The part of credit control that automation never reached
Payment reminder automation has been available to Xero users for years. Reminders go out on schedule, statements land at month end, and late fees post to the ledger. Paidnice has run that layer for businesses on Xero and QuickBooks since 2022, and those businesses have collected $1 billion on time across more than 1 million invoices.
What automation has not handled is the reply.
A reminder goes out and something comes back. "Sarah left, send it to accounts@." "This is an automated response from our AP portal." "We'll pay this on the 28th." "We're disputing line three." Each reply lands in a shared inbox, and a person has to read it, work out what it means, update the contact in Xero, note the promise, pause the chase, or push it up the ladder. That work is small per invoice and enormous in total, and it is why credit control still needs a credit controller.
What AI credit control does
Paidnice's AI credit control reads the replies to invoice follow-ups and prepares the next step for approval. In beta it already:
Customer reply
Re: INV-2041, 12 days overdue
Sarah has left the company.
Please send to accounts@.
Chase is stuckAI reads it
- Contact changed
- Person, not an AP portal
- No dispute raised
- No promise to pay
Draft ready
- 1. Update contact in Xero
- 2. Re-send INV-2041
- 3. Resume the reminders
- Re-routes an invoice when the reply says the contact has left, and proposes the new contact for the Xero record.
- Tells a person apart from an AP portal or auto-responder, so the ladder does not escalate against a bot.
- Honours a promise to pay, noting the date and holding further reminders until it passes.
- Pauses on a dispute, flags the invoice, and drafts the reply that asks for the detail.
- Drafts a response in the business's own tone, from its own domain.
- Escalates when the rules say so, to a named person or a formal notice.
Nothing sends without a human approving it. The agent prepares the action and the reasoning, and the approver clicks once. As confidence builds, businesses can choose which action types to approve in bulk.
It sits on top of the existing Paidnice accounts receivable software, so the reminders, statements, late fees, UK statutory interest, prompt payment discounts, and payment plans keep running exactly as configured. Paidnice's AI reply handling takes on the conversation those actions start.
Why it matters for advisors
Bookkeepers and accountants running credit control for multiple clients spend most of that time on replies, not reminders. Every reply that the agent classifies and drafts is one fewer inbox to triage on a Friday afternoon. The approval queue gives the advisor one place to review actions across every client organisation, with the reasoning attached.
Across the customer base, businesses running Paidnice see half as many late invoices in the first 30 days and reduce manual chasing by up to 90%. Paidnice's AI reply handling is built to close the remaining gap.
Early access
"Reminders were the easy half. The reply is where a credit controller earns their money, and it is the part every business told us they were still doing manually. We built the agent to do that reading and drafting, and we kept a person on the approve button because that is how our customers want it. We are opening a small number of early access places for Xero users who want to shape it."
Denym Bird, Co-founder and CEO, Paidnice
Early access is open now to businesses and practices on Xero. Places are limited during the beta.
Contact us to request early access to AI credit control, or book a demo to see it running on your own ledger.
About Paidnice
Paidnice is accounts receivable automation for small and mid-sized businesses on Xero and QuickBooks: consistent, best practice credit control and debtor management, run for you. Paidnice was named New Zealand Small Business App of the Year at the Xero Global App Awards 2026, and Global Small Business App of the Year in 2025. It holds a 5.0 average from 83 reviews on the Xero App Store. Learn more at paidnice.com.
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About the editorial team
Denym started Paidnice in 2022 after customers paying late left his own business short on payroll. He has led it to $1 billion collected on time across more than 1 million invoices, and writes about credit control, late fees and getting paid on Xero and QuickBooks.
App of the Year