Every bill in the Debtors queue has a collection status. The status shows your team where each debt is up to. Some statuses also pause automated reminders.
Why it helps
Everyone knows where each debt is up to, without having to ask.
Clients aren't chased at the wrong time. Reminders stop automatically while a bill is disputed, on hold or covered by a promise.
Broken promises aren't missed. If a promised payment doesn't arrive, OnboardMe flags it and starts chasing again.
The statuses
Status | Use it when… | Pauses reminders? | Set by |
|---|---|---|---|
New | Nobody has acted on it yet. Every bill starts here. | No | Automatically, staff or a reminder step |
In progress | Someone is working on it | No | Staff or a reminder step |
Contacted | You've been in touch with the client | No | Staff or a reminder step |
Promise to pay | The client has promised to pay by a date | Yes, until 3 days after the promised date | Staff only |
Broken promise | The promised date has passed and the bill is still unpaid | No. Reminders resume. | Automatically, or staff |
Disputed | The client is querying or disputing the bill | Yes, until you change the status | Staff or a reminder step |
On hold | You've agreed to pause chasing (for example, during a hardship conversation) | Yes, until you change the status | Staff or a reminder step |
New, In progress and Contacted are for your team's tracking only. They don't change what happens automatically.
Changing a status
In Bills & Payments → Debtors, click the Status cell on the bill.
Choose the new status. It saves straight away.
A status stays until someone changes it, or a reminder step changes it. The only automatic change is from Promise to pay to Broken promise.
Promise to pay
Choose Promise to pay.
Enter the Promised payment date and click Save.
The queue shows Promised by {date} under the status. Reminders pause until the promise is due.
If the client doesn't pay: OnboardMe gives a 3-day grace period after the promised date. If the bill is still unpaid after that, it's marked Broken promise in the next daily run, and your reminder workflow picks up again.
Example: a client promises to pay by 10 March. Reminders are paused until then. If it's still unpaid on 14 March, the status changes to Broken promise and reminders resume.
Tip: To change a promised date, switch the status to something else first (for example Contacted), then back to Promise to pay with the new date.
Other things that pause reminders
Reminders also pause, without changing the status, when:
Situation | Shown as | Reminders resume when… |
|---|---|---|
The bill is on an active payment plan | On a payment plan | the plan ends unpaid |
A payment is scheduled or being processed | Payment scheduled | the payment fails or is cancelled |
You'll see the reason on the bill's Reminders tab, under Automated reminders paused.
Excluded from workflow (not a status)
Some bills show an Excluded from workflow badge. The workflow never sends reminders, assigns or changes the status of these bills, whatever their status. This happens when:
Client notifications off: billing notifications are turned off on the client's Payment Details tab, or
Branding theme not set up for reminders: the bill's branding theme doesn't have Send reminders ticked.
To bring the bill back into the workflow, fix the cause. The Not being chased report lists all of these bills (see Debtor reports).
Statuses and reminder steps
A step in your overdue reminder workflow can set a bill to New, In progress, Contacted, Disputed or On hold. It can't set Promise to pay or Broken promise. See How overdue reminders work.
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