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Delinquency Billing Best Practices

Mitchell Ivany Updated by Mitchell Ivany

Read Time: 10 mins

Automatically moving a long-term delinquent account from active to inactive is mainly meant to stop future charges from being added to the account.

It is not meant to control service access. Service access should be limited when the account becomes delinquent, not when the account status changes.

This article explains when and why delinquency and status changes happen. For setup steps, see the articles on Billing Defaults and Account Statuses: Overview & Example Use Cases.

Delinquency in Sonar

An invoice can become delinquent without changing the account status.

This means the invoice was not paid by its due date. The account status only changes after the Grace Period has passed.

The Grace Period adds extra time after the invoice due date. It can also be adjusted on individual accounts when needed.

From the Bill Day, the total time before an account becomes delinquent is:

Due Days + Grace Days

In Sonar, delinquency happens in two steps:

  1. The invoice becomes due.
  2. After the Grace Days pass, the account becomes delinquent and the delinquency process begins.

Delinquency Billing uses several settings that work together.

The main areas you may need to configure are:

  1. Account Statuses: Create a status for delinquent customers.
    For setup steps, see the Account Statuses: Overview & Example Use Cases article.
  2. Address Lists: Use these to disconnect customers after a long period of non-payment.
    For setup steps, see the Building Address Lists article.
  3. Delinquency Checks and Delinquency Exclusions: Control when delinquency processing runs and which dates should be skipped.
    To apply a Delinquency Exclusion every year, leave the Year field blank.
  4. Grace Periods: Set the number of extra days customers have after the invoice due date before the account becomes delinquent.
  5. Late Fees and Reconnection Fees: Configure any fees that should apply when an account becomes delinquent or is reconnected.

In the example below, the invoice is created on the 1st of each month and becomes due on the 16th.

If the customer has not paid by the 16th, the invoice is past due, but the account is not delinquent yet.

If the invoice is still unpaid on the 21st, after the 5-day grace period, the invoice becomes delinquent and the account moves to a delinquent status.

If the customer needs more time to pay, use Grace Until to choose a later delinquency date.

Grace Until prevents the account from becoming delinquent until after the selected date has passed.

You can think of it as “Grace Through” that date.

If automatic late fees apply, they can still be added to the invoice even when Grace Until is set.

In the Billing Default for these subscribers, turn on Move accounts into another status after being delinquent for a preset period.

Then, complete the required fields that appear below the setting.

In this example, Move accounts into another status after being delinquent for a preset period is enabled.

The account will stay in the Delinquent status for 7 days. After 7 days, Sonar will move the account into the selected status. In this setup, that status is Active.

Use these fields to control:

  1. Days of Delinquency For Status Switch: How long the account stays delinquent before changing statuses.
  2. Delinquency Account Status: The status used while the account is delinquent.
  3. Delinquency Removal Account Status: The status the account moves into after the delinquency period ends.
  4. The invoice was expected to become delinquent on Saturday, August 14, 2021.
  5. Weekend delinquency checks were disabled.
  6. The invoice became delinquent on Monday, August 16, 2021, instead.
  7. Since Days of Delinquency for Status Switch is set to 10, the account status changes on Thursday, August 26, 2021.
In this example:

This also shifts the account status change because the status switch is counted from the date the invoice is actually marked delinquent.

For example, if delinquency checks do not run on weekends and an invoice would become delinquent on a Saturday, Sonar waits until the next valid check day, such as Monday.



This also shifts the account status change because the status switch is counted from the date the invoice is actually marked delinquent.

Account status changes controlled by billing settings happen at 12:00 AM UTC.

Process Flow Details

In Sonar, billing and delinquency follow a step-by-step process.

  1. Billing starts on the bill day: Sonar checks whether the account is in an active status. If it is, billing runs and an invoice is created based on the account’s services and discounts.
  2. The invoice reaches its due date: If no payment is made by the due date, delinquency checks begin.
  3. Grace Days are counted: During this time, the invoice is overdue, but the account is not delinquent yet.
  4. The account becomes delinquent: After the Grace Days end, Sonar checks for any Delinquency Exclusions, such as blocked dates or disabled check days.
    1. If none apply, the account becomes delinquent right away.
    2. If an exclusion applies, Sonar waits until the next valid processing day.
  5. The delinquency process continues: Once the account is marked delinquent, it is added to the Delinquent Address List, and the countdown to any account status change begins.

Best Practices: Why Use Delinquency

Delinquency in Sonar is meant to encourage subscribers to take action, usually by paying their past-due balance.

Delinquency settings can help you move beyond reminders and late fees by creating an automated process for handling unpaid accounts.

A helpful way to think about delinquency is:

How many days are you willing to let a subscriber remain unpaid before taking action?

Once that time has passed, Sonar can help you trigger the next step, such as changing the account status.

When using Move accounts into another status after being delinquent for a preset period, make sure the status change happens before the next bill due date.

This helps prevent subscribers from being billed for another month of service they may no longer be able to use.

The sections below show examples of how delinquency can be used effectively, including what action is being taken and what result it is meant to encourage.

Using a Delinquent Status to Slow Down Service

One common way to encourage payment is to slow down the subscriber’s connection instead of disconnecting it right away.

