Frequently Asked Questions

IBS specializes in billing and collecting commercial (business) accounts receivable. When a company enters into an agreement to use our service they sell their daily invoices to IBS. This prevents them from waiting 30 or more days to receive payment from the customer.   We send statements to the customers monthly, contact them if invoices are not paid, post payments to their accounts and take credit losses if the customer defaults on payment.   We also provide the customer with a website where they can request invoice copies, see current and past month statements, and pay their invoices/statement electronically.

IBS Client Connect is a website where you, our client, can log in to obtain vital information about your customers. This includes information about the batches you have submitted, client liability details, aging of your total customer base, individual customer account detailed aging, your top 10 customers, and on-line invoice approvals.

If you’ve reached this Resources page, you’re already using Client Connect! But please share this information with new employees: Log-in credentials have been provided to your company’s Client Connect administrator and other designated employees by IBS. If you do not have access nor know your administrator, please call us at 1-800-223-9146.

First, you should call IBS to see if the customer already has an IBS account. If we do and the account is in good standing, we will give you the account number and invoice limit over the phone. If we do not have an established account for the customer, the customer will need to complete our credit application.

There are three options for obtaining a credit application:

1. Make a copy of the application from the master copy of the application we provided to you when we set up your business on the IBS service.
2. Download an application from the Forms section of the Client Connect Resources page for your customer to complete.
3. Direct the customer to visit interstatebilling.com/applications to complete an application online.

If you’ve reached this Resources page, you’re already using Client Connect! But please share this information with new employees: Log-in credentials have been provided to your company’s Client Connect administrator and other designated employees by IBS. If you do not have access nor know your administrator, please call us at 1-800-223-9146.

The customer can return the completed application to IBS by any of the following:
Fax 1-256-260-0046
Email ibs.credit@bibank.com
Mail IBS, PO Box 2250, Decatur, Al 35609-2250

In this instance, we recommend they work through you so that you can email or fax the application to us—in your correspondence please note that a response is needed quickly. We will treat your request as a priority.

Our goal is a 24-hour turnaround on new accounts. This is dependent on the response time from the references the customer provides on the application. We will contact you if there is a delay in processing the application and the customer will be notified if their account is approved. You will receive a call and/or information notice that provides the account number and invoice limit. We will also let you know if we are unable to approve a new account.

We must have a signed credit application to provide a new customer with a charge account. We check credit references to determine if a potential customer is creditworthy and to supply them with a sufficient credit guideline. We do, from time to time, request updated credit applications on existing customers. This is needed to increase credit guideline and, in some cases, because we have experienced collection problems.

Invoices are normally submitted to IBS on a daily basis in batches (generally from the previous day). Most companies choose to scan and email the batches to us. We ask that you complete and include with your email a cover page of your total invoices, total credit memos, the fee due IBS, and the net amount we are due to pay you (please see the Forms link on the Resources page to print a cover page). The cover sheet is important to us because it shows how much you are expecting us to pay you. Your company is paid the day we receive the invoices. If we have problems with your batches, we will contact you to resolve the problem. The batch information paid to your company is available on Client Connect, and includes the details of the invoices in the batch and any adjustments that were made.

Since our service allows a customer to use their account with clients across the country, a sale/invoice limit helps IBS monitor the buying activity and the customer’s credit guideline.

Any invoice that exceeds the invoice guideline must be given an approval code by IBS. The automated sale approval option in Client Connect is the quickest way to get this done.

We ask that you get an Estimate Approval from IBS on any large repair or parts order. Simply login to Client Connect and select “Estimate” in the Approvals section. Complete the required information and submit your request. Upon completion of the repair or receipt of the order, please call us back with the final dollar amount of the invoice and invoice number. An approval code is valid for 30 days.

The invoice limit IS NOT the customer’s credit guideline. The credit guideline is established and maintained by IBS.

Customer accounts can be placed on hold for non-payment, over the credit guideline, or lack of credit information. When this happens, we will notify you by email through our customer information notices, and it will be your responsibility to close the account in your system. After we receive payment or additional credit information, we will review the account to determine if it can be reopened. You are notified by email when accounts are removed from credit hold. IBS does not notify the customer when an account has been put on credit hold.

You should, in all circumstances still request an Approval Code from us, either through Client Connect or by phone. In many instances, we are able to approve the invoice.

If you call IBS and we cannot give you an approval on an invoice, you should tell the customer that there is an issue with the account and they need to contact the IBS Customer Service department to resolve the problem. Invoices sent to IBS without an IBS approval code will be considered client liability.

