What's New in Latitude

For more information about the changes and enhancements in Latitude, see the following:

2025 R1

User Configurable Account Warnings and warning acknowledgement

To introduce the ability for customers to implement custom account-level warnings. This feature allows you to create specific warnings tailored to your business needs or client base, beyond the standard warnings provided. Using a standard saved query to evaluate account level data specific warning verbiage cannot be displayed. Optionally the warning panel can now be configured to require the user acknowledge the warning and will add an account event that the warnings screen was acknowledged.

Batch Processor Enhancements

Enhancements to the Batch Processor for an improved user experience. At the client level it is now possible to configure the maximum number of days in advance that payments can be processed prior to their due date. When running Batch Processor, the user can select how many days in advance they wish to process payments for. When evaluating if payments should be processed the system looks at the user entered through date value and the client configuration to determine if the payment should be processed, the most restrictive date will be used.

Batch Processor can now be scheduled to automatically run using the Latitude Task Scheduler.

Enhanced Settlement Capability

New capability for enhanced settlement options for debt collection. Customers can now settle accounts based on account balance, in addition to age-based criteria or if needed a combination of age and balance ranges. This enhancement offers greater flexibility and precision in managing settlements.

State / Zip Code restrictions on Voice, Email, SMS

Introduced a comprehensive framework that integrates both voice and digital communication channels. This framework ensures adherence to federal, state, and local regulations, providing configurable compliance settings across all scopes (system, client, and line of business). It also incorporates state and zip code level restrictions, offering robust compliance management. New query conditions have been added to support if an email or SMS can be sent today or tomorrow.

Vendor Convenience Fee

This feature allows agents to see the convenience fees associated with payment plans from specific vendors. Additionally, agents can set these convenience fees to zero if needed.

New System Level events for Exchange

Exchange now records runtime statistics for various activities, such as New Business Loaded, Maintenance Loaded, Payments Loaded, Accounts Recalled, and Data Exported.

New SSO SAML Permission Added

A new system-level setting has been introduced to manage the availability of forms authentication (User ID/Password) on the login screen. This can be used alongside other login methods like SSO, SAML, or Windows Authentication. To prevent accidental lockouts, a new setting called allowFormsAuth has been added to settings.config. When set to true (case sensitive), it ensures forms authentication remains enabled even if permissions disable it.

Reassess ScheduledPaymentDetail Records on Balance Change or Account Closure

Recalculation of Scheduled Payments: When a payment is made using PC, DA, PU, or PA on an account with scheduled payments, the arrangements will now be automatically recalculated to reflect the updated balances. Adjustment for Closed Linked Accounts: If a linked account in an active arrangement is closed and has future payment amounts greater than zero, these payments will be recalculated to adjust the distribution accordingly.

Add Events for Data Syncs That Update Database Fields

Updates in the customer panel now trigger events that appear in the events section for linked accounts, ensuring thorough event tracking

New Anchor to Display Balances for Medical Accounts

A new anchor card has been created for the Agent Desktop to display medical account information, including:

• Self-pay balance (from the master table)

• Total payable by insurance (sum of all carrier balances)

• Carrier-specific details, including carrier name and outstanding payable balance

2024 R2

Healthcare Collection Phase -1

Liquid Latitude now supports healthcare insurance follow-up and collections using a unique user interface to specific to non-self-pay healthcare debt. New features iinclude.

• Additional tables and fields to store carrier information, claim information and claim details.
• Carrier, claims and claim details are available as conditions in the query tool.
• A new tool has been added to create Carrier specific work queues. When accessing the Healthcare interface, the user can select which Carrier queue to work.
• Exchange has been updated with new schema components for new business and maintenance for populating claim and claim details.
• The new Healthcare user interface is used to “work” carriers based upon a work queue and will display multiple accounts and claims associated with the selected carrier.

 

Consent for Pre-Recorded Messages

• To assist in maintaining compliance,  a new field has introduced track consent for the delivery of pre-recorded messages at the individual phone number level. The consent setting has been added as a condition in the query tool.

 

Statue of Limitations

• Latitude now can now automatically calculate Statute of Limitations on accounts based upon contract type, debtor state, state of the credit grantor. A new nightly custodian task will update the SOL date on accounts and a new query condition has been added to select accounts based upon in or out of statute.

