All debtor management settings live in one guided setup in Settings → Business. This article walks through each step and explains what's needed for Xero, QuickBooks and Standalone (no accounting system).
The quick version
Connect your payment vendor (Pinch or Stripe).
Turn on Collect Bills automatically and start settlements.
Choose which branding themes are collected and which get reminders.
Turn on the payment emails you want.
Pick a reminder preset and save it.
Set your statement defaults.
Once that's done, payments are collected on the due date and overdue bills are chased for you. Your team only needs to step in when a client needs a personal touch.
Who can do this: Owners and Admins. Finance Admins can set up overdue reminders and statements, but can't turn on automatic payments.
Before you start
Debtor management is free when you take payments through OnboardMe, so a payment vendor must be connected first. Set this up in Settings → Business → Payment Settings → Payment vendor:
Pinch Payments (Australia and New Zealand): the account must be approved
Stripe (UK): the account must be active
The setup steps won't all appear until your payment vendor is ready.
Requirement | Xero | QuickBooks | Standalone |
|---|---|---|---|
Payment vendor (Pinch or Stripe) connected and approved | Required | Required | Required |
Accounting system connected (Settings → Integrations) | Required | Required | Not needed |
Branding themes | Synced from Xero | Created in OnboardMe | Created in OnboardMe |
Settlement bank account (for reconciliation) | A Xero bank account | A QuickBooks bank account | Not needed |
Import existing unpaid invoices | Optional | Optional | Not available. Only bills created in OnboardMe are included. |
Open the setup
Go to Settings → Business.
Open the Payment Settings tab.
In the left-hand menu, select Debtors & payments.
Click Set up debtors & payments. If you've set it up before, the button says Manage debtors & payments.
The status summary above the button shows each part of your setup and whether it's Configured or Not configured. Click any row to jump straight to that step.
The setup has up to five steps. You can click any step at the top to move between them. Click Save on any step to save your changes.
Step | What it controls | When it appears |
|---|---|---|
1. Collection | Whether bills are paid automatically, and the rules for collection | Only when Pinch or Stripe is ready |
2. Bills | Which branding themes are collected and get reminders | Only when Pinch or Stripe is ready |
3. Notifications | Which payment emails are sent to clients and your team | Only when Pinch or Stripe is ready |
4. Overdue reminders | Your debtor reminder workflow | Owners, Admins and Finance Admins |
5. Statements | Default statement settings | Always |
Step 1: Collection
This step turns on automatic payments. When it's on, OnboardMe takes payment on a bill's due date from the client's saved card or bank account.
Setting | What it means |
|---|---|
Collect Bills automatically | Yes turns on automatic payments. Only bills on a branding theme with Collect automatically ticked are included (see Step 2). |
Preferred payment method | If a client has both a Bank account and a Card saved, this one is used first. If they only have one saved, that one is used. (NZ practices using Pinch: card only.) |
Collect overdue Bills going back | How many days back to collect bills that are already overdue (0 to 90). Leave at 0 to collect only bills that are still coming due. Overdue bills are always scheduled at least one day ahead, so you can review or pause them first. |
Maximum per payment | Payments above this amount are put On hold for someone to check instead of being collected. Leave blank for no limit. |
Settlements
Settlements are how OnboardMe matches payouts from your payment provider back to your bank.
Xero or QuickBooks
Under Settlements, choose the bank account in your accounting system where payouts arrive.
Click Save bank account.
Click Save. This starts settlement reconciliation from today. Only payments taken from this date onwards are reconciled.
When automatic payments are on, OnboardMe also marks invoices as paid in Xero or QuickBooks. It does this through an OnboardMe clearing account, which it creates and manages for you.
Standalone
Under Start collecting, click Start automatic payments.
Collection starts from today. You can connect Xero or QuickBooks later to reconcile settlements to a bank account.
Important: The settlement start date is permanent. Payments taken before it are never reconciled automatically.
