The period between the cycle closing date and the due date is the grace period. An account's unpaid balance does not accrue any charges for that period. After the grace period, if the customer has not paid the minimum amount due (MAD), the balance starts to accrue penalties and interest. If the customer has paid the MAD, any remaining balance accrues only interest.

When you create a new program, either from a template or by copying an existing program, you provide an array of due dates for the program. Each due date is an object with an ID, a day field (representing the day of the month that statements become due), and an active field that you can set to false to disable it. When you create a new account, you specify which of the program due dates it uses by supplying the ID of the due date.

The program parameter Number of days before due date for cycle closing date of the statement represents the grace period and also determines the cycle closing date. For example, if this parameter is set to 10, and the day field of the due date is 15 (representing the 15th day of the month), then the cycle closing date is the 5th day of the month (15 - 10 = 5). This parameter defaults to 10. If you want a different value, use the Pismo Control Center to change it.

Customizing the grace period for a due date

By default, the grace period that you set using the program parameter applies to all program due dates. You can customize the grace period for a specific due date with the grace_period_days field. Set grace_period_days using one of these endpoints:

• Save program due date
• Update program due date

Since setting grace_period_days changes the grace period, it also changes the cycle closing date.

Extending the grace period

The GRACE_PERIOD_ADDITIONAL_NR_OF_DAYS program parameter enables you to add additional days to the grace period. For example, if the due date for an account is the 15th, and this parameter is set to 5, then the extended due date becomes the 20th. That is, the account does not accrue any charges until after the 20th.

If the customer doesn't pay the entire balance by the extended due date, then, on the following day, the account accrues charges for all the days between the regular due date (plus one) and the extended due date. For example, if the due date is the 15th, and the program parameter is set to 5, then the extended due date is the 20th. If the customer still has an unpaid balance on the 21st, then accruals are calculated for days 16, 17, 18, 19, and 20, and the total is added to the statement on that day. From that day forward, the account accrues charges in the usual way.

So, if the customer paid the minimum amount due, but there is still an unpaid balance on the 21st, then 5 days of interest are added to the statement. If the customer didn't pay the minimum amount due, then 5 days of interest plus 5 days of penalty charges are added.

Note that, since this is a program parameter, setting it extends the grace period for all accounts in the program.