AI agent · Finance and accounting
Collections agent: drafts payment reminders for overdue invoices
The collections agent checks your receivables every morning and drafts a payment reminder for each customer with overdue invoices, in the wording you approve for each stage. Your credit controller reads the batch, changes or holds any reminder, and approves the rest to send.
Second reminder to customer C-3307
- INV-20418, due 3 Oct, 30 days overdue
- S$2,180.00
- INV-20533, due 20 Oct, 13 days overdue
- S$1,744.00
- Of which GST 9%
- S$324.00
- Total overdue
- S$3,924.00
C-3307 promised to pay by 31 Oct. No payment is recorded, so the agent chose your second, firmer wording and attached a statement.
Sample data. Harbourline Supplies Pte Ltd is not a real company.
The job
What it does, and what it never does
What it does
- 1Finds invoices past due, grouped by customer, with days overdue.
- 2Leaves out disputed invoices and customers you have excluded.
- 3Picks the reminder stage and wording you set, for example friendly at 7 days and firm at 30.
- 4Attaches a statement of account.
- 5Notes promises to pay and checks for the payment once the promised date has passed.
What it never does
- Send a reminder without approval
- Put an account on hold or change a credit limit
- Write off a debt
- Chase an invoice marked as disputed
Collections agent
Spec sheet- Job
- Drafts payment reminders for overdue invoices.
- Module
- Finance and accounting
- Starts when
- Invoices pass their due date.
- Default control
- Draft for approval
- Approved by
- The credit controller, and the finance manager above the amount you set.
- Always a person
- A reminder is a message to a customer, so it always stops at a person.
- Logged
- Every draft, edit and approval, in your own system.
- Off switch
- Yes. Switch it off and the work goes back to your team.
Trigger
When it starts
- A daily check of receivables at a time you choose.
- A customer's promise-to-pay date passes without payment.
- A credit controller asks for reminders for one customer.
Data
What it reads and what it writes
Least access: the collections agent reads only the records this job needs, and it writes only drafts. Some things it never touches, whatever the settings.
Access is set per agent in the system we build, so you can see exactly what it can reach. Changing it goes through the same tests and review as any other release.
Access
- Reads
- Drafts
- Never
- Reads
Open customer invoices and due dates
From receivables
- Reads
Payments recorded
So paid invoices are left out
- Reads
Customer contacts and credit terms
Who to write to
- Reads
Call notes and promises to pay
Context for the wording
- Drafts
Reminder emails
Drafts only
- Never
Credit limits and account holds
A person decides
- Never
Write-offs
Always a person
Control level
Draft for approval by default, with limits you set
- Level 1
Suggest
The agent recommends. A person does the work.
- Level 2 Default
Draft for approval
The agent prepares the record and waits. Nothing changes until a person approves. This is the default.
- Level 3
Act within limits
Opt in per action, under a S$ limit you set. Payments, deletions and messages to customers or suppliers always stop at a person.
For the collections agent
Off for reminders. A reminder goes to a customer, so sending it always waits for a person.
Sample data. Harbourline Supplies Pte Ltd is not a real company.
Always stops at a person, at every level
Payments, deletions, and messages to customers or suppliers. No setting turns this off.
Limits you can set
Set in the scoping call, changed whenever you need, and logged when they change.
Reminder stages
The days overdue for each stage, and the wording for each, approved by you.
Excluded customers
Key accounts that a director or account manager handles personally.
Escalation amount
Overdue balances above a S$ amount go to the finance manager instead of a reminder.
Quiet days
Days when no reminders are prepared, such as public holidays.
Approval
The approval step
What the approver sees
- Each customer's overdue invoices, amounts and days overdue
- The stage and wording chosen, with the statement attached
- The last contact and any promise to pay
- Customers it skipped, and why
After approval
Approved reminders are sent from your system, one email per customer. Replies are linked to the customer record, and the agent sets the next check date.
What each choice does
Approve
The change is made exactly as drafted, and the approval is logged with your name and the time.
Edit, then approve
Your changes are logged as yours, next to what the agent first drafted.
Reject
Nothing changes. The draft and your reason stay in the log.
Log
What is logged
Every step is recorded in your own system, with who proposed it, who approved it and what changed. For the collections agent, that means:
- The receivables snapshot it used
- Each reminder as drafted
- Edits and holds, with who made them
- Who approved, and when it was sent
- Replies and promises to pay
- event
- reminder.held
- customer
- C-3307
- overdue
- S$3,924.00 across 2 invoices
- stage
- second reminder
- prepared_by
- Collections agent, 08:01
- held_by
- Credit controller, 09:15
- reason
- call first: promise to pay missed
- next_check
- Monday
Sample data. Harbourline Supplies Pte Ltd is not a real company.
Testing
How it is tested before go-live
- 1
We agree the cases with you
The everyday cases, plus the awkward ones your team already knows about.
- 2
It runs on a test copy
On sample data or a test copy of your system, never on your live records.
- 3
Two people check it
Our tester runs the test plan. Our ERP controller checks the business rules: prices, GST, tolerances and who approves what.
- 4
The release is reviewed
Lester Law, our founder, runs the AI coding agents and reviews every release before it reaches you.
- 5
You sign off
You check the results against the agreed cases. It goes live when you are satisfied.
Cases in the test plan
Each one is run and checked before go-live, with your own cases added.
- Customer with one invoice a few days overdue
- Customer with several invoices at different stages
- Invoice paid yesterday but not yet recorded
- Invoice marked as disputed
- Customer on your excluded list
- Missed promise to pay
Sample run
A sample run, start to finish
08:00 · Collections agent
Receivables check: 14 customers past due. 2 left out as disputed. 12 reminders drafted.
08:01 · Collections agent
C-3307 missed its promise to pay by 31 Oct. Drafted a second reminder for S$3,924.00 with a statement.
09:15 · Credit controller
Approved 11 reminders. Held C-3307 to call first.
09:40 · Credit controller
Called C-3307: paying on Friday. Logged the promise and cancelled the reminder.
09:40 · Collections agent
Set the next check for C-3307 to Monday.
Sample data. Harbourline Supplies Pte Ltd is not a real company.
What to notice
- The agent prepares and explains. It does not decide.
- A named role approves, edits or holds, and that choice is logged.
- Anything unclear is left for a person rather than guessed.
Where it fits
Part of Finance and accounting
Start with the collections agent on the tools you run today, or inside our finance and accounting software, one part of the AI ERP we build.
Industry
Wholesale and distribution
Account pricing, stock across locations, purchasing and credit control.
Industry
Automotive workshops and dealers
Job cards, parts, service quotes and vehicle handovers.
Industry
Field service and rental
Bookings, technician schedules, site jobs and equipment on hire.
Same module
AP invoice agent
Matches supplier invoices to POs and deliveries.
Price
The collections agent on your data, as a quick build from S$15k
2 to 3 days of build. You own the code, with no per-user licence fees. After go-live, Run (hosting, support, AI usage) and Evolve (monthly build capacity) are priced in the phase plan.
FAQ
Questions about the collections agent
Does the collections agent send reminders by itself?
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Can we use our own wording?
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What about disputed invoices?
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What if a customer paid yesterday?
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Can it send reminders by WhatsApp?
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Will it put customers on credit hold?
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See the collections agent on your kind of data.
Bring one workflow that hurts. In 30 minutes we show you how it would run as an approval queue on sample data, and what a quick build would cost.