Payment arrangements for subscribers in arrears
How an internet or voice provider records an instalment arrangement with a subscriber in arrears, and what credit control keeps sending meanwhile.
By Achekam · · 5 min read · For Telecoms businesses in South Africa, Nigeria, Kenya
A small business on a fibre line has fallen several invoices behind. The owner phones in, apologetic: a big customer paid late, things are tight, could they clear the arrears over the next few months while keeping the line on? For an internet or voice provider, saying yes is often better business than cutting the service and chasing a debt from a customer who has left.
But an arrangement only works if both sides can see where it stands. Too often the agreement lives in a support agent's notes, the instalments land on whichever invoice someone clicks first, and the subscriber keeps receiving overdue reminders that contradict what they were promised. This article sets out a cleaner way to run it in Achekam.
Agreeing an arrangement the subscriber can keep
An arrangement the subscriber cannot afford is just a delay before the write-off. Before agreeing:
- Look at the age analysis. Receivables are aged into 0-30, 31-60, 61-90, 91-120 and over 120 days, with overdue totals. Know exactly what is owed and how old it is before the call.
- Include the current month. The subscriber must pay each new monthly invoice as well as the instalment, or the arrears simply grow behind the arrangement.
- Prefer instalments that clear whole invoices. "Pay the oldest invoice each month, on top of the current one" is easier to follow, for both sides, than an odd amount spread across several invoices.
- Decide what happens to the service. Whether the line stays on, is throttled or is suspended if an instalment is missed is a matter for your service terms. Say it in the arrangement, not after the fact.
Put the arrangement in writing: the amounts, the dates, the invoices each payment clears, and what happens if a payment is missed. E-mail it to the subscriber and keep a copy with their account records.
Recording each instalment as a part payment
When an instalment arrives, record it as a customer payment in receivables. A business records customer payments against one invoice or spread across a customer's invoices. A part payment leaves an invoice part-paid with the balance still owed, and any extra beyond the invoices you allocate to is held on the customer's account.
If the money comes in by bank transfer, the pay page can show your bank details and a payment reference, and a staff member marks the payment received once it shows on the bank statement. Ask the subscriber to use their account number as the reference every time; it makes the instalments easy to spot.
Which invoices each payment settles
Allocate each instalment exactly as the arrangement says. If the arrangement is oldest first, allocate oldest first, even if the subscriber's reference mentions this month's invoice. If an instalment was allocated to the wrong invoice, a receipt can be re-allocated without deleting it, so fix it rather than entering it again.
Allocation matters more than it looks. The age analysis is how you will judge whether the arrangement is working. If instalments land on the newest invoices, the oldest balances never move, and after a few months it will look as if the subscriber has paid nothing towards the arrears.
Reminders and statements that keep going out
Credit control is on for new workspaces. Once a day it e-mails overdue reminders, by default at 7, 14 and 30 days overdue with the invoice PDF attached, and a monthly statement to every customer with a balance. It never charges anyone, and it records whether each e-mail went out. It needs working e-mail settings to send.
During an arrangement, the older invoices stay overdue until they are paid, so expect the subscriber to keep receiving reminders on them. Say so in the arrangement letter: automated reminders may still arrive, and they can be ignored while instalments are on time. The monthly statement is genuinely useful here: it shows the subscriber exactly what is left. You can also produce a statement of account as a PDF and e-mail it whenever they ask, and the screen tells you whether it was sent. Knowing a subscriber actually got the invoice explains how to use those send records if the subscriber later says they never heard from you.
A pay link for each instalment
Credit-control reminders carry no pay link, and Achekam never charges a customer automatically: there are no saved cards and no debit orders. So if the subscriber wants to pay online, send the link yourself.
A payment link is created for an issued invoice, then copied or e-mailed with it, and the subscriber pays on a public page showing your name and branding. A link lasts 14 days by default, and an open link for the same amount is reused rather than duplicated. This is where whole-invoice instalments pay off: each month, e-mail the link for the oldest invoice in the arrangement and the link for the current invoice. The subscriber pays both, and each invoice closes cleanly.
When the arrangement breaks down
Arrangements can wobble. A single missed instalment deserves a call, not a cut-off. Repeated misses mean the arrangement has failed, and you need a decision:
- Stop the service under your terms, and send a final statement showing what is owed.
- Hand the account to a collector or your lawyer, with the arrangement letter, the statements and the send records as evidence.
- Write it off. An unpaid debt can be written off once a partner approves; who may approve write-offs is covered in controlling credits and write-offs.
If the subscriber has left with an early-termination fee owing as well, see billing an early-termination fee. The ICAEW's helpsheet on chasing debtors is a useful reminder to check your own processes first, chase informally, and only then choose the next step.
Before the next arrears call
Write a one-page arrangement template: the subscriber's name, the invoices in arrears, the instalment dates, the allocation rule and what happens if a payment is missed. Agents who take arrears calls should fill it in during the call, so every arrangement starts in writing.
General guidance only, not advice on your own circumstances. Tax and payroll rules change: check the current position with the authority or your adviser.