 

Enhancements to Data Replication on Linked Accounts

• Enhancements to linked accounts include the ability to ensure contact data is synchronized across all linked accounts. For the contact task, saving any changes made to data in secondary tabs (Spouse, Attorney, Bankruptcy, Deceased, Assets, CCCS) will prompt the user to synchronize these updates across all linked accounts.

 

Manual Linking Changes(merging two link ids)

• To improve the user experience when managing linked accounts, especially for existing linked groups. This feature includes the ability to merge two sets of linked accounts as opposed to having to relink accounts individually. All linking configuration rules are observed when merging two link groups.

2024R1

Documentation Handling For AIM

• AIM and AIM Receiver have been enhanced in the newest file format to support the sending of documentation as a supplemental file during placement or when sending request and response updates to agencies.

• Documents to be sent can based upon the document type definitions in Latitude and will be transmitted in a compressed (ZIP) file of a new file type of “CDOC.” New records in the placement and request and response files indicate if a documentation file is included.

License Management

• License management for Latitude has been enhanced to utilize a license key system for both concurrent seat licenses and licensed individual products. Key management supports both subscription (Premise or Cloud subscription) and legacy perpetual licenses.

• The administration page for Latitude now includes “License Management,” which will display currently active licenses in addition to any expired licenses and provide the mechanism to import a new license key.

• Any existing customers who upgrade to this version or later releases who have not already obtained a license key must do so before the upgrade.

Centralized Event Logging

• Centralized system event logging has been enhanced to include events generated by all Latitude applications and now provides the ability to filter events by date range.

• Applications that now generate System Events for Add/Change/Delete activities or generation of files include:

• AIM, CBR Console, CBR Wizard, Custom Queue Manager, Exchange, Letter Console, Link Console, List Builder, Job Manager, Pool Queue Manager, and Workflow.

Account Creation via Manual Entry or Rest API

• Enhancement allows for manually creating an account in Latitude directly from the Agent Desktop. A new permission has been added at the System, Role, and Scope levels to enable or disable the ability to add accounts. Default behaviour does not permit manual account creation.

• A new public Rest API has been added that allows for the creation of accounts directly from other systems. The existing Rest API can be utilized to populate more data on the newly created account.

2023 R1

Script Builder for System Level Queries                                  

• Provide the ability to create queries managed at the system level and not owned by a specific user.

• Scripting tool requires system level queries for conditional scripts.

• Merge fields in scripts needs to use system level query results.

• Custom panel mapping requires system level queries for panel content.

• Removed the script query designer from the scripting tool.  

• Deleting or changing a system level query does check usage of the query in other tools and applications.

• Digital communication templates needs to use system level query results as merge fields not standard mail merge fields.

     Policies and Permissions

• Added system level queries permission, For more information, see Create System level Queries Permission.

• Query tool observes permission when user attempts to save a query.

• Users with permission may save new or modified system level queries.

• All tools that use Query tool now support system level queries and policy.

  Digital Communications Enhancements

• Enhanced existing email functionality to support outbound attachments of documents and ability to leverage Genesys Cloud for outbound and inbound email communications.

       Policies and Permissions

• Ability to attach documents to outbound email now be controlled by a new permission.

• Based on permission, User may either attach an existing document on the account & generate a pdf of a standard letter or attach an external file.

2022 R2

2022 R2 introduced the following changes and enhancements in Latitude.

Customer Facing Self-Portal

• This includes self-service options that allow customers to do-it-yourself to make their payments, view their account details/history, and update personal/demographic data. Customer can manage their debt on their own, using the portal. A customer self-service portal doesn't require an agent to intervene, hence, creating a more seamless experience for the consumer.

Localization Capability for Browser UI

• This provides localization support for browser-based applications including Agent Desktop, and Agent Scripting.

UX / General Functionality Enhancements

• Improve the general user experience within the browser-based components of Liquid. This includes providing a mechanism to request an SMS/Email from the context menus and provides a display of add/edit capability in the Customer Task panel for addresses and emails.

2022 R1

2022 R1 introduced the following changes and enhancements in Latitude.

Genesys Cloud integration

New capabilities added to Genesys Cloud integration.

• Fetching non-agent calls into the communication panel.

• Screen pop-up upon inbound call received.

• Remove phone numbers from current contact list/campaigns

Digital Communication (SMS and Email)

• Added ability to send outbound SMS from Communication, phones panels and from workflow.

