Credit control
Card payments
Customer agents
Xero integration
The Numbers Quarter replaced a patchwork of direct debit, card and bank transfer processes with a single Adfin dashboard. Cutting manual reconciliation, automating credit control, and getting cash into the bank faster.
At a Glance
How The Numbers Quarter built one payment experience out of three disconnected processes
Before Adfin, The Numbers Quarter was collecting payments three different ways - direct debit for most clients, manual bank transfers for the rest, and no way to take a card at all.
Every bank transfer then had to be matched to an invoice by hand in Xero, and every overdue invoice chased individually from her own inbox. Bringing everything onto Adfin turned that patchwork into a single platform, with reconciliation and chasing running in the background.
Before Adfin
After Adfin
Challenge
Payments scattered across different places, plus manual chasing
Before switching to Adfin, Nikki had set up direct debit collection for most of her clients' invoices, but everything else had to be handled manually.
That meant checking whether a client had already paid by bank transfer before chasing them, reconciling those transfers manually in Xero, and sending clients her bank details every time someone asked how to pay. There was no way for clients to pay by card, everything had to go through a bank transfer.
“Before I moved to Adfin, I had everything in different places. I'd set up direct debits for most of my clients, but all of the other ones I had to go in and do manually. I'd be sending invoices out, but if it wasn't paid on time, I'd have to send a reminder email myself."
- Nicola Hageman · Director, The Numbers Quarter
Solution
One platform for every payment method
Retries automatically built in, with no extra charge
Nikki moved The Numbers Quarter's payments and credit control to Adfin nearly two years ago. The switch consolidated direct debits, card payments and bank transfers into a single platform, and removed retry fees altogether.
“Adfin doesn't charge for retries, and it gives us the ability to collect all of our payments through the same platform: card payments, bank transfers and direct debits all in one place.”
No manual reconciliation
The biggest shift was reconciliation. Every payment collected through Adfin now matches itself to the right invoice automatically, which means Nicky is no longer switching between Xero to check who has paid.
“I don't even have to go into Xero anymore to reconcile my payments. It's done automatically in Adfin, so there's no chasing invoices that have been paid by bank transfer just because you haven't got round to doing your bookkeeping.”
Credit control now happens in the background too. If a direct debit fails, Adfin automatically follows up with a request to pay by card so there's no gap between a payment failing and the client being asked to put it right.
“Adfin chases by an Adfin email, but when it gets more overdue I send a personal email which gets a good response from clients. It stops those generic Xero or QuickBooks inoices going out, and it gives clients a push because it's coming from me not a piece of software.”
Credit control customised for each payer
The Adfin dashboard also lets her spot which clients are habitually late, so those accounts can be put through more frequent, automated chasing without Nicky having to remember to do it herself.
“Now with customer agents you can put different payers in different pots. If they always pay late, they get more chasing automatically, without me having to think about it.”
Results
Overdue invoices down from 30% to 2%
Nikki now filters her dashboard for anything overdue or outstanding — everything else is being handled automatically.
“Instead of checking in three different places to see if we've been paid, everything's in one place. I can find the anomalies - the things I actually need to do something with, rather than scrolling through everything else.”
Faster, steadier cash flow
Adfin settles daily, compared with the weekly settlement Nikki had before, and card payments land in her account the next day. This means she can plan for the future, and feel confident in the payments she needs to make.
“Having settlements coming through everyday just makes my bank ping, which is always lovely. From a cash flow perspective it means I can pay my wages, I can pay my suppliers - I know my money's coming in regularly and it's all really really quick.”