Send an invoice to debt collection

If you use debt collection, an invoice lands under Ready for collection when every reminder is sent, the last deadline has passed and more than the minimum amount is still unpaid. Invoices paused as disputed are left out. You find the list under Orders → Invoices → Payment reminders.

Whether you use debt collection, and how many reminders go first, is set in the reminder plan. See Send reminders for unpaid invoices.

Only owners and administrators see Payment reminders.

How to send an invoice to debt collection

1. Click Download for the agency. You get a zip file with a CSV of customer, address, amounts and dates, and the reminders as PDFs.
2. Register the case with your collection agency, the way they ask.
3. Click Sent to debt collection on the invoice. Add the agency and the case number in the note if you like.

No more reminders are sent for the invoice. If you marked the wrong one, or the agency sends the case back, click Undo.

The agency sends its own debt collection notice. A reminder from Bookingleaf is not a debt collection notice, and is never worded as one.

Send the oldest first

A claim is time-barred three years after its due date. Neither reminders nor a debt collection notice stop that clock. Each invoice on the list shows the date under Time-barred from, with the oldest at the top. The agency needs a few weeks before it can take the case further, so send the oldest first.

A time-barred claim gets no reminders, and the invoice shows Time-barred.

Did the customer pay after you sent the case?

If a payment comes in after the invoice was sent to debt collection, it lands under To review. Tell the agency, and click Passed on to the agency.

Still no money?

If the money doesn't come in through debt collection either, write the invoice off. See When the customer doesn't pay.