• Added ability to send Email while sending letters, from Communication & Email panels and from workflow.

• Added ability to increment attempts/contacts on phone number/Email in Compliance panel incremented upon SMS/Email delivered successfully depending upon the configuration.

• Added ability to set the Phone number/Email as bad upon SMS/Email delivery failure depending upon the configuration.

• Inbound SMS/Email is fetched and displayed in Communication panel.

• Attachments from inbound emails are saved and displayed in the Communication panel.

• Added ability to handle any opt-out from receiving SMS/Email and unsubscribe the respective debtor from further SMS/Email communication respectively.

• New events are added to events panel at appropriate operations while sending, reading, delivery status, etc. for SMS & Email

Payment Arrangements & Wallet

• New events are added to events panel at appropriate operations while sending, reading, delivery status, etc. for SMS & Email.

• Payment Vendor Plugins can be configured in Client scope as well.

• User can calculate and update the interest deferral if the interest deferral flag in master is set to true.

• Surcharge Type Policy has been created under Financial in Administration. It allows adding, updating, and deleting new surcharge types. And these surcharge types are displayed in a drop-down for surcharge calculation in the arrangements.

• A new table bin_list is created and contains the BIN numbers used to compare with the card number that is being entered while saving into the wallet and the type to compare with the card type of the item being added.

• Added an option to edit the address for an existing wallet item.

• Surcharge for payment methods is set as surcharge percentage, which takes the same flat amount as a percentage. If the Surcharge Percent checkbox is checked. The surcharge will be considered as a percent and will be shown as % in the arrangement Window

• Added a new option to view Business Rules while setting up an arrangement. Users can view the Business Rules in the arrangement panel to view a summary of payment arrangement permissions set for their user role and the customer on the account.

• Provided an ability to establish different business rules when setting up an arrangement based upon the payment method being used (Card, ACH, Promise).

• Added request-specific SIF or PIF Letter be generated when setting up a payment arrangement.

• Added a posting note within the Arrangements task

Reference Panels

• Added a table named dbo.HistoricalTransactions and Reference panel to show the data from dbo.HistoricalTransactions.

System codes and settings

• A new letter configuration called Communication Templates has been created to configure if a letter code can be sent as a letter, email, or SMS.

• A designer to create email/SMS is added for the user to create templates.

• A list of merge fields is provided to inject any data from Latitude while rendering the templates.

• Added the customer groups under System Codes & Settings in Administration.

• In the Navigation pane, click System Codes and Settings > Customer Groups > Custom Customer Groups.

• Use the Custom Customer Groups dialog box to add, modify, and delete Customer Groups.

Fields and the description of customer group dialogue.

Name: Custom Customer Group name.

Description:Description of the Custom Customer Group .

Display Group in Invoice application: If selected the Custom Customer Group is added in Invoice application.

Display Group on Statistics Console: If selected the Custom Customer Group is added on Statistics console.

Client: Select the clients, which must be part of the current custom-customer group.

Policies and Permissions

• New permissions have been created under Digital Communication > SMS, which is used when sending SMS to debtors

• Gateway configuration defined at System & Client Scope. The plugin used to send and receive SMS is configured here. Each plugin setting must be separated by a new line. There's also inbuilt support to integrate other vendor plugins. Genesys Cloud SMS plugin is built into the system.

• Allow sending SMS – System, Client, Role & User Scopes. SMS is sent only if this is enabled.

• Consider SMS as Attempt – System level. This is also added as a new option under State Restriction setting. Update State Restriction setting documentation accordingly. Sending an SMS is considered as an attempt and the number of attempts in the Compliance panel are incremented if this is enabled.

• Consider SMS as Contact – System level. This is also added as a new option under State Restriction setting. Update State Restriction setting documentation accordingly. Sending an SMS is considered as a contact and the number of contacts in the Compliance panel are incremented if this is enabled.

• Consider SMS as Worked – System, Client. Sending an SMS is considered as worked if this is enabled.

• Consider SMS as Bad – System, Client. Phone number is updated as Bad on delivery failure if this is enabled.

• New permissions have been created under Digital Communication > Email, which is used when sending emails to debtors

• Gateway configuration defined at System & Client Scope. Plugin used to send and receive emails is configured here. SMTP, IMAP is the recommended plugin. Each plugin setting must be separated by a new line. There's also inbuilt support to integrate other vendor plugins.

