Summary
Business Central has useful reminder tools: reminder terms, automated reminders and finance charge memos. Microsoft's Finance Agent adds promise and dispute updates, still in preview. A credit control tool covers the rest: reading replies, holding the chase until a promised date, SMS and post, and an owner for quiet accounts. Match the tool to your hardest job.
- Paidnice: Best for teams that want the whole chase handled. Paidnice reads each reply with AI and drafts the answer for a person to approve, sends SMS and post, and hands a quiet account to its owner. Credit checks through your Creditsafe API connection, on the Custom plan.
- Kolleno: Best for groups over £100M turnover whose hardest job is matching payments to invoices. Its strength is cash application, with credit scoring built in. Price on request.
- Invoiced: Best for mid-market B2B teams that want billing, collections and cash application in one tool, across more than one entity. Price on request.
- Business Central on its own: Reminders go by email and print. Microsoft's docs describe no hold for a promised date and no owner step after the last reminder.
Paidnice connects to your ERP on the Custom plan. Book a demo on your own data, and a specialist sets up the connection.
Credit control software for Business Central picks up where Business Central's reminder terms, Reminder Automation and the Finance Agent add-in stop: at the customer's reply. See it on your own Business Central ledger at a demo.
What does Business Central include for credit control by default?
Reminder terms, Reminder Automation, finance charge memos, customer statements and customer blocks are documented on Microsoft's receivables pages with no add-on or licence note.
| Documented in Business Central | Status |
|---|---|
| Customer blocks and holds | IncludedBlock Ship, Invoice, All |
| AR aging | IncludedOn the statement report |
| Customer statements | IncludedPDF or Output Options |
| Reminders and dunning | IncludedTerms, levels, job queue |
| Finance charges | IncludedPost when ticked |
| Payment links and portal | PartialLink; no portal in docs |
| Email sending | IncludedSet up email in BC first |
Source: Microsoft, set up reminder terms, automate reminders, collect outstanding balances and block customers.
Microsoft's pricing page lists Essentials at $80 and Premium at $110 per user a month, paid yearly, and the comparison table has no receivables row.
Reminder terms carry unlimited levels, each with a grace period, a fee and an interest flag. Since 1 April 2024 the create, issue and send steps run on a weekly, monthly or custom schedule (public preview 1 March 2024, per Microsoft's 2024 release wave 1 plan). Late payment prediction is included and opt-in.
Email must be set up first, and automation runs through a job queue entry, so the job queue has to be running. Boltrics, a Microsoft partner that builds logistics software on Business Central, titled a December 2024 post "The #1 support question in 2024: job queues". Microsoft added notifications for interrupted job queues on 1 October 2024.
What needs an add-on in Business Central?
Microsoft documents Promise to Pay and Dispute Status updates through Finance Agent in Outlook, described as in preview. Payment links come from payment services such as PayPal. Other collections tools come from partners.
Finance Agent (formerly Copilot for Finance)
Collections in Outlook: reads aging and invoices, sets Dispute Status and a Promise to Pay date, and drafts replies. Source: Microsoft's collect outstanding balances page ("in preview and available in the United States"). Requirements: Microsoft's deployment guide.
Payment services (PayPal, WorldPay)
A payment link on emailed sales documents, per Microsoft's cash management module. The receivables documentation describes no customer portal.
AppSource credit and collections apps
AppSource lists a Credit & Collections subcategory under Finance for Business Central; apps there are published by partners. Check each listing for pricing and support.
Microsoft's pricing page names Copilot Credits for the Sales Order Agent and the Payables Agent. No collections agent is named there, and the 28.0 release notes list no AR agent either.
What do Business Central's reminders still miss?
Microsoft's reminders page says it "describes a mostly manual process" and points to Reminder Automation. Once automated, the flow still stops when a customer writes back.
The reminders documentation covers sending. After a customer answers, your team still has to:
- Read the reply. Finance Agent in Outlook (in preview since 30 June 2024) stamps a Promised to Pay date. Microsoft's automation setup describes no hold until that date, so an unrecorded promise never reaches the cash forecast.
- Tick On Hold on the disputed entry. On Hold is the per-entry control. Microsoft says an on-hold entry still appears on a reminder that another invoice triggers, so the customer in dispute still sees it.
- Fix the recipient. Reminders go to the Customer Card email, or one Document Layouts address per document type. Reaching the relationship contact instead needs a setup change.
- Decide what happens at the cap. When an invoice reaches Max. No. of Reminders, the documentation describes no next step, such as a task or an owner.
- Send anything beyond email or print. Microsoft's automate reminders page lists those two and names no SMS or posted letter, so the final notice goes by the same channel as the earlier ones.
The reply lands in the mailbox, outside Business Central, so the reminder log and the customer conversation live in two places.
Where Paidnice fits: if you want to...
Paidnice runs the full feature set on the Custom plan. It reads replies, holds the run, sends SMS and post, posts fees as invoices and gives quiet accounts an owner.
| If you want to |  Business Central + add-on |  Paidnice |
|---|---|---|
| Read replies, log a promised date | PartialFinance Agent, preview | YesA person approves |
| Hold the run until that date | Not documentedNo promise-date hold | YesPauses to the date |
| Post late fees as invoices | PartialPosts on issue if ticked | YesDraft or Approved |
| Send SMS and posted letters | Not documentedDocs list email, print | YesEmail, SMS, letters |
| Hand quiet accounts to an owner | Not documentedCap, no owner step | YesTask to the owner |
| Chase by customer group | PartialTerm code per customer | YesContact groups, routing |
Paidnice is good for you if you want to:
- Stop chasing the moment a payment posts. Paidnice syncs invoices, payments and credit notes from Business Central instantly, so a payment posted in Business Central stops chasing straight away.
