We have to start using them. Anyone able to provide the 411?
Good, bad, ugly? Don't like having to pay to get an expense reimbursed but "you plays da game you takes your chances".

Grandpa,
the system is pretty complicated; there's tons of information in the system and it's a chore at times to sort it out. The good news is they review submissions and pay very quickly. They will not direct pay any vendors. You front everything and they reimburse you.
If you are working with the same asset management co's that I work with that requries LPS, they already require that you front the HOA fees and untilities, but have their own vendors for everything else so you arnt fronting keyouts, initial trashouts etc.
LPS has a required training program with all the details.

Thanks we took all the training. Good to know they pay quickly at least.

Love LPS. Always pay quick - I get a check in no less then 10 business days. I have been using the system for awhile and once you get the hang of it - you will love it too. The one thing you do have to remember is that if you have a repair done - pictures of before and after go to the asset manager - not posted in the system. Once you pick it up - you will have no problems.

I started off rough with them, but now it is smooth and I am a satisfied customer. The trick with them is actually with your REO company. They (The REO comp) have to set you up in LPS, and you need a number for each REO. Once you have that you are golden. And a piece of advice-- I keep track of my LPS invoice numbers, which are independent of all other info in the invoice. 1 small detail that helps when tracking. I use the address number followed by 1 for the 1st, 2 for the 2nd 3rd for the 4th. My last one got to the 10th invoice so it was #11610. House number is 116. I record that on the invoice paper version too. as LPS # 11610.

My last 10 invoices have been smooth and fast pays.

I have been using Invoice Management for over 2 years. I like the system except for the $5 per invoice charge. Bank of America and HomEq are the 2 companies that I list for that use the system.For Bank of America I pay all bills up to $2500.Anything above that they pay my contractors directly.

Ditto to what everyone else said. Except for the "Love LPS". I don't love having to pay to get my own money back, but considering some of the alternatives...

Seems like more and more AM companies are going to them all the time though.

Are you sure you have to send before and after photos to the AM and not on LPS? I haven't used it YET but am about to.

It depends on the REO company. Each has it's own guidelines. LPS is only a platform.

Thank You all for the info.
I too do not like paying to get my own money back but am willing to do what it takes without complaint.
"Thank You Sir, May I have another."

Yep, there are some companies we work with that you send pics to AM (well, we always do this anyway) and some (Green River for one) that go to LPS with the invoice. Just ask an LPS contact about whatever particular bank the job is for as it'll save time if you do it the right way up front instead of having them kick it back for no pics.

Doesn't the $5 charge go away after a period of time. Or is it forever, like the stamp?

The $5 goes away after you submit the 5th billing for each asset.

Two important things...be sure to set up at least two users, so that if you get locked out on one you can get in on the other and one thing that bothers me to no end is having to change your user and password every month, and they won't take similar ones.
Good luck, I about tore my hair out at first and wanted to punch my monitor. I had to work at home because I swore so much over this, but once you get used to it, it will be okay. I'm almost used to it and I have hope that it will be okay anyway.

This is why I have an assistant to take care of my reimbursements, cause I probably would have gone through with the whole punching the monitor thing. :-)

Actually I'd be more apt to throw it out the window than punch it.

And no, unfortunately the 5 bucks doesn't ever go away. Like wij said, they only charge it for the first 5 billings for each asset, but often we never hit 5. Actually, the best thing to do is to try to consolidate as many reimbursements on one invoice as you can. Not always able to consolidate everything, but if you can average $10 or $15 bucks on an asset instead of $25, the savings can add up.

Just want to make sure--do you receive an email if they reject one of your invoices for any reason?

That would depend on the asset management company.Invoice Management,as mentioned earlier is only a web platform for submitting invoices.

Yes. I have always recieved notification if an invoice was rejected for some reason.

Need help. Does EMC/NRT use the desktop management for reimbursement? I have always mailed to Sarasota for payment.

They have me totally confused and have been wandering around their website and emailing with no acceptable answers. Asset manager says he cannot activate.

Any help will be appreciated.

