Debts List
How the debts screen groups unpaid work by job, what each column means, and which actions you can launch from the row.
Debts lists the jobs that still have money outstanding. The screen is job-based rather than customer-based, so the same customer can appear more than once when several jobs still carry a balance.
It's no longer in the menu: Who owes you, under Accounts > Who owes you, has taken its place there, with the same debts put together by customer and the same Pay, Invoice, Invite to GoCardless and Write off for each job. Debts still opens from a link or bookmark you've kept to it.
What Counts as a Debt
- One row per job: Each line is a job with money still owing, not one merged customer account balance.
- Invoices are optional: A debt can already be linked to an invoice, linked to several open invoices, or still be sitting on the job without an invoice yet.
- In-progress payment states still show: Pending GoCardless charges, Instant Bank Pay links, and Direct Debit setup links stay visible here so you can tell whether a balance is being chased already.
- On a collection sheet: A job on an open collection sheet shows On and the sheet's name, so you know someone is already calling about it. Click it to open the sheet.
Debt Summary
The summary sits above the table and is open when you arrive. Hide debt summary folds it away, and the page remembers your choice on that device.
- Total debt: The combined outstanding value for the rows currently in view.
- Jobs in debt: The number of filtered jobs contributing to that total.
- Filter-aware totals: Change the visibility or business filter and the summary cards update with the table, so you are always looking at the same slice of data.
Columns Worth Knowing
- Age: Shows how long the current debt has been sitting there. Work Planner works this out from the unpaid charge history, not just the date the job was created. Opening balances are left out, so a balance brought over from before you used Work Planner doesn't make a debt look older.
- Customer and Address: Enough detail to recognise the right job quickly, especially when one customer has several active debts.
- Balance: The outstanding amount still left on that job.
- Last Done: Useful when you want to separate very recent unpaid work from older balances.
- Invoice: Opens the linked invoice directly. If several open invoices relate to the same debt, the column becomes a small invoice menu instead of a single link.
- GC: Shows Direct Debit and payment-link states such as Available, Payment Link Sent, or DD Setup Sent.
- Payment: Shows the saved payment method when nothing is in flight, or a pending provider status such as Submitted (GoCardless) when a collection is already underway. The (i) beside a pending status says what it means and what happens next: hover over it, or tap it on a phone.
Working From a Row
- Click the row: Opens the linked job in a read-only popup so you can review the full job without leaving the debt list.
- Pay or Pay / Charge: Opens Record payment for that job, to record a payment you have been given, such as cash or a bank transfer. When there is another way to take the payment, such as a Direct Debit to collect from, it asks how first. The longer label appears when the customer has a Direct Debit you can collect from. When the customer owes on more than one job, Record payment's Job choice also offers All jobs, oldest debt first, to pay for them all at once. See Taking a Payment.
- Message Customer and Print Documents: In the row's ⋮ menu, the same as More Actions does for ticked rows, for just that job.
- Invoice: Raises an invoice from the debt row when you have invoice permissions.
- Invite to GoCardless: Appears when the customer can be sent into Direct Debit setup but does not yet have an active mandate.
- Write Off: Records that some or all of the balance is no longer expected to be collected.
Printing the List
Print Debt List in the header prints the debts you have ticked, or with none ticked every debt the search and filters find, in the table's order, as a sheet to take out collecting, with boxes to tick for paid or part paid and room to write the amount. See Printing the Debt List.
Selecting Several Debts
Use the checkboxes when you want to message customers, print documents or print the debt list for several debt rows together. More Actions, in the header, is greyed out until at least one row is ticked. Then it holds Message Customers and Print Documents, which work from those jobs, and Print Debt List prints just those debts.
What Changes Elsewhere
The list itself is only a workspace until you use one of the actions. Recording a payment updates transactions and invoice balances, writing off updates the debt and any linked invoice, and sending Direct Debit or payment links changes the status badges you see in the GC and Payment columns.
Related articles
- Debts Filters: Covers the search, visibility, and business filters in more detail.
- Taking a Payment: Walks through the payment choices and Record payment.
- Write-Off Flow: Explains when to write a debt off and what that does to the ledger.
- Invoices List: Useful when the next step is checking or opening the invoice side of the same debt.
- Printing the Debt List: Takes the list out with you on paper, with boxes to tick for what each customer paid.
- Who Owes You: The same debts put together by customer, oldest first, with everyone included, and Pay for all jobs for a customer who owes on more than one.