- Reach the person who pays. Contact groups route email, SMS and posted letters to the accounts payable contact, each group on its own schedule. See email and SMS reminders and letters by post.
- Have the reply read and the run held. Paidnice reads the reply, drafts the response, logs the expected payment date and pauses chasing until then. A person approves every send.
- Post fees and interest from a policy. Paidnice raises them as invoices in Business Central, Draft or Approved. Bank of England base-rate interest (3.75% since 18 December 2025) is indexed automatically. The charge sits in the customer's payables as leverage. See late fees.
- Give the last level an owner. Where Business Central's reminders reach Max. No. of Reminders, Paidnice opens a task for the owner and can send a final notice by post. See escalations.
Paidnice customers cut their average wait for payment in half, within 30 days. Customers cut overdue invoices by 70% in their first 30 days.
Business Central runs on the Custom plan, which also runs credit checks through your Creditsafe API connection.
Business Central credit control tools compared (2026)
Business Central's native reminders, Paidnice, Kolleno and Invoiced, compared on plan, channels, reply handling, fees to the ledger, multi-entity support and fit.
| Business Central native | Paidnice |  Kolleno |  Invoiced | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Plan | Included with BC | Custom plan, any volume | Enterprise, over £100M | Quote only |
| Channels | Email, print | Email, SMS, letters | Email, SMS, calls | Portal, card, ACH |
| Reply read, run held | Not documentedNo promise-date hold | YesA person approves | Not published | Not published |
| Fees and interest | YesPosts on issue if ticked | YesInvoices, Draft/Approved | Not published | Not published |
| Multi-entity | Not published | YesParent/child statements | YesEnterprise plan | YesMulti-entity teams |
| Best for | Teams that handle replies in Outlook | Teams wanting replies read, SMS, an owner | Groups buying AR with calls and credit risk | Mid-market B2B teams wanting one AR tool |
Our guide to credit control for ERPs covers every ERP we connect.
How to choose credit control software for Business Central
Keep Business Central's reminder terms for the ledger entries and fees. Add the part it does not have: reply handling, SMS and post, a promised date that pauses the run, and an owner when the account goes quiet.
Ask each vendor these six questions. Most firms set 2 or 3 reminder levels, so the answers decide what happens after level three.
- Does a payment posted in Business Central stop the chase? A reminder sent after the payment landed costs the relationship.
- Can it send to an accounts payable contact that is not the Customer Card email? Business Central sends reminders to the Customer Card address, or one Document Layouts address per document type.
- Does a reply with a date pause the sequence? Microsoft's reminder automation docs describe no hold for a Promised to Pay date.
- What happens at the last reminder level? Business Central caps reminders at the Max. No. of Reminders you set on each reminder term, and its docs describe no next step. Look for an escalation to a named owner and a posted final notice, the last steps of a collections process.
- Do fees and interest post as invoices in Business Central? Keep the balance in Business Central equal to the balance the customer owes.
- Who supports the app after go-live? AppSource credit and collections apps come from partners, so ask for the support route before you sign.
Nice to have: a customer payment portal with a payment link, consolidated parent and child statements, and credit checks.
See Paidnice on your Business Central ledger
A Paidnice demo on your own Business Central ledger shows which accounts it would chase first, how the chase is set up, and how a posted payment stops it.
Book a demo and bring your Business Central ledger. An implementation specialist and a dedicated account manager set up the Custom plan after the demo. Customers cut their average wait for payment in half, within 30 days.
On NetSuite or Sage Intacct instead? Read our NetSuite guide or Sage Intacct guide, or start from the ERP guide.
Business Central credit control: common questions
Business Central automates reminders and posts fees, and its docs list email or print; the reply is left to your team. Paidnice connects on the Custom plan.
Does Business Central send payment reminders automatically?
Yes. Since 1 April 2024, Reminder Automation runs the create, issue and send steps as job queue entries. Overdue invoices go out attached as PDFs. Email must be set up, and the automation runs through a job queue entry, so the job queue has to be running.
Can Business Central charge late fees and interest?
Yes. Each reminder level carries a fee and an interest flag.
When Post Interest and Post Additional Fee are ticked, the amounts post to the customer ledger and the general ledger when the reminder is issued. Interest rates by period sit in Finance Charge Terms, on Microsoft's finance charges page, updated 21 August 2025. Paidnice raises the fee from a policy as an invoice in Business Central, Draft or Approved.
Can Business Central send reminders by SMS or post?
Not in Microsoft's documentation. The automate reminders page, updated 7 April 2026, lists email and print. Payment services add a payment link to emailed sales documents, and the receivables docs describe no customer portal. Paidnice on the Custom plan adds SMS and posted letters on the same sync.
What happens to a disputed invoice in a Business Central reminder run?
Ticking On Hold on the customer ledger entry stops that entry from triggering a reminder. An on-hold entry still appears on a reminder that another overdue invoice triggers, so the customer in dispute still sees it. Microsoft's send reminders page, updated 7 May 2025, documents both behaviours. Paidnice pauses chasing on one invoice or contact until the expected payment date.
Does Paidnice connect to Business Central?
Yes, on the Custom plan. Invoices, payments and credit notes sync instantly. Fees post back as invoices, with interest indexed to the Bank of England base rate (3.75% since 18 December 2025). Reminders, SMS, posted letters, statements and escalations run alongside Business Central.
Stop chasing invoices.
Start getting paid.
Paidnice is accounts receivable automation that enforces your payment terms. On the Custom plan it connects to your ERP, and a specialist sets it up after a demo.
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