Hire an Outsourced Debt Collection Specialist for Your Credit Control

Credit control is a cash-flow job

Every overdue invoice is cash your business has already earned but can't use. Credit control works at both ends. At the front, it checks a customer's ability to pay before you extend terms. At the back, it follows up consistently so overdue debts don't drift into 90+ days. Many businesses only chase when cash is tight, which is when it's hardest. A full-time collections officer makes follow-up routine.

What your offshore credit and collections officer handles

• Credit applications. Process trade account applications, check ABNs and trade references, and run credit reports through your bureau account for your approval.
• PPSR registrations. Where you sell goods on retention-of-title terms, prepare and track registrations on the Personal Property Securities Register.
• Collections calls and emails. Contact overdue accounts on a set cadence using your scripts, and record every promise to pay.
• Payment plans. Arrange instalment plans within the limits you set, and follow up missed instalments.
• Disputes. Log invoice disputes, gather proof of delivery and paperwork, and bring the right people in to resolve them.
• Stop-supply and escalation lists. Flag accounts for stop-supply, external agency or legal referral, ready for your decision.
• Collections reporting. Weekly debtor days, aged balances by bucket, promises to pay and amounts collected.

Collecting fairly and within the rules

Australian businesses collecting their own debts are expected to follow the ACCC and ASIC debt collection guideline. That means contacting debtors at reasonable times and frequencies, being truthful about consequences, and never harassing. Your collections officer works from your scripts and the guideline, and escalates hardship requests to your team. Credit reports must be used only for permitted purposes, so access stays under your bureau account and policies.

Software and tools

• Accounting and ERP: Xero, MYOB, QuickBooks Online, NetSuite, Business Central
• Credit and risk: CreditorWatch, Equifax, illion, the PPSR portal
• Collections automation: ezyCollect, Debtor Daddy, Chaser, and Xero's invoice reminders
• Communication: a softphone such as Aircall, RingCentral or Teams Phone, so calls show your Australian number and can be recorded

Qualifications we screen

• Sri Lanka: commerce and finance graduates with credit control or AR experience, often AAT Sri Lanka or CIMA part-qualified. Strong in written follow-up and reconciliation of disputed accounts.
• Philippines: business or accountancy graduates with collections experience from outsourcing centres serving Australian, US or UK lenders and suppliers. Phone collections is a well-developed skill in the Philippine workforce.
• Everyone: interviews by phone and video, plus a skills assessment that can include a role-played overdue call and reconciling a disputed account.

Sri Lanka vs the Philippines for a credit and collections officer

Sri Lanka (UTC+5:30) is 4.5 hours behind AEST and 5.5 behind AEDT. With an early local shift, a Sri Lankan collections officer covers late morning through the evening in Australia. That suits email-led collections, statement runs and dispute paperwork, with calls made in the overlap. Sri Lankan candidates tend to be strong at the reconciliation side of credit control.

The Philippines (UTC+8) is 2 hours behind AEST and 3 behind AEDT, so calls happen when your customers' accounts teams are at their desks. Phone-heavy collections suits the Philippines best. Filipino collections staff often have years of experience on Australian and US portfolios, and are used to firm, courteous calls that keep the relationship intact.

Plan options for a credit and collections officer

If your financial controller already sets credit policy and limits, Ready for You (employ them yourself or through us) is the low-cost way to add a collector. If you're formalising credit control for the first time and need help writing scripts, escalation rules and reporting rhythms, Managed for You includes that guidance in the first 12 months. It also extends the replacement guarantee to 5 months.

Team member wages are paid on top of either plan. Multi-hire savings are available.

IT options (pick any, with any plan): Self-managed, where you or your team member supply the equipment. Hardware coordination, where we buy and configure a laptop that you own. IT management, where we handle devices, setup and security, with leasing available. See IT security.

Frequently asked questions