Put overdue invoices on a payment plan

When a customer cannot pay everything at once, agree a plan: their overdue invoices are split into equal instalments every week or month. While the plan runs, reminders for those invoices stop and each instalment gets its own reminder.

Before you start

• You need Collections: work cases (notes, promises, reminders, disputes).
• Set Grace days for an instalment in Collections settings: how late an instalment may be before the plan breaks.

Steps

From the case (chosen invoices)

1. Open the customer's case.
2. Under Open invoices, tick the invoices to put on the plan.
3. Open Instalment plan.
4. Type the number of Instalments (2 to 60) and choose Every month or week.
5. Pick the First instalment day and add a Note if useful.
6. Select Make the plan. The case moves to Payment plan and the invoices are marked On a plan.

From the plans list (all overdue invoices)

1. Open Collections → Payment plans.
2. Under Instalment plan, pick the Customer, the Instalments, Every and the First instalment.
3. Select Make the plan. It takes all of the customer's overdue invoices.

Follow a plan

• Payment plans lists every plan with its Status (Active plan, Completed, Broken, Cancelled), the total and each instalment, late ones marked.
• On the case, Payment plans shows each instalment's Due, Amount and Paid. Select Cancel to end an active plan.
• Payments on the plan's invoices pay the instalments oldest first, whichever way they come in (on the case, by link, by matching a bank line). Record them as usual (see record a payment).

Good to know

• Kept or broken. When every instalment is paid the plan is Completed. An instalment still unpaid after the grace days breaks the plan: the case moves to Escalated and normal reminders start again.
• No interest or fees are added: the plan splits what the invoices already say.
• One plan per invoice. Invoices already on an active plan cannot go on another.
• Older instalment plans. The Instalments page in the sidebar keeps plans made before Collections, with Due and overdue, Deposits and Report tabs. On a customer's instalments page you can Take a payment (it pays the oldest instalment first) and Change schedule to spread what is left again from a new first due date. New plans cannot be started there; make them in Collections.