Looking for how to add interest, or a fixed late fee to your invoices in Xero?
Latechaser is an app syncs into Xero that will enable you to charge interest to your customers when invoices go overdue.
Step-by-step guide on how to add interest to unpaid invoices in Xero
Step 1: Sign in with Xero
> Select Try it Free button on latechaser.com
> Select Continue with Xero
> Select which Xero organisation you would like to sign in with, and to connect to Latechaser.
Note: If you would like demo Latechaser with demo data, use the Xero Demo Store.
> You'll now be logged into Latechaser and on the dashboard.
Step 2a: Set up your first Policy (late fee)
> Select View Setup Checklist
Dashboard overview:
You will now be on the dashboard. Your account is automatically on Safe Mode, you can play around with your account, and preview the actions Latechaser will take, before they happen.
In the red box to the left in the image above, you'll see all of the setting options;
Dashboard: Overview of your policies.
Invoices: View each invoice's status, and perform actions.
Policies: Setup your late fees, and their conditions.
Groups: Assign which contacts get late fees (and who doesn't)
General: Turn Safe Mode on, and off. Setup custom email notifications.
Billing: Select, upgrade, and cancel your plans (managed via Stripe)
Xero Connection: Set up user access, and reconnect, or disconnect your Xero account.
You can also;
Chat to our support team, in the bottom left corner.
Logout, and access our help center, up in the top right corner.
Step 2b: Set up your first Policy (late fee)
> Select Create a policy
Step 2c: Set up your first Policy (late fee)
> Select New Policy
Policy overview:
In Latechaser, Policies are what we call late fees and other interest payments.
You can setup as many custom policies (late fees) as you like, and assign them to as many groups (contacts) as you like (up to your plan limit)
Note: It's important that you attach at least one policy to a group, or else Latechaser will not issue any late fees for you.
Step 2d: Set up your first Policy (late fee)
> Select your Policy settings, and select Save.
Policy Settings Overview:
Issue type
Depending on your preferred accounting setup, Latechaser will either issue a new invoice for the penalty/late fee or update the existing invoice.
Note: when selecting Existing, all late fees will automatically be approved. Only for New Invoice issue type, are you able to select Draft / Approved (as above).
Select late fee type, pick from:
Fixed late fee (eg $10)
Percentage amount (eg 2% of $100)
Daily pro-rata per day rate (eg 8% per annum (divided by) # of days in the year (times) the number of days the invoice is overdue)
Is there another you would like to see? Let us know.
Fee income account - chart of account (Important)
Which chart of account would you like to code your late fees into.
Important: You need to select an account code before Latechaser can work.
Grace period
The number of days from when the invoice goes overdue, to when the late fee is issued. We recommend giving yourself some time to factor in reconciling your accounts.
Fee amount
The fee you'd like to attach to your policy (fixed number, or the interest rate)
Repeat late fees late fees (when left unpaid)
Select to enable compounding of late fees by any set number of days you pick. For example, repeat the 2.9% interest charge after 30 days (to compound interest charge monthly)
Note: Compounding of the original late fee issued does not happen. Would you like it too? Let us know.
Description
Customise the text that will appear on the invoice line item. Use #PenaltyDate to include the date the penalty is issued on the invoice line item (recommended)
Advanced Policy Settings Overview:
Apply to invoices due before (historical)
Sets a date the policy applies to in the past.
Apply to invoices due after (future)
Sets a date the policy applies to in the future
Note: you can use this feature to create unique policy blocks, for periods of time, and to process different policies, for different time periods.
Due amount threshold
Set a minimum invoice amount that must be met in order for the policy to activate.
Use contacts tax rate (only activate for custom tax setups)
Override the Xero account above to the contacts one if you have one setup for accounts receivable.
> Now, Save your Policy.
Step 3: Assigning your Policy
> Select the Groups tab
> In Defaults, Select your Policy from the dropdown.
> Select Save.
Note: The Default Group will send your policy to all of your customers, future and existing. If you want to create a Whitelist (of customers that don't get late fees) create a Contact Group, and don't assign any policies to it.
Step 4: Create a group, or a Whitelist (Optional)
Contact groups let you assign policies to different contacts. You can also create Whitelists, of contacts that will not get any late fees issued to them.
> To create a group, in Contact Groups, select New Group.
> Give your group a name.
> Assign a policy (or for a whitelist, leave this blank), and Save.
> Add Contact (note this is case sensitive, and pulls from your accounting systems contacts).
> Select Save.
Great, now you've setup a Policy, and assigned it to your default group. You're now ready to start issuing late fees to your customers!
Step 4a: Setup email notifications
If you would like your late fees to be automatically emailed to your customers. You can setup email notifications to send to both your customer, and to you.
> Select General.
> Select email notification options (in the red box on the right).
General Settings Overview:
Safe Mode
Stops any background processing of invoices while enabled. Turn off once you are happy with your policy settings.
Send late fee notification to customer?
Send an email to the email address on the contact file when a late payment invoice is issued.
Send late fee notification to yourself?
Send an email to the email address associated with this organisation when late payment invoice issued.
Use Custom Emails?
Setup a custom branded email.
Step 4b: Setup custom email notifications
> Select Use Custom Emails?
When the below editor loads:
> Set a custom Subject Line.
> Set the remainder of the invoice theme settings.
To use the custom merge tags.
> Select the any text box.
> Select Merge Tags, and the Merge tags you can use will drop down. Select them to insert them into your email theme.
> Select Save Email Template.
Step 5: Explore invoice actions, and import your existing invoices
Now that you have setup the rest of the nuts and bolts of Latechaser. It is time to explore the Invoices tab, and to import your existing invoices.
> Select Invoices.
> Select either, Manual Import (to sync a specific time window of invoices), or Sync Invoices (and sync all of your invoices across).
Note: Double check your account is on Safe Mode (General > Safe Mode ON) to make sure no imported invoices get penalties applied to them.
After you sync your invoices across, Latechaser will now work out in the background, which ones are overdue and match your penalty criteria, or not.
Invoices and filters overview:
Number
Xero invoice numbers, and their penalties.
Xero Status
Draft, Approved or Paid.
Contact
Xero contact who has been issued the invoice.
Amount Due
Original invoice amount that is due.
Latest Job Status
Invoice status within Latechaser, the different status codes are:
Imported - Synced to Latechaser, but has not met late fee criteria, yet.
Frozen - Manually or conditionally (via penalty settings) frozen and will not issue any penalties, unless conditionally this changes, or is manually processed.
Penalty Issued - Late fee has been issued.
Job Failed - Processing job has failed (if this happens contact support)
Date due
Invoice due date.
Last Penalty
Date when the last penalty was issued.
Action buttons
Buttons to perform actions on each invoice.
On accounts in Safe mode, they will look like this:
From left to right, they are: View in Xero, Pause processing, View issued penalty actions, and Preview penalty actions.
On accounts in Live mode, they will look like this:
From left to right, they are: View in Xero, Pause processing, View issued penalty actions, and Process Penalty Now.
> To use the filters, select Select Show Filters
Optional: Investigate invoice penalties, and emails sent.
> Select View issued Penalties
> Select View in Xero (to view in Xero) or Email History (@)
> To manually resend penalty emails, select the Resend button in red.
Step 6: Turn Safe Mode OFF
Now that you have setup your penalties, and know how to investigate your invoices for late fees. You are now ready to turn Safe Mode off.
> Select General.
> Turn Safe Mode OFF.
Congratulations, Latechaser is now automatically issuing late fees for all of your overdue invoices!
If you need any help getting your account setup, or have any questions - send us a note on [email protected]