---
title: "What is a Credit Controller? - AR Dictionary"
description: "A credit controller is the person who decides which customers get credit and chases overdue invoices until they are paid. See the role, the tasks and how software helps."
url: https://www.paidnice.com/dictionary/credit-controller
---

# Credit Controller

## What is a credit controller?

**A credit controller is the person in a business who decides which customers get credit and chases overdue invoices until they are paid.** The title is used in the United Kingdom, where the work is called [credit control](https://www.paidnice.com/dictionary/credit-control). The same job is called [debtor management](https://www.paidnice.com/dictionary/debtor-management) in Australia and New Zealand.

A credit controller sends reminders and statements, applies late fees, speaks to customers who have gone quiet and decides when an account goes to a [collection agency](https://www.paidnice.com/dictionary/collection-agency). Many small businesses have no one with this title. The owner or the bookkeeper does the work, and [collections automation](https://www.paidnice.com/dictionary/collections-automation) runs the routine steps on a schedule.

The role is a mix of risk and relationship work. The risk side is setting credit limits and terms for new customers. The relationship side is the phone call that gets a promise to pay.

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