LU101595B1

LU101595B1 - System and method for managing unpaid debts

Info

Publication number: LU101595B1
Application number: LU101595A
Authority: LU
Inventors: Antonio Fontanelli
Original assignee: Creopay S A R L
Priority date: 2020-01-07
Filing date: 2020-01-07
Publication date: 2021-07-07

Abstract

A system for managing unpaid debts comprises at least one processing device for interfacing between a creditor, a plurality of debtors, and possibly other resources; a database configured to receive and store therein electronic data representing financial information about debtors, including debts and payments; a debt identification module storing configured to find said database outstanding invoices or due amounts; a debt notification module configured to send communications to debtors containing information about outstanding invoices or due amounts; and a remittance retrieval module configured to reconcile payments made by debtors with corresponding due amounts.

Description

SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR MANAGING UNPAID DEBTS The present invention generally relates to the field of Management and recovery of company credits. - State of the art

To date, all companies worldwide manage their own credits essentially in two ways. 1) Internally, for those equipped with suitable facilities, that is, call centres with operators who are company employees, who send reminders and contact the debtor-customer in order to manage and recover the amount due; this procedure has a significant cost because, besides the technical equipment (i.e.

CRM - Customer Relationship Management — software, computer desktop, etc.) the company has to have a certain number of people and Managers, which varies depending on the volumes to be managed, and also a part of its office space; said organisation is costly and, during the first phase of the credit recovery, the management time can last up to 60 days depending on the complexity and volume of the positions to be dealt with. 2) Outsourcing - in this case, companies, in order to avoid employing staff assigned to the recovery and internal management of credit, prefer to turn to

(often, for large companies, even by means of Public or private TENDER depending on the required characteristics) external companies specialised in this type of management, equipped with facilities and having personnel assigned for the purpose, with fixed or variable costs, depending on the type of intervention required; in this case the company using outsourcing provides only a small internal management structure and outsources all management and recovery procedures, maintaining only a form of control and the direction thereof; in this case the costs are most certainly lower since the internal structure is small, it has only a few units, whereas the external organisation is definitely larger and has variable operating costs, even though the management times become very long, approximately a minimum of 30 days up to a maximum of 90 days and over; this does not only result in the “getting older” of the credit and its financial value, but often, implying “physical” contact with the debtor

(home collection), it also triggers dilatory mechanisms that certainly do not accelerate the recovery process, making it, in some cases, less likely for the debtor to fulfil the contract, and fuelling disaffection towards the company, — Summary of the invention The present invention relates to a system for managing unpaid debts comprising as claimed in claims 1 to 7 and a method for managing unpaid debts as claimed in claims 8 to 11. The present system for managing unpaid debts comprises: at least one processing device for interfacing between a creditor, a plurality of debtors, and possibly other resources. The interface is advantageously configured as on-premises or private/public cloud based SaaS (Software as a Service) platform.

The system further comprises: a database configured to receive and store therein electronic data representing financial information about debtors, including debts and payments; a debt identification module storing configured to find said database outstanding invoices or due amounts; a debt notification module configured to send communications to debtors containing information about outstanding invoices or due amounts; and a remittance retrieval module configured to reconcile payments made by debtors with corresponding due amounts.

The present inventor has developed a method and operating system that enables companies, by means of a SaaS operating platform commercially referred to as Creopay, to manage and recover credits in a totally automatic manner, without the support of large ad hoc staff but possibly with only one person responsible for management tasks. Moreover, with the inventive operating system the full potential of both the API (Application Programming Interface, instructions and features that enable the control or use of applications and external devices directly from one’s own software) and the web-based access can be used to advantage. In fact, the inventive operating system, which is web-based, operates 24 hours a day, and allows unlimited access at any time of the day, 365 days a year is based mainly in the cloud, but can also be installed on-premises at the customer. In embodiments, the inventive operating system may typically operate as follows: The operating system notifies the debtors using a number from 1- to infinity, via the different means currently available, e-mail, certified e-mail address, text message, fax, physical letter and with “push” notifications using an APP , or by other messaging system through social networks, such as Whatsapp, messenger, telegram, IMO and others, realised and currently registered in the name of the undersigned on global platforms IOS Apple and Google Android; it is also possible to attach a “template-generated” document to the body of the text, upon specific indication by the customers/creditor (templates with varying fields) which can, in turn, contain other documents attached to the message; The operating system, therefore, adopts the complete master data with the amounts due, invoice numbers, purposes, etc. and everything is automatically inserted in the message generated, while the generated electronic shipping formats, as mentioned, are all those available worldwide to date.

