Using the Debtors queue

The Debtors queue is where your team sees every unpaid bill and works through them. To open it, go to Bills & Payments → Debtors.

Why it helps

• One list for everything owed. No more spreadsheets or digging through Xero.

• Worst first. The oldest and largest debts are always at the top.

• Clear ownership. Assign each debt to a team member so nothing falls through the cracks.

• Full history. Notes, reminders and promises are all kept with the bill, so anyone can pick it up.

What appears in the queue

Every bill that is:

• unpaid or part-paid, and

• not cancelled, and

• dated today or earlier.

If a bill belongs to a proposal, the proposal must be accepted.

Bills drop off the queue automatically once they're paid in full or cancelled.

Ageing cards

The cards at the top show how much is owed, grouped by how many days past the due date each bill is:

Click a card to filter the queue to that group. Click it again, or click All outstanding, to clear the filter.

Note: The card totals refresh once a day. Click Refresh to update them straight away after taking payments.

Tip: Owners, Admins and Finance Admins also see a Debtors ageing chart on the main Dashboard. Click View debtors to jump here.

Finding bills

The queue is always sorted by most days overdue first, then largest amount.

Queue columns

Click anywhere else on a row to open the bill.

Working a debt

Assign it to someone

Click the Assigned to cell and pick a team member. The change saves straight away. Your workflow can also assign bills automatically (see How overdue reminders work).

Update its status

Click the Status cell and pick a status. If you choose Promise to pay, you'll be asked for the date the client promised to pay. See Debtor collection statuses explained.

Send a reminder now

Click the Email or SMS icon on the row. If the icon is greyed out, hover over it to see why. For example, there may be no email address on file, or the bill isn't due yet.

You'll be asked to confirm if:

• a reminder was sent on that channel in the last 24 hours, or

• the bill's reminders are paused (for example, it's Disputed or has a payment scheduled). Sending now won't change the status or restart the workflow.

Note: SMS reminders are charged to your SMS wallet.

Add a note

Click the Notes count (or open the bill and go to the Notes tab), then Add note. Use notes to record calls, promises and follow-ups. You can use bold, italics, underline and lists.

Note: Notes are shared with everyone on your team. Anyone who can edit debtors can edit or delete any note.

Check reminder history

Open the bill and go to the Reminders tab. You'll see:

• Send a reminder: Email and SMS cards showing whether each channel is Ready to send, when it was last sent, and a send button.

• Automated reminders paused or Excluded from the debtor workflow: shown if reminders aren't running for this bill, with the reason.

• Reminder history: every email and SMS sent for the bill, with its delivery status.

Set up a payment plan

Open the bill and click Payment plan. See Payment plans.

Who can do what

• Owner, Admin, Finance Admin, User: change status and assignee, send reminders, add and edit notes.

• Read Only: view only.

• Workflow rules button: Owners, Admins and Finance Admins only.