Promises to pay

A collector records what the customer promised to pay and by when. The nightly run checks posted receipts against it and marks it Kept, Partial or Broken. Broken promises raise the customer's priority and lower their health score.

CRM Collections

4 min read

Updated October 20, 2026

For Collector Credit controller

Record a promise

Record it
Who
Collector
Where
Collections > the account > Record promise (or Promise to pay on an invoice's CRM panel)
What changes
Amount promised (shortcuts: Overdue, Collectible), Pay by (Today, Tomorrow, In 7 days, In 30 days), For invoice (leave it empty when the promise covers the whole account), Made by (Call, Visit, Email, SMS, Other), Contact, Check payment follow-up for (who checks that the money arrived), Note.
Needs
The date must be today or later, and at most 180 days away ("A promise to pay more than 180 days away is a payment plan; agree shorter dates.").
What CRM keeps
What changes
An Open promise on the customer's collection case (the case is opened if there was none), and a follow-up "Check promised payment of ..." due on the promised date, priority High, for the person you chose. That person is notified if it is not you (setting Promise to pay recorded).
In the books
Nothing. A promise is not money: it changes no balance.

How a promise is judged

The nightly run (and Run collections now) checks each open promise against the receipts posted to the customer's account from the day it was recorded until one day after the promised date (a day's grace).

Status	When
Open	Not judged yet, or still within its date and grace day without the full amount
Kept	At least the promised amount was received
Partial	Past the promised date and the grace day; something was received, but not all
Broken	Past the promised date and the grace day; nothing was received
Cancelled	Cancelled by hand; no longer checked and not counted in the promise-kept rate

A receipt waiting for approval does not count until it is posted. Promises are judged only by the run, so between runs a promise can still show Open although the money has arrived.

Worked example: three promises of 25,000 by the 10th

Three customers each promised on the 1st to pay 25,000 by the 10th. Receipts count from the 1st until one day after the promised date: the 11th, the grace day. The nightly run judges them:

Promise	Receipts from the 1st to the 11th	What the run sets
A	25,000, posted on the 9th	Kept at the first run after the receipt is posted: at least the promised amount was received
B	10,000, posted on the 10th	Open until the date and the grace day have passed, then Partial at the first run after the 11th
C	Nothing. A receipt of 25,000 dated the 12th comes later	Broken at the first run after the 11th. The late receipt does not keep it

A receipt that is still waiting for approval when the run happens does not count, even if its date is inside the window, so a promise can be judged Broken although the money arrived. Each promise also has its follow-up "Check promised payment of ...", due on the 10th with priority High.

Broken promises

A customer counts as having a broken promise when a promise was judged Broken or Partial in the last 90 days, or a promise is still Open after its date. This one rule is used by:

the Broken promises and At risk segments on Customers;
the worklist priority (+20) and the Broken or missed filter on Collections;
the health score (one broken promise -10, two or more -20);
the CRM risk warning on sales documents ("Broken promise-to-pay history").

Cancel a promise

Collections > Promises to pay > Cancel promise on an open promise: "A cancelled promise is no longer checked against receipts and does not count towards the promise-kept rate." Only open promises can be cancelled ("Only open promises can be cancelled.").

The customer paid, but the promise shows Broken.

Check the receipt: was it posted (approved) by one day after the promised date, and to this customer's account? A receipt to another customer, or approved later, does not keep the promise. A promise judged Broken stays Broken: record a new one if a new date was agreed.

The customer wants to pay over a year.

A promise can be at most 180 days away. Record the promise for the first payment, and the next one only after the first has been judged: promises recorded on the same day all count the same receipts.