Note: If you turn Collect Bills automatically back to No, every scheduled payment that hasn't been collected yet is cancelled.
Step 2: Bills (branding themes)
Branding themes decide which bills are included in debtor management. Each theme has these switches:
Switch | What it does |
|---|---|
Collect automatically | Bills on this theme are paid automatically on the due date |
Send reminders | Bills on this theme get overdue reminders and payment emails. Bills on a theme without this ticked are excluded from the debtor workflow. |
Send on import (Xero only) | Emails the invoice PDF to the client the first time an unpaid Xero invoice on this theme is imported |
Changes on this step save straight away.
Xero: Your Xero branding themes are listed here. If none appear, sync them from Settings → Integrations → Xero Ledger → Settings and Themes → Sync Branding Themes. They also sync automatically every night.
QuickBooks and Standalone: Create your own themes. Enter a Theme name (for example Standard or Monthly fees) and click Add theme. Then tick the switches you want.
QuickBooks only: Choose a Default theme for QuickBooks bills. Bills imported from QuickBooks use this theme's Collect automatically and Send reminders settings.
See Setting up bills: branding themes and payment methods for how to plan your themes.
Step 3: Notifications
Choose which payment emails are sent. Every email is off until you turn it on.
Sent once a day (at the time shown on screen)
Sent when | |
|---|---|
Payment scheduled | A bill is first queued for automatic collection |
Upcoming payment reminder | A set number of days before collection (0 to 30). Payments on hold are skipped. |
Invoice payment setup | A bill has no saved card or bank account. It asks the client to add one. |
Failed payment summary | Sent to staff you choose. It lists the day's failed payments. |
Payment plan installment reminder | Before each instalment, using the days set on the plan |
Sent as soon as it happens
Sent when | |
|---|---|
Payment receipt | A payment succeeds. Tick Include paid invoice to attach the PDF. |
Payment failed | A payment fails. The email includes a link for the client to update their payment details. |
Payment plan started / installment failed / completed | The matching payment plan event happens |
Note: Client emails are only sent for bills on a theme with Send reminders ticked.
You can edit the wording of each email in Templates → Email templates.
Step 4: Overdue reminders
Build the workflow that chases overdue bills. On your first visit, pick a preset (Gentle, Balanced or Firm) or Start from scratch. Then click Save workflow.
See How overdue reminders work for the full guide.
Step 5: Statements
Set the defaults used when your team generates statements:
Default statement layout: Activity statement or Open item statement
Include no-movement clients: include clients who had no activity in the period but still owe money (Activity statements only)
Include Pay now button: adds a Pay now button to statements when an amount is due
These changes save straight away. See Customer statements.
Importing existing unpaid invoices (Xero and QuickBooks)
To bring invoices that are already outstanding in your accounting system into the Debtors queue:
Go to Settings → Business → Payment Settings → Billing.
Set Sync unpaid accounting invoices to Yes.
Click Save.
OnboardMe then imports unpaid invoices every night and whenever they change in Xero or QuickBooks. It also keeps payments up to date in both directions.
Important: An invoice is only imported if its contact in Xero or QuickBooks is linked to a client in OnboardMe. Check your client links before you turn this on.
Xero: Imported invoices keep their Xero branding theme. Payments recorded in Xero, including overpayments and prepayments, are brought across. If a payment is deleted in Xero, it's removed in OnboardMe and the bill becomes unpaid again.
QuickBooks: Imported invoices use your Default theme for QuickBooks bills. Before any automatic payment, OnboardMe re-checks the balance in QuickBooks.
Setup checklist
Payment vendor (Pinch or Stripe) connected and approved
Xero or QuickBooks connected, and Sync unpaid accounting invoices on (if you use one)
Branding themes set up, with Collect automatically and Send reminders ticked where you want them
Collection settings saved and settlements started
Payment emails turned on in Notifications
Overdue reminder workflow saved
Statement defaults set
Clients have a card or bank account saved (see Setting up bills)
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