In embodiments, the system may operate in automatic mode as follows; 1) Once the platform has been specifically setup for the customer, i.e. the creditor, it acquires from the latter the electronic data flows in any electronic format currently present and it generates lots (groups) of files.

2) Each lot has a different set-up depending on the contract entered into with the customer, and is sent upon manual or automatic request (timed and/or with fixed expirations).

3) Debtors who receive the message have immediate knowledge of their insolvency; they can acknowledge it and pay the balance of the amounts due in full, by accessing the payment page, either by text message, e- mail, certified e-mail and smartphone APP, depending on the countries where the system is used.

For online payment, two or more systems can be used at the date of filing the present patent application. In Italy there are currently two systems in use, 1) with Electronic Virtual POS, by which the debtor enters his/her credit - debit card or ATM [ie., Automated Teller Machine] direct debit card data via e-mail and proceeds to payment; the system will automatically issue a receipt by e- mail and/or text message. 2) by one’s IBAN code using the electronic recognition SEPA DIRECT European system or others worldwide payment system, that is, the customer enters his/her data and the system sends via text message/e-mail a secret code that, when entered, enables the customer to withdraw, within the following 48 hours, the amounts directly from his/her bank account and to transfer the same to the creditor; however, the implementation by means of new on-line payment systems foreseen for use for e-commerce is expected in the near future.

4) After payment procedures, the operating system issues reports to the customer with statistics and it carries out the full management of (credit) recoveries for the same; said reports can be extracted by the customer at his/her full discretion.

5) Plans for payment and recovery by instalments - the procedure provides that the operating system can, according to the customers specifications, send a message with pre-established payment plans which debtors can adhere to or not; it is sufficient for the debtor who adheres to said plans to authorise the withdrawal only once in order to withdraw the relevant sums via POS and/or IBAN, and the platform will automatically proceed, at the indicated deadlines, to withdraw the amounts agreed on, and will issue the customer on-line financial flow management reports. This process and system enables the debtor to “interact” electronically, clearly and without errors with the creditor, always with the possibility to receive receipts, by e-mail — text message or by paper copy, of the procedure in progress with a view to closing the position positively.

À particular merit of the present inventor is to have devise a procedure that uses e-commerce (on-line payment systems) as a credit recovery tool, together with its use for that purpose of messages with push notifications via APPs (in addition to the traditional text message, certified e-mail, e-mail, paper mail, fax) realised by the Operating System.

Claims

1. System for managing unpaid debts comprising: at least one processing device for interfacing between a creditor, a plurality of debtors, and possibly other resources, and further comprising: a database configured to receive and store therein electronic data representing financial information about debtors, including debts and payments; a debt identification module storing configured to find said database outstanding invoices or due amounts; a debt notification module configured to send communications to debtors containing information about outstanding invoices or due amounts; and a remittance retrieval module configured to reconcile payments made by debtors with corresponding due amounts.

2. The system according to claim 1, wherein said communications sent by the debt notification module to debtors are sent by means of email, certified email mobile application, text message, messaging systems, social networks, mail, or facsimile.

3. The system according to claim 1 or 2, wherein said communications sent by the debt notification module to debtors further include information about payment modes, in particular a link to a web payment interface.

4. The system according to claim 1, 2 or 3, wherein said payment modes include electronic virtual POS or SEPA transfer.

5. The system according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein said system comprises an instalment management module including a debtor/creditor exchange interface configured to allow the debtor to select a pre-established payment plan, and said instalment management module being configured to automatically execute withdrawal orders in accordance with the selected payment plan.

6. The system according to any one of the preceding claims, further comprising a reporting module configured to prepare reports about amounts paid by debtors and outstanding amounts.

7. The system according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein said processing device for interfacing between a creditor, a plurality of debtors is a web based platform and said database is stored in the cloud.

8. Method for managing unpaid debts comprising: collecting and storing in a database electronic data representing financial information about debtors, including debts and payments; finding in said database outstanding invoices or due amounts; sending communications to debtors containing information about outstanding invoices or due amounts; and searching in said database for payments made by debtors in order to reconcile said payments with corresponding due amounts.

9. The method according to claim 7, wherein said communications sent by the debt notification module to debtors are sent by means of email, certified email mobile application, text message, messaging systems, social networks, mail, or facsimile.

10. The method according to claim 7 or 8, wherein said communications sent by the debt notification module to debtors further include information about payment modes, in particular a link to a web payment interface.

11. The method according to claim 7, 8 or 9, wherein said payment modes include electronic virtual POS or SEPA transfer (system offered by third parties with bank authorizations for digital payments ).