Queues let you group loans together and assign them to agents for more efficient servicing. By having all assigned loans in one place, agents can move seamlessly from one loan to the next without needing to search for individual accounts. This streamlines their workflow and makes tasks more manageable.

We'll get into the details of how to create a queue in the next section, but at a high level, the process involves queuing the specific loans, configuring the queue, and assigning agents to loan groups. Once the queue is set up, agents can log in and start their servicing or collections efforts.

Creating a queue

There are three ways to set up a queue: through search, a CSV import, or a schedule report. Here are the step-by-step instructions for each:
 

Through search

You can create a new queue by using the loans included in the results of a search. To do this, navigate to the Account Manager and search for the loans that you want to send to the queue. Click the filter icon (three horizontal lines) on the right side of the search bar to use the advanced search filters. These filters allow you to search for loans with specific characteristics, such as those that fall within specific delinquency categories, specific statuses, or assigned to a specific agent user.

Next, open the 'Loan Actions' menu located on the right side of the page. This menu provides a shortcut to a number of tools and reports. Within the menu, select 'Create Collector Queue'. All the loans that are currently displayed in the Account Manager will be sent to your queue.

 

Once you’ve chosen the loans to add to the queue, you will need to enter some basic information about the queue. First, enter a name for the queue in the ‘Title’ field. Then, select the ‘List Type’ you want for the queue—either Static or Dynamic.

 

Type	Description
Static	The loan list initially added to the queue will remain unchanged. This means that no loans will be added or removed from the queue once it is created, regardless of any changes in their status.
Dynamic	The loan list will automatically update to remove any loans that no longer meet the original search parameters. For example, if a loan in the queue is past due and a payment is made that brings it current, that loan will be removed from the queue. However, no new loans will be added to the queue once it is created.   When a loan is removed from the queue because it no longer qualifies, it will be marked as completed, and a note will be added to indicate the reason for its removal. Skipped loans will still be visible when navigating backwards through the queue, with a notification showing that the loan was skipped by the system. The queue does not refresh with new loans that meet the criteria; it only removes loans that no longer qualify.

Next, assign agents to the queue from the ‘Available Agents’ box. You can use the search bar to find agents by name and the role dropdown menu to sort the list.

Only agents assigned to the queue will be able to access it.

 

To add an agent to the list, click on their name, and then the gray button with an arrow. To select multiple agents at the same time, hold down the Ctrl key while clicking on the agents' names. After clicking the gray button, the selected agents' names will appear in the ‘Linked Agents’ list on the right.

If more than one agent is assigned to the queue, you can select a ‘Strategy’ from the dropdown menu next to the ‘List Type’. There are two strategies:

• The 'Tag Team' strategy allows the assigned users to work through the entire queue until it is finished. 
• The 'Random Assignment' strategy allows you to assign certain percentages of the queue to each of the users. The percentages must add up to 100%.

Once these options are set, click 'Next' to proceed to the ‘Preview and Sort’ page.
 

On the ‘Preview and Sort’ page, you can sort the loans and order them based on the options provided. After you select a ‘Sort By’ option, choose to put the loans in ascending or descending order. Ascending sorts the smallest to largest (amounts), newest to oldest (dates), or A to Z (text). Descending sorts in the opposite order.

After you have selected the 'Sort By' option and the 'Order', click 'Next' to proceed to the ‘Summary’ page.

The ‘Summary’ page shows an overview of the queue, allowing you to confirm that everything is correct. If the queue is set up as desired, click ‘Save’ to finalize the queue.

 

 

Through a CSV import

Note that creating a queue through a CSV import only supports a static list of loans.

 

To create or modify a queue, navigate to Tools > Collector Queue. Click the blue 'New Queue' button on the top right of the screen.

On this page, you have the option to either upload a list of loans via a .csv file or go to Account Manager and run a search to select the loans you want to add to the queue.

When creating your .csv file, simply add one header to the file. The header should be either "id" or "displayId" depending on how you identify the loans. You can also download a sample .csv file for guidance.

After adding the appropriate header, list the loan ID or display ID for each loan that you want to add to the queue. Then, either drag the .csv file to the drop zone or click the drop zone to browse for the file. Once uploaded, the file will be automatically validated. After validation is complete, click 'Next' and continue the process as outlined in the section above.

