From Paper to portal: How Alfa College transformed its debtor management with Payt

He used to prepare the invoices, print them out, fold them neatly in half, and place them into envelopes: the accounts receivable manager at Alfa College in Groningen had, until recently, a truly unique job in today’s digital world.
And while he performed his role with care, manually processing over 13,000 invoices was — understandably — inefficient, error-prone, and highly time-consuming.

That all changed when Alfa College discovered Payt. “We were immediately enthusiastic,” says Jeroen van der Ster, Director of Operations at Alfa College.

Streamlining the debtor process

“Payt manages the entire process — from invoice to reminder,” Jeroen explains. “Since we started using the software, our debtor management has become far more structured and reliable. Several manual steps have now been completely eliminated.”

Previously, Alfa College (a regional education centre for secondary vocational education) still relied on a debt collection agency. This agency would issue a WIK letter (a free statutory payment reminder in the Netherlands), after which the file was handed over to a bailiff.

“Thanks to Payt, we’ve been able to end that collaboration entirely — leading to substantial cost savings,” says Jeroen.
“But the impact of Payt is twofold: yes, we save time and money, but more importantly, we now see significantly improved payment behaviour from our students.”

Improved payment behaviour

Especially the latter is a relief for the Director of Operations.

“Our students didn’t always pay on time — and in fairness, that was often our own fault. If you send reminders promptly and proactively offer the option to pay in instalments, you eliminate much of the problem.”

“Now, we’re better equipped to remind students about outstanding invoices, because we know our own process is watertight. In the past, we sometimes felt awkward chasing payments. For example, we’d send the first reminder only to discover the invoice had expired six months earlier. Unsurprisingly, we’d receive complaints — and rightly so. Students were absolutely correct in calling that unprofessional.”

Real-time insights and iDEAL payments

Today, things look very different. Students can log in to Payt’s customer portal and view the real-time status of their invoices.

“Tuition fees aren’t insignificant. They’re often over €1,000 — not something every student can easily pay in one go,” Jeroen says.
“But the threshold to call our finance department and request a payment plan was too high for many. Now, students or their parents can arrange it themselves, directly in the portal.”

Another key improvement: students can now pay using iDEAL.
“In the past, they had to transfer the money manually or fill in a giro form. All those extra steps impacted whether or not the tuition was paid on time.”

A modern solution with a human touch

Alfa College now swears by Payt’s solution. And the gentleman who once handled all those envelopes?

He’s still part of the team — now in a new role at another department within the organisation.

Would you like to see similar results at your organisation? Request a consultation and discover how Payt can help modernise your accounts receivable process.