IBS is not in a position to argue about a dispute or billing issue with your customer because we aren’t aware of the full relationship between you and the customer nor the conditions that may have created the issue. We will make every attempt to settle the disagreement, but if all attempts fail, we will, at the end of 30 days, ask you to issue a credit memo or mail a check to IBS. We do not want to appear inflexible in these matters, so if you feel strongly that there is no dispute, please contact an IBS Customer Service Manager to discuss. To find contact information for our Customer Service team, please refer to the Contacts link on the Resource page. The key to handling dispute situations is to communicate to IBS the steps that are being taken to find resolution.

When your company was added to the IBS service, all commercial customers that had an active charge account with your company were given an IBS account. However, since we aren’t familiar with your customers, you are required to stand behind these accounts for 120 days. This means that any invoice that is charged to your existing customer base within the first 120 days is your liability. This amount of time allows us to become familiar with your customers’ buying and paying habits without IBS requiring a Credit Application. On the 121st day, IBS will become the owner of any new invoices. During the Conversion Period, any Customer that is new to you and completes a Credit Application that is approved by IBS will not be identified as your liability.

IBS is a non-recourse service. This means that we take the responsibility for the balances owed by the customer. If a customer becomes a collection problem, we will take the loss. However, the responsibility for the invoice will remain with your company under the following conditions:

• Conversion period: Generally for the first 120 days a company uses our service, the invoices on your existing customers remain your responsibility.
• Recourse Accounts: Specific accounts that your company has agreed to accept the liability for
• Accounts on Hold: Invoices sent in on accounts that have been placed on credit hold and no IBS approval was given.
• Stale dated invoices: Invoices that are not submitted to IBS within 10 days of the invoice being closed out.
• Over the limit: Invoices sent in over the per invoice limit with no IBS approval code.
• Credit Due: Credit due to customer but not sent to IBS
• Disputes: Disputed invoices that are not resolved within 30 days
• Payments received by your company and not sent to IBS
• Offsets: Customers who refuse to pay IBS because your company owes them money
• Tax or discount adjustment made by customer billed to you on a statement from IBS.

IBS will maintain and attempt to collect client liability invoices for 90 to 120 days. All client liabilities will be listed in Client Connect. We will also send you a report of invoices that become 60 days old so that you can help with collection. Your company will be asked to repurchase invoices we are unable to collect at the end of this period.

IBS has made arrangements to get invoices from your company, normally on a daily basis. When invoices are received in our office, we pay your company and post the invoices to the customer’s IBS account.

These checks should be mailed to IBS immediately. You do not need to deposit them or endorse them. Sending them to IBS allows us to accept full responsibility for the check.

During the transition to our service your customer will receive two letters: one from your company and one from IBS. The letters provides full details about how and when they will receive a statement from IBS, where to send payments, and contact information if they have questions about their account.

All customer accounts are 30-day accounts. Statements are provided to the customer after the last working day of the month and payment is due upon receipt of statement. Customers may receive their statements electronically or via the mail service.

Past due accounts are subject to being placed on credit hold. However, we will contact the customer when invoices reach 60 days to determine if there is a reason for non-payment. The customer’s response will determine the action we take. There are also instances when customers will be called earlier. This will be determined by the balance and when the last payment was received.

Since IBS is a form of a credit card, we cannot accept credit cards in general. We will, however, accept MasterCard, but only if the customer agrees to cover the fee. If you receive a customer inquiry about payment methods, please ask the customer to contact our Customer Service Department at 1-800-332-9140.

You should let them know that IBS handles the billing for your company and provide them with our phone number, which is 1-800-332-9140. They can also email our Customer Service Department at ibsrequest@bibank.com or log in to Customer Connect to access and/or print invoice copies.

Our “limit” is truly a guideline. If a customer needs a larger limit than we have set, we will attempt to increase the limit rather than placing an account on immediate hold so we choose to use guideline. Credit guidelines are determined in two ways:

• If the customer already had an account with your company, we provided the same credit guideline you had established.
• For new customers, the credit guideline is based on the credit information we gather from the credit references they have provided to us, plus other credit reporting sources used by IBS.

We will take all possible steps to increase the guideline. This includes using our prior experience, updating the credit information we have on hand, and if necessary, request additional credit references from them. If we are unable to increase the credit guideline, the account will be placed on credit hold until the account is paid below the credit guideline.

IBS Customer Connect is a 24/7 online portal where customers can securely log into their account and view and print their current month statement (plus the prior 12 months). They can also see the open invoices on their account, pay their statement or individual invoices electronically, request invoice copies and send inquiries about their account to IBS.

Sure! Customer Connect will give your customers 24/7 access to their accounts and provides many online tools to make account management much easier. Customers can enroll in Customer Connect by visiting interstatebilling.com/customer-connect.