Arrears: how a debt ages, and what follows

How a balance ages

Everything outstanding is placed in a bucket by how long it has been overdue, so the difference between four days late and four months late is visible without arithmetic.

• Not yet due
• 1 to 30 days
• 31 to 60 days
• 61 to 90 days
• Over 90 days

Rent and other charges age together

Rent instalments and non-rent charges are aged in one view. A tenant who is current on rent but three months behind on a utilities recharge shows as behind.

What the summary figures mean

The collection percentage is what has been collected against what was billed. The average days overdue is weighted by amount rather than by the number of lines, so one large ninety-day debt is not buried under a dozen small recent ones.

The suggested step is only a suggestion

A stage is suggested from the oldest overdue item: a reminder up to fourteen days, a demand up to forty-five, a notice up to ninety, and a referral for legal advice beyond that.

Nothing acts on this by itself. Notices carry legal weight in Ghana and a wrong one is worse than a late one, so issuing any of them stays a decision a person takes.

What a tenant is sent

Rent falling due produces one reminder per instalment, up to three days ahead. It is not sent for an instalment already settled, and not for one already overdue.

An overdue instalment produces a message once per ageing bucket, so you hear when the balance becomes overdue and again if it ages further, rather than every morning.