It went live December 1st after a long delay from August.
You should have gotten gobs of emails about signing up prior to this. You have to sign up, take training, and pass tests to get activated. Almost all correspondence from NRT AMs have info at the end of their emails advising of this.

It is my understanding that Sarasota will no longer accept reimbursments. We just trained our Billing person and she has started uploading them to LPS.

Good Luck to you.

Grampa, thanks. I signed up & took training and passed test last summer. Yes, have received tons of emails too. BUT, I still don't understand where I log in to enter data and request reimbursement.

I must be dumb as a mud fence. Please help again.

Cinloo - here the link to the login page for LPS.

https://im.lpsdesktop.com/Login/NewWayLogin.aspx

Cinloo,

We have a billing assistant who has gotten this down pretty well. If you are still having any issues and need any assistance PM me and we will have you talk to our billing person with any problems you are having. She has actually gotten some approved already.

There is a new form that you are supposed to use to submit that is different from the one that you sent to Sarasota.

Cinloo, make sure EMC has you set up with LPS. I have noticed when I sign on to LPS I have a drop down list of my on-board clients. If you do not see the company there, that is your first step--taken through EMC--and it is their job to set you up. Without it you are a fish out of water. Next big step is to get a LPS number for the particular asset. That comes from the AMC, not LPS.

For all,
Our billing person gave me a quick overview as I like to at least have a working knowledge of all of the things that have to be delt with.

(not being morbid but if something happens to someone and they suddenly have to be off for an extended period you still have to TCB so there needs to be cross training).

I had thought that they took the $5 per invoice out of the invoices, but you have to cut them a check at the first of every month. I can see where if you do not get too deep in the system reports (which are very good in my opinion) you could miss it when you first start and get then get shut down for non-payment.

Just an FYI for us that are new to using them.

Best wishes to all.

Hey, I have never cut them a check. Maybe they pull out of mine. Who knows. Only about 15% of my invoices go through there.

They dont mail you a bill. You are responsible for going to the report section and printing your monthly statement and sending them the $. Go to the report section and search by each month and you'll see what your owe them. I hate paying to invoice, but they just approved a 3K HOA payment I made and issued the check in 5 days..where else are you going to get that?

We were told that it would shorten payment times. If you have that much out and can get it a few weeks faster, I guess it pays to pay the $5 per invoice.

Thank you Grampa! After only two days I'm looking at a list of invoices totalling around $3K that have already been approved and have the check requested and have another $2K will most likely show the same thing tomorrow. What a welcome sight after WEEKS of runaround. My assistant now loves doing the billing and LOVES this system.

A great big hug and thanks to you both! We've already paid it forward in a big way in the past two weeks and will continue to do so.

I Could not be happier to hear it.

I am a firm believer that any kindness, no matter how small, makes the world a better place.

Offer still stands for anyone else who needs questions answered for this system. While I can not guarantee that our billing assistant will know the answer but, she is very good at figuring things out and will do all she can to help.

Best wishes for a happy, healthy and prosperous new year.

It is interesting that our Billing Assistant has said the same thing about liking the system.

We are seeing checks within 2 weeks of approval no matter how large the check is. It is a beautiful thing and offsets the cost per invoice.

To quote Louis Armstrong "And I say to myself, What a Wonderful World. Ohhhhhhhhh Yeaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhh."

Agreed Grampa! Our reimbursements have been held up for a couple of months due to the system change-over and access issues related to a brokerage change. We had no clarifications requested during our catch-up and no rejects. Everything was approved in the system within 24 - 48 hours and we're looking forward to receiving the checks (hopefully next week). It represents well over $10K for us and huge stacks of paper we can finally push through. It will be so nice to get things back on track.

And we were very impressed with your assistant (and you!). Thanks again to both of you.

$2400 in reimbursements in the mail today. ONE WEEK after submitted. And a week with a holiday I might add. I'm impressed. I expect to have the rest by Wednesday. My payment to them this month will be $75 and that's after combining as much as possible on each invoice.

When or how do we pay the part that we owe for billing on New Invoice? I have not received a bill from them?

