A collections system for your business: how to stop chasing payments
Credit and balances per customer, reminders that go out on their own and a statement customers check without calling you. What a collections system needs and where to start.
What is a collections system?
It’s the part of your system that tracks what you’re owed: every credit sale, every payment and each customer’s balance, up to date. It isn’t an agency that collects for you. It’s the tool that tells your team whom to collect from, how much and when, without relying on anyone’s memory.
If collections live today in a notebook, in a spreadsheet only one person updates or in a salesperson’s messages, you’ve probably seen what happens: payments get forgotten, customers keep buying on credit while they still owe you and there are arguments about how much was paid.
How do you know you need one?
- To find out how much you’re owed, you have to ask someone or pull together several files.
- You keep shipping on credit to customers who are already over their limit.
- Your team spends hours calling and messaging to remind people to pay.
- Customers ask for their account statement and someone builds it by hand.
- You don’t know which invoice each payment belongs to.
If two or more of these sound familiar, collections are already costing you time and money.
What should a good collections system include?
- Credit per customer. A credit limit, payment terms and an up-to-date balance for each customer.
- A warning before you ship. The system warns you when an order would push a customer over their limit, before the goods go out.
- Every payment linked to its invoice, with the date, payment method and who recorded it.
- Balances by age. What’s about to come due, what’s 30 days overdue and what’s older, by customer and by salesperson.
- Automatic reminders by WhatsApp or email, before and after the due date.
- An online account statement, so customers can check it themselves.
You don’t have to build it all at once. The most common start is credit and balance per customer, which protects the most money, then reminders and the portal in a later stage. If you’re a distributor or wholesaler, collections usually go hand in hand with orders and deliveries; we cover that in distribution management software.
What does it look like in a real system?
At CelMex Unlockers, each customer has an internal balance with an auditable history: every movement is recorded and can be reviewed later. At Cleanly, customers pay without cash, and each payment is held until the service is finished, when it’s released automatically.
They’re two different ways to get paid. In both, the system knows at any moment how much each customer has paid, without anyone having to piece it together.
Can you send payment reminders on WhatsApp?
Yes. With the WhatsApp Business Platform, your system can send a reminder a few days before the due date, another on the day it’s due and one more if the payment doesn’t arrive, with the amount and how to pay. When the customer pays and the payment is recorded, the reminders stop on their own.
There are two rules. The WhatsApp Business messaging policy only lets you message people who gave you their number and agreed to hear from you, so ask for that permission when you set up the customer. And Meta charges for each delivered message, depending on its type; we explain how much in WhatsApp automation for business. If your customer prefers email, the same reminder can go out that way.
These reminders are a good first step into automation. See how we put together this kind of business process automation.
Can customers check their balance on their own?
Yes, in a customer portal. Each customer logs in and sees their balance, invoices, payments and account statement without calling you. It takes one of the most repeated questions, “how much do I owe?”, off your team’s plate, and there are fewer disputes because both sides see the same number. We explain when it makes sense in what a customer portal is.
What happens with invoicing when you sell on credit?
In Mexico, collections and invoicing go hand in hand. According to the SAT, Mexico’s tax authority, an invoice that will be paid after it’s issued, in one payment or in installments, uses the PPD payment method (paid in installments or deferred). For the payments you receive on that invoice, you issue a payment CFDI, commonly called a payment complement, no later than the fifth calendar day of the month after you received the payment.
If the invoice is paid in full when it’s issued, it uses PUE (paid in a single payment) and isn’t linked to a payment complement. The SAT also lets you use PUE if you expect to receive the full amount by the last day of the month you issued the invoice; if the payment doesn’t arrive that month, you have to cancel the invoice and reissue it as PPD.
That’s why it helps to link each payment to its invoice from the collections system. If you already invoice with CONTPAQi, Aspel or another system, we connect it when your system allows it, so nothing gets entered twice. Always check the tax details of your case with your accountant.
How much does a collections system cost?
It depends on how much you want to cover. A single module, such as collections control, starts at about $5,000 MXN, a larger project at about $15,000 MXN and a complete system at about $25,000 MXN, paid in stages. We send you the exact price in writing after the free consultation.
Third-party services are extra: the WhatsApp messages Meta charges for, and the stamping of your invoices and payment complements if they’re issued from your system. We cover what else to budget for in how much custom software costs in Mexico.
We solve urgent issues within hours, and most projects are ready in about a week; large systems are delivered in stages, each with its own date in writing. We fix defects you report within 60 calendar days of each delivery at no cost, and your customer and payment data is always yours to export.
Where should you start?
- List what you’re owed today, by customer, even if it’s in Excel.
- Put each customer’s credit limit and payment terms in writing.
- Decide who records payments and how each one is linked to its invoice.
- Ask your customers for permission to send reminders by WhatsApp or email.
- Automate what takes the most time, usually the reminders or the account statement.
If you want to stop chasing payments, in a free consultation we review how you collect today, what to build first and what it would cost, in writing.
Frequently asked questions
It’s the part of your system that tracks what you’re owed: each customer’s credit, payment terms and balance, every payment linked to its invoice, and payment reminders. It tells your team whom to collect from, how much and when.
A single module, such as collections control, starts at about $5,000 MXN, a larger project at about $15,000 MXN and a complete system at about $25,000 MXN, paid in stages. We send you the exact price in writing after the free consultation.
Yes, to customers who agreed to hear from you. The system sends the reminder before and after the due date and stops once the payment is recorded. Meta charges for each delivered message.
Yes, when your invoicing system allows it. That way each payment is linked to its invoice and nothing is entered twice.
Yes. In a customer portal, each customer logs in and sees their balance, invoices and payments without calling you.
It’s a payment CFDI you issue for the payments you receive on an invoice with the PPD payment method. According to the SAT, Mexico’s tax authority, it’s due no later than the fifth calendar day of the month after you received the payment.
Sources
- CFDI: Complemento de recepción de pagos (Spanish)SAT, Mexico’s Tax Administration Service
- WhatsApp Business Messaging PolicyWhatsApp (Meta)
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