Credit limits let you set an overdue debt threshold on a billing card. If the debt owed against that card goes over the threshold, every property billed under that card is automatically placed on hold, which stops new work being created for them until the debt is sorted out.
This is built for accounts teams who want a rule along the lines of "if this account owes us more than $10,000 and has not paid it in 30 days, stop doing work for them", without having to watch overdue balances and suspend properties by hand.
Credit limits are off by default on every billing card, so nothing changes for you unless you switch one on.
How to set a credit limit
1. Navigate to Billing > Billing cards and click View on the billing card.
2. Click Update.
3. Set a Credit limit. This is the total overdue amount that, once exceeded, will put the card's properties on hold.
4. Optionally, set a Minimum days overdue. Only invoices overdue by at least this many days will count towards the total. Leave it blank and any overdue invoice counts as soon as it is past its due date.
5. Click Save Billing card.
The Minimum days overdue field only appears once you have entered a credit limit, and it cannot be saved on its own. The credit limit is what switches credit control on.
To turn credit control off again, clear the Credit limit field. Nothing is held automatically after that, and any properties already on hold stay on hold until someone releases them.
You can set both fields when importing billing cards by CSV. Look for the Credit Limit and Minimum Days Overdue columns.
Credit limits are set on the billing card because that is the record that represents who actually gets billed, and it already holds related settings like payment terms. Note that one billing card can cover several clients, and the overdue debt of all of them is pooled against the one limit.
How the overdue total is worked out
Each night, Uptick totals the overdue debt on every active billing card that has a credit limit set.
Only invoices that have been issued and are still unpaid are counted. Invoices that are still in draft, already paid, credited, voided or deleted are never included. Where a credit note has been raised against an invoice, the credited amount is deducted from the total.
If an account has invoices in more than one currency, each currency is totalled separately. Amounts are never converted or added together, so a card is only over its limit when a single currency's total goes past the limit you set.
The total has to be greater than the limit, not equal to it. A $5,000 limit with exactly $5,000 outstanding will not hold anything, but $5,000.01 will.
What happens when a card goes over its limit
Every active property billed through that card is set to On hold. This covers properties that have the card assigned directly, and properties that have no billing card of their own and inherit the card from their client. A property that has a different billing card of its own is not affected.
Properties that are already on hold, inactive, archived or still in setup are left alone.
Each property that is held this way gets a note on its timeline explaining why, for example "Credit limit exceeded: 6,000.00 AUD outstanding on invoices at least 30 days overdue". Anyone looking at the property later can see exactly what triggered it.
No email or notification is sent to anyone, either internally or to the client. The timeline note is the record.
How to release a property once it is on hold
Properties are never taken off hold automatically, even after the debt has been paid. Someone always has to release each one manually, once they are satisfied the account is sorted out.
While the billing card is still over its credit limit, Uptick will not let you release the property. Both the Take off hold action and changing the property's status back to Active will be refused, and the message tells you how much is outstanding.
So the order of work is always:
1. Bring the overdue debt back under the limit, or raise or clear the credit limit on the billing card.
2. Then take the affected properties off hold.
This is deliberate. If a property could be released while the debt was still outstanding, it would simply be placed back on hold the next morning, and nobody would understand why.
FAQ
When does the check run?
Early each morning, after that night's invoice sync, so it always works from up to date invoice data. Setting a credit limit does not place anything on hold immediately. The first holds appear the following morning.
Does this affect appointments or work that is already scheduled?
No. Placing a property on hold does not cancel or change anything that already exists. It stops new tasks being created for that property from that point on, exactly the same as putting a property on hold by hand.
A client has part paid a large invoice. Does the remaining balance count, or the whole invoice?
The whole invoice. An invoice is either unpaid or paid in full, so an invoice that has been part paid still counts at its full value until your accounting system marks it as paid.
Does this work on billing cards that are synced to an accounting partner?
Yes. Credit limits behave the same way on synced cards as on any other card. Bear in mind that if a card is synced, the credit limit is still set in Uptick, but invoice payment status comes across from your accounting system.
Why has a property not been placed on hold when I expected it to be?
Check each of the following:
The billing card is active and has a credit limit set.
The invoice has been issued and is unpaid. A draft invoice never counts.
The invoice due date has passed, and if you set a minimum days overdue, it has passed by at least that many days.
The outstanding total is greater than the limit, not equal to it.
The invoice and the limit are in the same currency.
The property is Active, and either has that billing card assigned or inherits it from its client.
The nightly check has run since you made the change.
Can I use this to put a client on hold rather than individual properties?
Not yet. Credit limits act on the properties billed through the card.
Can I see which properties were placed on hold by a credit limit?
Yes, on each property's timeline. Held properties carry a note recording the amount that was outstanding at the time.