-only rule (after a number of returns within a period, the account may be restricted to guaranteed funds for a period); the commission's notice rules govern how collection resumes; the bank rules define the return reasons and the re-presentment limits; a card chargeback follows the network's dispute process. Each is a rule on data the return carries.

A return handled the day it arrives, by rule, with the customer told, is a return that gets re-paid.

How it runs

From the requestto the system of record.

A returned item arrives from the bank (a returned check, an ACH return with its reason code, a card chargeback). Callvu reverses the payment and opens the case.

Customer: Receives the notice and pays again on a secure screen, or disputes the return with evidence.
Credit and collections desk: Decides disputed returns and hardships in the Decision Desk.
Callvu: Reverses, classifies, applies the fee and the flag, restores the collection state, notifies, offers payment, routes and writes.

Reverse and classify
The payment is reversed on the account and the case is prefilled with the amount, the return reason code (insufficient funds, closed account, stop payment, unauthorized, bank error), the account's returned payment history within the tariff's period, and the collection state the payment had satisfied (a hold, a cancelled disconnection, a reconnection, an arrangement installment); the return is classified: a first return, a repeat that triggers the cash-only rule, an unauthorized return that requires the autopay mandate to be checked, or a bank error to be re-presented or reversed without a fee.
Apply the rules
The returned payment fee under the tariff is applied once, the cash-only designation is applied where the number of returns in the period reaches the tariff's threshold (with its duration), the collection state is restored to what it was before the payment with the disconnection notice sequence restarted as the commission's rules require, and an arrangement the payment was part of is marked at risk under its terms.
Notify and offer payment
The customer receives the notice with the amount, the reason, the fee, the methods now accepted (guaranteed funds where cash-only applies), the deadline before collection action and a link to pay on a secure screen; a payment made clears the case and restores the account's state.
Decide and write back
A customer who disputes the return (a bank error with evidence, a payment they did not stop) or asks for a hardship consideration goes to the credit and collections desk in the Decision Desk with the evidence and only the allowed outcomes (waive the fee and the flag, re-present, uphold, or arrange); the reversal, the fee, the flag, the restored state, the notice and the new payment are written to the billing system and the CIS.

Where it ends: The return was reversed and classified the day it arrived, the fee and the flag applied once under the tariff, the collection state restored on the notice rules, the customer told and offered a new payment, and the billing system holds the whole sequence. The Decision Trace shows the classification, the rules applied and any decision; the Audit Trace shows the return, the reversal, the notice and the new 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

State commission tariff rules: The tariff sets the returned payment charge (a fixed fee approved by the commission), the cash-only or guaranteed funds designation after a set number of returned payments within a period and its duration, the reversal of any payment-based credit, and the notice to the customer; a fee may not be charged where the return was the bank's error, and the fee is applied once per returned item.
State commission disconnection notice rules: Where a returned payment reverses a payment that had cancelled a disconnection or satisfied an arrangement, the utility must restart the disconnection notice sequence with the required notice and timing before disconnecting; the restored collection state follows the rules rather than resuming the old order.
NACHA return rules and the card network chargeback rules: ACH returns carry reason codes (R01 insufficient funds, R02 closed account, R08 stop payment, R10 unauthorized) with re-presentment allowed for insufficient funds up to twice and a customer's unauthorized return requiring the authorization to be produced; a card chargeback follows the network's dispute process with the evidence submitted within its window.

Company policies

A return is reversed and classified the day it arrives; the account's state is never wrong for days.
The fee and the cash-only flag are applied by the tariff's rule once; a bank error carries no fee.
Collection resumes on the commission's notice rules, not on the old order.
The billing system and the CIS are the systems of record for the reversal, the flag and the new payment.

Controls

Return capture with reason code and reversal.
Return classification with history.
Tariff fee and cash-only rule application.
Collection state restoration under the notice rules.
Notice with secure payment link.
Decision Desk for disputes and hardship, and billing write.

Clocks and deadlines

Processing: The day the return arrives.
Payment deadline: The notice's deadline under the tariff before collection action.
Cash-only duration: The tariff's period from the designation.

Documents and checks

The returned item with its reason
The classification and the rules applied
The notice and the payment link
Any decision
The billing and CIS record

In the Decision Trace

The classification.
The fee, the flag and the state restoration rules.
Any decision and the person.

In the Audit Trace

The return and the reversal with time.
The notice with time.
The new payment or the decision.

The handoff

Between the front doorand the back office.

The front door

The notice with a link; the customer pays again on a secure screen or disputes with evidence.

The back office

The credit desk decides only disputes and hardships; the reversal, the fee and the state run by rule.

The Decision Desk

A disputed return or a hardship request goes to the credit and collections desk in the Decision Desk with the evidence and only waive, re-present, uphold, or arrange.

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.

What happens when a payment is returned?

It is reversed the day the return arrives, classified by its reason and the account's history, the tariff's fee is applied once, and the collection state the payment had cleared is restored under the notice rules.

When does an account become cash-only?

When the number of returned payments within the tariff's period reaches its threshold, for the tariff's duration, with the methods still accepted stated in the notice.

What if it was the bank's error?

No fee applies, and the customer can dispute with evidence to the credit desk, which can re-present or waive.

Related processes

Payments on a secure screen during a call Autopay enrollment and changes Disconnection notice on the state clock Payment arrangement or deferral Try it in the sandbox All utilities processes

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