In this setup, the account stays active, but an Address List is used to reduce the subscriber’s speed. The goal is to make the connection slow enough that normal use is limited, while still allowing access to helpful sites like the subscriber portal or their bank’s website so they can make a payment.

This approach can be useful because:

  1. It encourages payment without fully cutting off service.
    This can feel less abrupt for the subscriber while still motivating action.
  2. It can prompt the subscriber to contact your team.
    If they do not realize they are delinquent, the slower connection may lead them to call in, giving your staff a chance to explain the issue and collect payment.

This method offers a more active way to respond to delinquency while still maintaining a better subscriber experience.

Creating the Address List

To create an Address List for delinquent subscribers:

  1. Go to Settings.
  2. Select Networking.
  3. Click Address Lists.
  4. Click Create Address List.

After the Create Address List window opens, create a basic Address List for delinquent subscribers.

Window Field Details
1. Name: Sets the name of the Address List. Use a clear name that describes its purpose, such as Delinquent Slow Speeds.
2. Account Status: Controls which accounts are included based on their overall account status. For example, you can include all statuses or limit the list to specific account statuses.
3. Delinquency: Determines whether the Address List applies based on delinquency status. This is the key field for creating a list that targets delinquent subscribers.
4. Account Groups: Limits the Address List to subscribers in specific account groups.
5. Account Statuses: Filters the Address List by one or more selected account statuses.
6. Account Types: Limits the Address List to specific account types, such as Residential or Business.
7. Data Services: Limits the Address List to subscribers with specific data services.
8. Usage Based Billing Policies: Adds subscribers to the Address List when they have a selected usage-based billing policy and exceed their usage cap.
For more detailed setup steps, see our Building Address Lists article.

This Address List should apply only to delinquent subscribers. Once created, it can be used with an Inline Device policy to reduce speeds for subscribers who are delinquent.

For more information about controlling subscriber speeds with Inline Devices, see MikroTik: Controlling Speeds.

Using Status Switching to Deactivate an Account

This scenario explains how to use Billing Defaults to automatically move delinquent subscribers into another status.

This setup is helpful even if delinquency is uncommon. Having an automated process in place can reduce manual work as your subscriber base grows.

In this example, Residential subscribers use RADIUS for authentication and service delivery.

For the Residential Billing Default:

  1. Enable Move accounts into another status after being delinquent for a preset period.
  2. Set Days of Delinquency for Status Switch to 7 days.
  3. Set the Delinquency Account Status to a clear status, such as Delinquent.

Using 7 days helps account for delinquency check schedules. For example, if delinquency checks do not run on weekends, a 7-day window helps ensure the status change happens on a day when support staff are available.

While Inactive can be used as the status, Delinquent is clearer because it explains why the subscriber’s account status changed.

To create a new Delinquent account status:

  1. Go to Settings.
  2. Expand Accounts.
  3. Select Account Statuses.
  4. Click Create Account Status.
  5. Enter a clear name, such as Delinquent.
  6. Configure the status settings as needed for your workflow.
  7. Click Create.
After the status is created, return to the Billing Default and select it as the Delinquency Account Status.

This makes it clear that the subscriber’s account status changed because of delinquency.

This also lines up with the Billing Default fields used to move accounts after a delinquency period, including Days of Delinquency For Status Switch and Delinquency Account Status.

In this scenario, delinquent accounts are moved into a status that removes service and prevents future billing for service the subscriber will not receive.

This is a stronger step than slowing down the subscriber’s connection. It is usually used as a final escalation when reminders, late fees, and reduced speeds have not led to payment.

Frequently Asked Questions

If a delinquent account makes a payment on its bill day, will Sonar automatically create an invoice?

It depends on the account’s Next Bill Date and billing settings.

  1. If the Next Bill Date is today: If the payment brings the account out of delinquency and back to Active, billing will run normally as long as Daily Billing is enabled.
    The invoice is not created immediately when the account becomes active. It is created the next time billing runs.
  2. If the Next Bill Date is in the past: If the account’s Bill Day is today, but the Next Bill Date is already in the past, Sonar moves the Next Bill Date to the next month. No invoice is created for the current month.
    Example: If the Next Bill Date was 10/17/2023, the Bill Day is the 17th, and payment is made today, the Next Bill Date moves to 11/17/2023.
  3. If prorated account status changes are enabled: If the payment changes the account back to Active, Sonar may create prorated transactions. These transactions are not invoiced immediately.

Does the time of day matter when the account comes out of delinquency?

Yes. If the Next Bill Date is today, but there is less than one hour left in the day, Sonar moves the Next Bill Date to the next month.

Will Sonar automatically create an invoice during the month after an account comes out of delinquency?

Invoices are created automatically on the account’s Bill Date when:

  1. Daily Billing is enabled.
  2. The account is Active.

Does this work the same if the account moved from Active to Inactive because of delinquency?

Yes. If a payment moves the account back to an Active status, the account will bill on its next valid Bill Date.

If the original Bill Date passed while the account was delinquent, Sonar updates the Next Bill Date to the next applicable billing date.

How did we do?

Creating Discounts for Services and Packages

Delinquency Exclusions: Overview

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