You are not gonna get a bill. You have to go into the site and get the bill. Log in and there is an option - somewhere - to get your bill. Print it out and mail it in.

They are due at the first of the month. Do not let yourself get cut off due to non-payment. I HATE having to pay $5 per invoice and our billing person is smart enough to not bill a $4.50 invoice so we are writing some of them off.

Wonder if that was part of the overall plan.

Also, our billing person has this down and if anyone needs any help with it I have told her to help in any way she can. Just shoot me a PM with your issue and contact info and she is more than happy to help out.

Best wishes

Depending on how long I have to carry the listing - I just wait on electric and gas bills and pay them as I go and then I submit them at the end of the listing as one invoice - and only have to pay the $5. What I don't understand is why a system that is used so widely doesn't have an auto bill - just put your credit card on file with them and then they just charge you on the first of the month or so. I do have to confess - when I first started using the system - I didn't pull my bill for 6 months - cuz I honestly forgot I had to pull it and mail it and I did not get cut off. Not saying that is a good idea - just don't freak out if you forget -

You are fortunate. The company we have to use LPS for requires that all bills be submitted within 30 days of service date or it is rejected.

Good to hear that they won't shut you off if you are a week or so late with the payment.

Well when I do res.net billing they are the same way. I had a bill for $2.50 electric service and the stupid company made me submit it, I couldn't hold it until the next bill came. Geeze - once you factor in the man power, check writing and mailing of the $2.50 - it cost them money to pay me. It doesn't make sense to me but hey their business, they can run it their way. I did laugh when the check came.

Anyone know how to attach pictures to an invoice? I am still trying to learn the system. Thanks for the help.

P-Town,
If you have not gotten a response or figured it out on your own, PM me. We have a billing assistant who is pretty good with the system. Include contact info and I will have her call you. She has helped others here and we are happy to help.

Best wishes

Easiest method is to mount the photos on a MS Word photo mount - you can just make one by inserting a table. First row of table - address and loan #. First column - before/second column after. Submit it as an attachment by clicking on the little paperclip once you have created your line-item.
=o)

Yes. NRT is using LPS. You need to set up your account. If you have not set up the account call your PM for the website and email to do so. Sarasota has not been processing payments for 5 months.

I hate paying the LPS fee but my experience with companies that use their platform is positive. I usually get paid two weeks after submitting an invoice.

I tried that and I think it did work however the only way I found to do it was to start out as if I was doing another invoice. Called LPS, they were NO help. told me to scan and upload. I asked the person on the other end since I had the photos ready could she walk me through it and she said to take another online class. All my other companies that I invoice through LPS have me upload the photos to their web site.

Truth spoken there. I have never paid (never knew how, never asked) and just got off the phone with them after getting a super secret secure email. I am surprised they let it go this long. She said I was 120 days back, but it has to be more like 600 or 700. I am putting a check for $200 in the mail to them today.

Does anyone have a contact email or phone number for them? I have lost my log in pasword. They don't have a forgot password link for me to request my info. Any help would be appreciated.

Does Bank of America Direct use the LPS management system? My asset manager is not responding to phone calls or emails.

If they do use it, how do I set up an account?

@gregmasson - try rhis link for the info

https://reoregistration.lpsdesktop.com/Support.asp

Thanks for link.

Thanks jbt

Just used this system last month for the first time on a BOA asset and they paid the first invoice in three weeks with no issues. However, every time I create a new invoice it says "possible duplicate invoice" and creates an exception. I'm using a different vendor # and invoice # each time. Is that normal?

Hi Chris39,
If you are having to separate services/utilities in LPS (i.e., Gas/Electric, or Water/Sewer) but they have the same service dates the message you are getting is totally normal. Just make sure to check your invoices in 24 hours to make sure the processor does not need you to change anything. When you log in it will tell you if you have a "resolution".

the servicer sets the parameters for that alert and others..is it New Vista? they have their system set up to automatically generate that message whenever you upload a new invoice within 30 days

Thanks folks. It is New Vista so that must be what's going on.