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Gertrude

Fixed Length ASCII Input Format

This document defines the record layout for payment coupon book and/or statement orders using files made of fixed length ASCII records in the GERTRUDE format.

The file must contain one record for each payment book or statement you wish to order. The name of the file should begin with the 4-digit client number assigned by SouthData. It is imperative that the file extension be .GER!

Each record represents one payment coupon book. These records alone do not completely define all of the information needed to manufacture a coupon book. The information provided on the Product Information Form is also required to establish other data, such as the remittance address.

All of the fields must contain valid ASCII characters. The high-order characters of the PC character set are not supported.

Each record must be exactly 400 bytes long and each field must be exactly the length shown. Fill unused parts of fields with either spaces or zeros, whichever is appropriate. The file may consist of any number of records with no record separators (some programs expect to have a carriage return/line feed between records, this one does not).

Refer to each field's description in the input record layout table for complete details.

• SDI Number - This value is the SouthData-assigned client number followed by a 4-character customer- assigned ID for the branch, property, etc. The customer-assigned part may be formatted "-xxx" or "xxxx" and the characters used must be a number or an upper case letter. Spaces are not allowed in any position. This value must be unique for each branch or association and a completed Product Information Form showing the SDI Number used must be on file with SouthData.
• Account Number - This value is printed in the account number area on each coupon and on the change of address form. Fill with spaces as required.
• Name & Address 1-5 - These five fields are used for the name and customer mailing address information that will be printed on the payment book or statement, as well as, the change of address form. All five fields must appear in the record, even if some are left blank. If any of these five fields is not needed, fill them with spaces as required. Blank lines are removed prior to printing and U.S. addresses are subject to standardization to U.S. Postal Service specifications before they are printed on the payment book or statement.
• Final Message Code - This single character indicates which of the possible messages should be printed in the message line on the final coupon of the payment book. The valid values are shown in the Final Message Code Table. Case is significant. Fill with space as required. If a space is detected, the default value for this product, taken from the Product Information Form, will be used.
• Distribution Code - This single character indicates how the completed payment coupon book should be distributed. The valid values are listed in the Distribution Code Table. Case is significant. Fill with a space as required. If a space is detected, the default value for this product, taken from the Product Information Form, will be used.
• Grace Period - This 2-digit value represents the number of days after the payment due date that the borrower may make the payment without incurring the late charge. i.e: If the payment is due on the 1st and no late charge is accrued until after the close of business on the 10th, then the grace period is 9 days. The only valid characters are the ASCII digits 0 thru 9. Left-fill with zeros as required. If 00 is detected, the default value for this product, taken from the Product Information Form, will be used. If 99 is detected, the message "End of Month" will be substituted for the late date when each coupon is printed.
• First Coupon Number - This 3-digit field represents the number of the first coupon in the payment coupon book. The only valid characters are the ASCII digits 0 thru 9. Left-fill with zeros as required. If 00 is detected, no coupon numbers will be printed on the coupon (the title will be printed, but no number). The first coupon number must be less than 1000 minus the total number of coupons so that no rollover will occur within the 3-digit field.
• Number of Payments 1 - This 3-digit field represents the number of payments in the first payment schedule for the payment coupon book. The only valid characters are the ASCII digit 0 thru 9. Left-fill with zeros as required. This field is required before a coupon book can be produced.
• Payment Amount 1 - This 8-digit field represents the dollar amount of the payment in the first payment schedule for the payment coupon book. The decimal point is assumed to be between the 6th and 7th digits (reading from left to right). The only valid characters are the ASCII digits 0 thru 9. Fill with zeros as required. If 00000000 (all zeros) is detected, no amount value will be printed on the coupons (the title will be printed, but no number).
• Payment Start Date 1 - This 6-digit field represents the calendar date when the first payment is due under the first schedule. The only valid characters are the ASCII digits 0 thru 9. If 000000 (all zeros) is detected, no date will be printed on the coupons (the title will be printed, but no number). The format is: MMDDYY where MM represents the month with values being 01-12, DD represents the day of the month with valid values being 01-31, and YY represents the year with valid values being 00-99. The field must evaluate to a valid date unless 000000 (all zeros) is used.
• Late Charge 1 - This 6-digit field represents the dollar amount of the late charge for the payments in the first payment schedule. The decimal point is assumed to be between the 4th and 5th digits (reading left to right). The only valid characters are the ASCII digits 0 thru 9. Fill with zeros as required. If 000000 (all zeros) is detected, the default value for this product, taken from the Product Information Form, will be used.
• Number of Payments 2-3-4 thru Late Charges 2-3-4 - These twelve fields are exact duplicates of the previous 4 fields. The only exception is that none of these fields is required to produce a coupon book. If there is only 1 payment schedule, all of these fields must be filled with zeros. The only valid characters are the ASCII digits 0 thru 9.
• Payment Interval - This single character indicates how often payments are to be made by the borrower. The valid values are shown in the Payment Interval Code Table. Case is significant. This field is required before a coupon book can be produced.
• Skip Months - This 11-character field is used to indicate in which month(s) a payment is NOT due. The only valid characters are spaces, the ASCII digits 1 - 9, and the upper case ASCII letters A - C. The digits 1 - 9 represent the months January - September, respectively. The letters A - C represent the months of October - December, respectively. This field is only processed if the Payment Interval field is set to "X".
• Message Line - This 45-character field is printed on each coupon, except for the last coupon in the book, in the message line area. Fill with spaces as required. If all spaces are detected, the default value for this product, taken from the Product Information Form, will be used.
• Total Number of Coupons - This 3-digit field represents the total number of coupons to be printed in the book. This should be the sum of the values in the four Number of Payments fields. The only valid characters are the ASCII digits 0 thru 9. Fill with zeros as required. This value must not exceed 240. This field is required before a coupon book can be produced.
• Date Keyed - This 6-digit field is used to represent the date a particular record was keypunched. The only valid characters are the ASCII digits 0 thru 9. If used, it should follow the same format as Payment Start Date 1. It may be set to 000000 (all zeros).

Final Message Codes

* No amount due is printed on the final payment. Instead, "SEE BELOW" appears in that location on the last coupon.

For a modest one-time set up charge, the client can have a custom message printed on the final payment coupon, either with an amount due or with "SEE BELOW" for the amount. In addition, the special message can be printed on the first payment coupon instead of on the last one. Contact us for complete details.

Distribution Codes

Payment Interval Codes