Aged debt, and an insurer who wants paying
A commercial renewal is bound and invoiced. The client pays most premiums by bank transfer, eventually. This year the invoice sits. The accounts team runs the aged debtors report once a month, sees the item at sixty days and emails the account handler. The handler, busy with renewals, sends the client a gentle reminder. Meanwhile the insurer's settlement terms have their own date, and whether the brokerage has collected or not, the insurer expects its money.
Across a book of commercial clients, that report is long. It mixes clients who always pay late but always pay, clients who have a query about the invoice, and clients who have quietly decided not to renew mid-term. They all look the same on the page.
Why the chasing is always late
Invoicing is automatic in most broking systems. Chasing is not. The aged debt report shows how old a debt is, but not how close each item is to the insurer's settlement date, whether the client has been contacted or whether there is a dispute. Chasing therefore depends on a monthly report and two people passing emails between them.
- Reminders go out when someone remembers, not on a set schedule.
- The invoice email does not include an easy way to pay.
- Queries about the invoice are not logged, so the client is chased while waiting for an answer.
- Handlers and accounts each think the other is chasing.
What unpaid premium costs a brokerage
The obvious cost is cash. Paying an insurer before the client has paid you ties up money, and how that is handled is a matter for your own procedures and accountants. The less obvious costs are the time spent chasing, the awkward calls made too late, and the cancellations that follow when a debt is finally treated seriously months after inception.
Debtor tracking tied to the dates that matter
- We read open client invoices from your broking system's ledger, with the policy, the handler and the insurer settlement date for each.
- Each invoice email includes a payment link, through a provider such as Stripe or GoCardless, or clear bank details and a reference, so paying is easy.
- Reminders go out on a schedule you set, stepping up in tone as the insurer date approaches, and stop as soon as payment is received or a query is logged.
- Clients can reply with a question, and a query pauses the chasing and creates a task for the handler.
- At a point you choose, the handler gets a task to call, with the invoice, previous reminders and any queries in front of them.
- Payments received are matched to invoices from your bank feed or payment provider and marked in the ledger for accounts to confirm.
- A board shows every open premium by days to insurer settlement, not just by age.
What happens to an unpaid policy in the end, such as cancellation, is your decision under your terms of business. The system simply makes sure you reach that point with a full record and no surprises.
Two views of the same debt
| Question | Aged debt report | Debtor board |
|---|---|---|
| How old is it? | Yes | Yes |
| How long until the insurer must be paid? | No | Yes |
| Has the client been reminded? | No | Every reminder listed |
| Is there a query? | No | Flagged, chasing paused |
| Who is dealing with it? | Unclear | Named handler |
A month end without the chasing sprint
Clients who simply forgot can pay straight from the reminder, without hunting for bank details. Queries are answered before the client gets annoyed at being chased. Accounts and handlers look at the same board, so the question of who is chasing whom disappears.
Is this your aged debt report?
- Unpaid premiums are chased from a monthly report.
- Invoices do not include a payment link.
- Clients have been chased while waiting for an answer to a query.
- You regularly pay insurers before collecting from the client.