 

 

Through a scheduled report

You can also create a queue by scheduling a report in the Account Manager. To do this, navigate to Loans > Account Manager > Loan Actions > Schedule a Report.

Fill in all of the required schedule report information. At the bottom, under ‘Report Output’, choose ‘Send to Collector Queue’.

After clicking ‘Continue’, you will be taken to the queue setup walkthrough. Follow the steps as described in the ‘Through search’ section above.

In the ‘Reports’ section of LMS, you can set up a queue by scheduling any type of report, except for the Custom Reporting and Special reports.

 

 

 

Add queue questions

After you've created a queue, you can enhance it by adding questions and scores to assist the servicer as they run the queue. These questions appear as checklist items with optional scores (or points) to help track progress.

To set up queue questions, navigate to Tools > Collector Queue > Settings (located on the top right of the page).

On the ‘Collector Queue Questions’ page, click the green ‘+ Add’ button to add questions.  

Type the question you want to include in the ‘Question’ text field. If you want to assign a score to the question, enter the number in the ‘Score’ text field.

Click ‘Save’ to return to the ‘Collector Queue Questions’ page, where you will see a list of the questions you've created. These questions will appear on all of your queues. Use the pencil and trash bin icons to the right to edit or delete each question.
Click the ‘Back’ button in the top right to return to the ‘Collector Queue’ page.

Now, you can start running your queues with the added questions.
 

Running a queue

Once an agent is assigned to a queue, running it is straightforward. They simply open the queue, then use it to navigate between loans and track their progress. And at any point, they can pause and check their progress.

Opening a queue

To open a queue, navigate to Tools > Collector Queue.  Here, you will see a list of all your tenant's current queues. You can filter them by type, strategy, assigned agents, and the date when the queue was created.

To the right of each queue, you'll see three buttons.

• The purple ‘i’ icon pulls up queue details (see below).
• The red trash can will delete the queue. (This deletes the queue itself, along with the notes and smart checklist items you marked in the queue, but it won't delete any changes you made, such as ‘Actions & Results’ logged on the loans.)
• The green arrow icon begins the queue.

Inside the queue

Once you click the green arrow, the queue will start, and you'll be taken to the first loan in the list. The screen will look like any other loan summary, except you'll see a purple window in the bottom left corner of the screen:

When it's collapsed, the window shows the time you've spent on this loan and on the entire queue, as well as your progress. Clicking the arrow in the top right corner expands the window, bringing up a page where you can make notes and complete smart checklist items.

The note window and checklist on this page are different from the notes and inside loans—they're only saved in the queue, not to the loan itself. The queue checklist is unique in that it contains questions for the servicer to check off. Only one checklist can be created per queue, but it can include multiple questions. This checklist is available for each queue, but you cannot create a checklist and assign it to a specific queue.

The ‘Agent Actions & Results’ button takes you to that page within the loan. Any actions you log will be saved to the loan itself, not just to the queue.

Within the loan, you should perform the specific servicing task for which the queue was prepared. The exact task is up to each lender, but we recommend that managers create an Agent Walkthrough to simplify the process for their agents and ensure nothing gets missed.

When you're done servicing a loan, click the ‘Next loan’ button in the queue window. If a loan has issues you'd like to address later, click ‘Move to the back of the queue’ to send the loan to the end of the line, allowing you to continue with the queue.

Clicking the pause button will halt the timer, but keep the queue window open. The stop button will close the queue window entirely, requiring you to reopen the queue fromTools > Collector Queue.
 

Queue details

From the ‘Collector Queue’ page, you can click the ‘i’ icon next to any queue to bring up the ‘Collector Queue Details’ page.

Below the details table, you'll see the accounts in the queue. The table shows each loan, whether or not it's been completed, when it was completed, and what checklist items and notes were marked. Remember, these are the queue notes and the items logged within the queue window on the bottom left corner of the screen when agents are in the queue. Don't confuse them with the loan notes and tools.

To export the queue, click on the three vertical dots in the top right to open the menu. From the menu, click ‘Excel Export (CSV)’ to download the queue as a .csv file. 

After opening the file from your downloads, your export will be reformatted to look something like this:

The .csv will contain all the information from the ‘Collector Queue Details’ page, including the queue title and details about the individual loan accounts.

By effectively using queues, you can streamline loan management and improve efficiency for your team. Remember to regularly review and update your queues to ensure optimal performance and accurate tracking of loan servicing tasks.