In the latest release, we fixed several issues you helped us identify, and completed a lot of work on the upcoming Payments tools. You can read details about all the changes in the release notes, with highlights below. In addition, there's an upcoming change which affects taxes in some states, so let's dive right in.
Important upcoming change to sales tax
In states where we charge sales tax, we'll soon begin calculating a more-accurate amount for each order. The taxes will be based on your zip code, so any state and local taxes will apply. Previously, we charged the lowest tax rate for your state, and didn't include local taxes, so your tax amounts may change, depending on your location. We'll let you know exactly when this change takes effect when we have a firm date—we expect to start this within a couple of weeks. States affected are:
- Mississippi
- Connecticut
- Pennsylvania
- Utah
- Washington
- South Carolina
Eliminated missing credit card charges
When charging credit cards, there are cases when it takes quite a while to receive the status of the charge from our service provider. Because of the delay, our system was not recording the fact that the charge was actually successful. To fix this, we simply increased the time allowed for the status to be returned.
Improved sync based on your settings
You gave us a heads up about a specific scenario where order info wasn't being synced according to your settings, so we fixed it. Now, in cases where an order assignment expires and is subsequently automatically assigned to an appraiser who auto-accepts your orders, the acceptance status will now correctly synchronize to your client's order if that's what you've configured in VMP XSite Preferences.
You also told us about a situation in which an invoice wasn’t being synced according to your settings when an AMC attached the invoice to an order. This has been resolved, and we appreciate you letting us know about these types of issues.
More details about upcoming Payments tools
We're just weeks away from launching the pilot program for the Payments tools, so, as with recent updates, we wanted to share a little more about what's coming.
One powerful component of Payments gives you an easy way to collect funds for the appraisal from the borrower or from your own bank account. If you're collecting from the borrower, they'll receive an email directing them to your Make a Payment page so they can pay via credit card. Or, if the payment comes from a different source, you can collect from your own bank account. It's designed to give you the greatest flexibility for your appraisal accounting process.