Free debtor management: stop chasing invoices without paying for another tool

Chasing overdue invoices is one of the least rewarding jobs in any business. Someone has to notice the bill is late, write the reminder, follow up again a week later, and then try to work out whether the client meant it when they said “I’ll pay Friday”. Most debtor tools that take this off your plate charge a monthly subscription for the privilege.

OnboardMe takes a different approach. The full debtors package is free when you collect payments through OnboardMe. No subscription, no per-user fee and no limit on clients. You pay standard processing fees on the payments you collect, and that’s it.

Here’s what you get, what it costs, and how it works.

What “free” actually means

There’s no catch hiding in the fine print, but it’s worth being clear about what you do pay for.

• No subscription. Debtor management doesn’t need an OnboardMe plan. It’s free to use on its own.
• Unlimited clients and users. Your whole team can work your debtors without adding seats.
• Processing fees on payments you collect. These are standard card and direct debit rates. In Australia, BECS direct debit is 1% + 30c (capped at $3), and Visa and Mastercard are 1.70% + 30c. Rates differ by region, and they’re all on the pricing page.
• SMS reminders are charged per message. Email reminders cost nothing. If you add SMS steps to your workflow, each text is charged to your account wallet.

Card payments are available in Australia, New Zealand and the United Kingdom. Direct debit is available in Australia and the United Kingdom, and comes to New Zealand in January 2027. Payment collection is coming to South Africa.

Get paid on the due date, automatically

The easiest invoice to chase is the one you never have to chase. With automated payments switched on, OnboardMe takes payment from the client’s saved card or bank account on the day a bill is due.

You stay in control:

• Set a maximum per payment, so a larger bill never goes through without a person looking at it.
• Recover bills that are already overdue from the saved payment method, not just new ones.
• Hold or release a scheduled debit before any money moves.
• Request a payment method when a bill doesn’t have one saved yet.

When most of your clients pay this way, the debtors list mostly looks after itself. Your team only steps in for the exceptions.

Follow-ups that run on your rules

For bills that do go overdue, you build a debtors workflow around your invoice due date. Each step says when something happens and what happens:

• On the due date: send an email
• 3 days overdue: send another email
• 7 days overdue: send an email and an SMS
• 14 days overdue: assign the bill to someone in your team

You choose the timing, the channel and the templates, in your own branding. A plain-English summary shows exactly what will happen before you save, and OnboardMe warns you if something looks off, like an email and SMS landing on the same day.

Reminders also know when to stop. Steps pause automatically while a bill is disputed, on hold, on a payment plan, has a payment scheduled, or has a promise to pay. If a promise is still unpaid three days after its date, it’s marked as broken and the workflow picks up where it left off. Nobody gets an awkward reminder for a bill they’ve already sorted out.

Payment plans clients can choose themselves

Sometimes the fastest way to get paid is to make paying easier. You can publish payment plans and offer them on any bill, or set one up after a client agrees to it.

Plans can run weekly, fortnightly, monthly or quarterly, with an optional deposit, for a set number of instalments or until the bill is paid. Clients can choose a plan themselves from their portal, and each instalment is collected automatically from their saved payment method, with a reminder before each one.

While a plan is active, your follow-up workflow pauses. If the plan ends unpaid, it resumes.

Statements without the monthly scramble

Send a full statement with opening balance, invoices and payments, or an open-item statement of just what’s unpaid. You can review recipients first, add a Pay now button, and download statements as PDF or CSV.

A client portal that keeps payments moving

Every reminder, statement and invoice can link straight to your client’s portal, in your branding. From there, clients can:

• see exactly what they owe
• pay an invoice in a few clicks
• update their card or bank account
• choose a payment plan

Every reason a client might give for not paying yet (“I need to update my card”, “Can I pay it off?”) has a button.

It stays in sync with your books

OnboardMe has two-way sync with Xero, QuickBooks and MYOB. Clients and invoices come into OnboardMe automatically, and payments and settlements flow back, so your accounting system stays reconciled without anyone retyping a payment.

Is it right for your business?

Free debtor management is a good fit if:

• you spend time every month chasing the same overdue invoices
• clients are happy to pay by card or direct debit, but nobody’s collecting it automatically
• you already invoice from Xero, QuickBooks or MYOB and don’t want another system to reconcile
• you’d rather pay a small fee on money you’ve collected than a subscription for software you might not use

And if you later want proposals, onboarding, ID checks or eForms, they’re in the same platform. Payment terms agreed in a proposal flow straight into billing, so you’re not chasing anything in the first place.

See everything in free debtor management, or start a 30-day free trial and connect your accounting system to see your own debtors in OnboardMe.