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Debt collection for professional service firms.
Work completed. Fees outstanding.
Professional follow-up for unpaid fees, projects and service accounts. For owners and managers of consulting, design, engineering, legal and agency businesses.
“They are quite professional and hit the ground running fast.”
Firms we help.
Recruitment and labour hire businesses with unpaid placement or labour invoices can enquire too.
Business consultants
Project and advisory fees.
Design studios
Design and creative project invoices.
Engineering consultants
Consulting and design-stage fees.
Legal practices
Professional fees for completed matters.
Advertising agencies
Campaign, media and retainer invoices.
Fees we help with.
Project and milestone invoices
Stages delivered and signed off, with the invoice still unpaid.
Retainers and recurring services
Monthly retainers or service fees that have fallen behind.
Fees for completed work
Advice, reports or other work provided and not paid for.
A structured approach.
Focused on getting you paid.
Getting a response is often the first step towards recovering payment. We start professionally, establish why the account remains unpaid and make clear that it needs to be resolved.
From there, we follow a structured five-stage process, with firmer demands where needed.
Initial outreach
Establish contact, make the outstanding obligation clear and identify what is preventing payment.
Follow-up & engagement
Follow up, address questions and discuss how the account can be resolved.
Formal demand
A firmer request for payment, with a clear opportunity to respond.
Final demand
A final opportunity to engage before the account is reviewed for further action.
Outcome & next steps
Review the outcome and recommend the next step for your account.
- Legal referral
- Pause & re-engage
Where appropriate, with legal action subject to your instructions.
Payment or a suitable resolution can be reached at any stage.
Firm follow-up. A reason to respond.
An aggressive demand can be ignored just as easily as a polite reminder. Our approach combines clear payment expectations with an opportunity to resolve the account, backed by consistent follow-up and progressively firmer demands.
The process responds to the circumstances of each account.
Manage your debts and track recovery online.
Lodge debts, send documents and updates, and follow collection activity through our online client system.
Lodge debts your way
Submit debts individually, upload a bulk file or lodge via API.
Send updates straight to the account
Send documents and payment updates online or via API, directly to the relevant account.
Track collection progress and payments
View debt status, payments received, the collection stage and recent account activity.
Multiple staff members
Give multiple staff members access to your account.
Multiple locations
Add multiple business locations to your account.
Account summary
- Status
- In progress
- Collection stage
- Stage 2 of 5
- Payments
- View history
Recent account activity
- Email sent
- Call made
- Payment arrangement started
Records that support your unpaid fees.
Engagement letter or agreed scope
The proposal, terms or costs agreement the client accepted.
Completed work and approvals
Reports, sign-offs, timesheets or change requests.
Invoices and statements
What was billed, when, and any part-payments.
Correspondence
Emails about the work, the fees and reminders.
You don't need to send documents to make an enquiry.
Your appraisal and account setup.
Tell us about the unpaid fees
The amounts, the engagement and any query the client has raised.
Set up your account
We explain the account setup, ongoing recovery support and fees before you proceed.
Lodge and follow progress
Lodge overdue invoices online and see activity and payments as they happen.
Enquiring does not lodge a debt or engage our services.
If a client disputes the work or fees.
Tell us before the account is lodged. We review the agreed scope, the work completed and the correspondence, keep contact professional, and explain whether the account is suitable to follow up.
Questions from professional service firms.
What about my relationship with the customer?
Our approach is firm and respectful. Tell us if you're still working with the customer or have concerns about the relationship, so we can take that into account.
What if the client says the work was outside the scope?
Tell us before collection begins. Keep the agreed scope, approvals, change requests and relevant correspondence. We review the circumstances and explain whether the account is suitable.
Can you help with retainers as well as one-off projects?
Yes. Tell us how your invoicing works and the volume of overdue accounts so we can explain an appropriate ongoing account structure.
Do you help accounting practices?
Yes. Accounting, bookkeeping and advisory firms have their own page: debt collection for accounting and finance businesses.
What are my chances of recovering an unpaid debt?
You may have a better chance than you think. Even debts that have been ignored for months can sometimes be recovered with the right approach.
However, no collection agency can guarantee recovery. The age of the debt, the debtor's financial circumstances and whether the debt is disputed can all affect the outcome.
The important thing is not to give up simply because your customer has stopped responding.
Does waiting make a debt harder to recover?
Often, yes. The longer a debt remains unpaid, the more difficult recovery can become. Customers can become harder to contact, businesses can close, and financial circumstances can deteriorate.
An overdue invoice that may be recoverable today could become much harder to collect in six months. Taking action sooner gives you the opportunity to pursue payment before your options become more limited.
What happens if you can't recover my debt?
Not every debt can be recovered, and we won't promise otherwise. Our commission is based on money successfully collected, so if no payment is recovered, there's no collection commission.
We'll explain any other applicable fees upfront and keep you informed of progress so you can make decisions about the next steps.
What types of debts do you recover, and is there a minimum amount?
We specialise in recovering unpaid invoices and overdue accounts for businesses, including money owed by other businesses or individual customers for goods and services supplied.
We can assist with a single debt or multiple overdue accounts, provided the combined outstanding balance is at least $2,000.
We generally don't accept private loans between friends or family, personal financial disputes, or debts below our minimum value where recovery would not be commercially viable.
What will it cost?
Our commission is charged only on money successfully recovered. We'll explain our commission and any other applicable fees upfront, so you can make an informed decision before proceeding.
Prepare your supporting recordsDealing with a disputed invoice
from businesses like yours.
Over 38,000 businesses supported to date.
Google reviews
4.5/ 5
Based on 1,100+ reviews
“They are quite professional and hit the ground running fast.”
“Justine was both tenacious and highly professional in respect of pursuing a not insignificant amount of money owed to me by a business in WA.”
“Professional, efficient, and achieved fantastic results for our business.”
“We have been using Marshall Freeman Collections for more than 10 years and have found them and their staff to be extremely committed to getting a successful outcome.”
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You’ve done the work.Let’s help you get paid.
A structured, five-stage recovery process
Less stress. We handle the difficult calls.
Get back to running your business
“…great communication, easy to set up…”
Get a free debt appraisal
Tell us about your unpaid invoices. A specialist will call to discuss your options.