Collections software for businesses that collect from their own customers

How collections run in Makatea

1. Upload your customers with their balances and due dates from Excel or CSV.
2. Choose the messages for each stage and the day each one goes out.
3. Makatea sends them from your business WhatsApp number and email.
4. Replies land in one inbox. Payments and promises update the account.
5. Each morning the priority list shows the cases that need a person.

Collection stages and what Makatea sends

Built for first-party collections

Makatea is made for the business that is owed the money. Schools, internet providers, distributors and property managers use it to remind their own customers.

Every message goes out in the business's name, so the customer relationship stays intact. Makatea is not a collection agency and does not collect debts on behalf of third parties.

Collect without damaging the relationship

• Messages go out during the hours you choose.
• Only the customer receives the message. Nobody else in their contacts sees it.
• Each stage has a limit of reminders, so nobody gets several a day.
• Disputes are flagged and the sequence stops until your team resolves them.

Debt collection software or a collection agency

Many businesses use both. Makatea keeps most invoices from ageing. The few disputed accounts go to a lawyer or an agency.

What to look for in debt collection software

• Contact hours you control. Messages should go out in daytime hours local to each customer.
• A stop for disputes. A customer who disputes the charge should leave the sequence until someone reviews it.
• A record of every message. Each reminder, reply and promise should stay on the account with its date.
• Your name on every message. First-party collection works because the customer knows the sender.
• Payment links that pay you directly. Money should never wait in a third account.
• A list of accounts for a person. Software sends the routine messages and people handle the hard cases.

Makatea keeps the full history of each account, so any team member can pick up a conversation.

A first-party collection policy in five rules

1. Every reminder names the business, the invoice and the amount.
2. Messages go out in daytime hours local to the customer.
3. A customer who disputes a charge leaves the sequence until someone answers.
4. A promise to pay pauses the reminders until its date.
5. Only a person decides the final notice and any step after it.

Makatea applies the first four rules on its own. The fifth stays with your team by design.

Who switches to debt collection software

The usual trigger is volume. A team that sends more than a hundred reminders a month by hand starts to miss dates.

The second trigger is the cost of agencies. When a share of every recovered invoice goes out as commission, a fixed plan pays for itself quickly.

The third is the customer relationship. Businesses that sell to the same customers every month want to collect without losing them.

What a collection sequence looks like in Makatea

Each step stops on its own when the customer pays, promises a date or disputes the charge.

Details for collections teams

• Makatea prepares the final notice and your team approves it before it goes out. The earlier reminders go out on their own.
• Accounts already months late upload with their due dates. You choose the step of the sequence each group starts from.
• Makatea is built for businesses collecting their own invoices from their own customers, under their own name.
• Makatea sends written reminders on WhatsApp and email. Calls stay with your team, guided by the Monday list.
• Write each message in your own words, or start from the examples and edit them. Makatea fills in the name, amount and date.
• Every message, reply and promise stays on the account with its date, which keeps the record clean if a dispute or a court claim comes later.

Pricing

Every plan includes all of Makatea and starts with 14 days free with no card. The annual plan costs ten months for twelve. Above 3,000 customers the plan is set by volume.

Who uses Makatea for collections

• Schools and colleges collecting fees from families.
• Internet providers collecting monthly subscriptions.
• Housing societies collecting maintenance charges.
• Distributors collecting from shops on credit terms.
• Clinics collecting treatment plans paid in parts.