• Allow sending Email – System, Client, Role & User Scopes. Email is sent only if this is enabled.

• Consider Email as Attempt – System level. This is also added as a new option under the State Restriction setting. Update State Restriction setting documentation accordingly. Sending an email is considered as an attempt and the number of attempts in the Compliance panel are incremented if this is enabled.

• Consider Email as Contact – System level. This is also added as a new option under the State Restriction set. Update State Restriction setting documentation accordingly. Sending an email is considered as a contact and the number of contacts in the Compliance panel is incremented if this is enabled.

• Consider Email as Worked – System, Client. Sending an email is considered as worked if this is enabled.

• Consider Email as Bad – System, Client. Email address is updated as Bad on delivery failure if this is enabled.

• Allow Attachments - System level. If allow attachment enabled, must specify file share to house attachments.

• Added a new policy under WebAccess → Website User Policy as 'User Can Upload and Download files to the web Server' where users can save upload location and download location for files.

• A new policy named “Restrict Card Payments to Debit Cards Only” is added to restrict card types to only debit type cards at the System/Line of Business/Client scope. The policy would go under the "Credit Card" subtype folder under Scheduled Payments > Business Rules.

Letters

• Added an ability to change the number of days prior to the due date of the payment for the Promise Letter to be sent.

Search

• Added missing search fields to the Default Quick Search options in Agent Desktop.

Login

• Provided an option to connect to different databases from Web UI.

2021 R1

2021 R1 introduced the following changes and enhancements in Latitude.

Permissions

• Added Compliance Settings for the following:

• Credit Bureau Reporting

• Validation Notice Tracking

• Call Attempts and Conversations Limits

• Added Script Builder Permission for specifying whether users can create and update Agent.

Reference panels

• Added ability to add notes in Events Panel for an account. For more information, see Add Note.

• Added ability to view attempts/conversations, validation notice details, itemization details, and preferred time to call details as part of compliance panel. For more information, see Compliance.

• Added ability to apply preferences/restrictions to phone numbers. For more information, see Modify an Account Phone Number.

System Codes and Settings

• Added ability to add, modify, and delete holiday calendar. For more information, see Holidays.

• Added ability to modify date and phone number using the localization code. For more information, see Localization.

Script Builder

• Added ability to create and modify Script Query. For more information, see Script Builder.

• Added ability to create, modify, copy, group, delete Script Query Conditions. For more information, see Script Query Conditions.

• Added ability to create, modify, delete, and view history of Scripts. For more information, see Scripts.

Arrangements

• Added ability to prevent adding expired credit card, address validation. For more information, see Add a Credit Card.

Payments

• Added ability to decline payments for repay when the information provided is incorrect. For more information, see Process a Payment.

Compliance

• Added ability to send validation notice digitally and through physical letters. For more information, see Validation Notice.

• Added ability to view the conversations held. For more information, see View Contact Made.

Warnings

• Added ability to view validation status warnings for an account. For more information, see View Warnings.

Mail Return

• Added ability to manage mail return. For more information, see Manage Mail Return.

2020 R1

2020 R1 introduced the following changes and enhancements in Latitude.

Permissions

• Added Allow RDN Case Creation and Updates permission for specifying whether users can create and update RDN collateral recovery cases on the RDN Integration panel.

• Added Allow Collateral Editing Permission for specifying whether users can modify automotive and non-automotive collateral information on the Collateral panel.

• Added Manual Dial Policy to Dialer Permission to allow users to place calls manually through the Genesys Cloud client. (For Genesys Cloud integrations only.)

• Added Phone Type Mapping Permission for mapping phone types to action codes.

• Added RDN Service Configuration for specifying the URL and API key for retrieving RDN collateral recovery case updates.

Genesys Cloud integration

Ah Genesys Cloud for Dialer capabilities that allow collectors to process campaign calls based on call lists that your organization creates using List Builder.  For more information, see Latitude Integration with Genesys Cloud.

Reference panels

• Added ability to maintain automotive and non-automotive collateral information for an account. For more information, see Collateral.

         Note: This panel replaces the Automotive panel.

• Added ability to open a web page inside a custom reference panel and display mapped content within the web page. For more information, see Add a Custom Anchor Card or Reference Panel.

           Note: This panel replaces the Automotive panel.