Planar for South African lenders · Updated
AI debt collection for South African lenders
The short answer
Planar is an AI debt collector built in Johannesburg for South African lenders. It contacts every overdue customer in their own language, agrees payment plans inside the limits you set, moves debit orders to the real payday and records the payments back. You pay a share only of what it recovers: 8%, 15% or 25%, depending on how old the debt is.
- Fee
- 8% of fresh arrears recovered, 15% of debt one to three months overdue, 25% of older debt
- Fixed costs
- No monthly fee and no setup fee
- The money
- Customers pay into your own bank account. Planar never holds it.
- Languages
- English, isiZulu, isiXhosa, Sesotho, Setswana and Afrikaans
- How to start
- A free book audit on last month's failed payments. No customer is contacted.
What Planar does
Planar does the work a good collector does, on every overdue account at once. It finds out what changed for the customer, agrees a plan inside your limits, moves the debit order to the customer's real payday and records the payment back against the loan.
- It talks in the customer's language. A customer who writes in isiZulu gets an answer in isiZulu.
- It thinks before it replies. It weighs the customer's payment history, what they say has changed and your rules before it offers a plan.
- It does the admin. Changed paydays, promises to pay, receipts and plans are recorded on the account, not left in a chat.
- It hands you what needs you. A settlement below your limit, a customer who says they already paid, a request outside your rules: those wait for your approval.
- It reports every morning. At 06:00 you see what it worked overnight: who paid, who agreed a plan, who promised a date and what needs you.
Planar or a debt collection agency?
Most South African lenders hand overdue accounts to an agency or work them with their own staff. Both run on people, so the oldest and smallest accounts wait longest. Planar works every account the same day, including the ones that are not worth a person's time.
| A collection agency or in-house team | Planar | |
|---|---|---|
| Who works the account | A collector working through a list | Every account at once |
| Hours | Office hours | Inside the contact hours you set, every day |
| Languages | Whichever languages the team speaks | English, isiZulu, isiXhosa, Sesotho, Setswana and Afrikaans |
| Small and old accounts | Often left for last | Worked like every other account |
| What you pay | Salaries, or a commission on what is collected | A share of what is recovered, nothing else |
| What you see | A report when the agency sends one | Every message, promise and payment in a log you can export |
What stays in your control
You set the rules once and Planar works inside them. Anything outside them comes to you first.
- Discounts: the most it may offer to settle, for example 10%, 15% or 20%.
- Contact hours: when it may contact customers, for example 07:00 to 20:00.
- Hardship: how long it may pause payments for a customer who lost a job, for example up to two weeks, a month or two months.
- Settlements: whether it may agree them alone or must ask you first.
- Payments: always into your own bank account. Planar never holds customer money.
- The log: every action is recorded, and you can export it.
What it costs, worked through
Planar charges only on money that comes back, at a rate set by how old the debt is. Older debt is harder to recover, so the share is larger. Here is a sample month on a made-up lender:
| Age of the debt | Recovered | Planar's share | Fee |
|---|---|---|---|
| Fresh arrears | R160,000 | 8% | R12,800 |
| One to three months | R60,000 | 15% | R9,000 |
| Older debt | R30,000 | 25% | R7,500 |
| Total | R250,000 | R29,300 |
The lender keeps R220,700. If nothing is recovered, the lender pays nothing: there is no monthly fee and no setup fee.
Start with the loans you have written off
Written-off loans are the cheapest place to test any collector, because you have already stopped working them. Anything that comes back is money you had given up on.
Two rules decide what can still be collected. Most loan debts prescribe after three years without a payment or a written acknowledgement, and a prescribed debt under a credit agreement may not be collected at all: see when debt prescribes. And before you sue on a credit agreement, the National Credit Act requires a section 129 notice.
How to start
- Send last month's failed payments. A simple export from your loan software is enough.
- See who to work first. The free audit shows which accounts look recoverable, which failed only because payday moved and what is worth working now.
- Agree a live test. Pick a batch of accounts, set your rules and watch the results in the morning report.
No customer is contacted during the audit. You decide whether a live test happens, and on which accounts.
Questions lenders ask us
What does Planar cost if it recovers nothing?
Nothing. There is no monthly fee and no setup fee. Planar earns 8%, 15% or 25% of what it recovers, depending on how old the debt is.
Who holds the money that customers pay?
You do. Customers pay into your own bank account, as they do today. Planar never holds customer money.
Which languages does Planar speak?
English, isiZulu, isiXhosa, Sesotho, Setswana and Afrikaans. It answers in the language the customer uses.
Does it work with my loan software?
Yes. It works alongside ACPAS, Webfin, Delfin and MaxMoney, through a login you create and your own files, and records payments and plans back against the loan.
Can Planar work loans I have already written off?
Yes, and they are often the best place to start, because you have stopped working them. Debts that have prescribed may not be collected under the National Credit Act, so those are left out.
What happens when a customer says they already paid?
The claim and any proof the customer sends come to you to review before anything else happens on that account.
What happens in the free book audit?
You send last month's failed payments. Planar shows you who to work first, which payments failed only because payday moved and how much looks recoverable. No customer is contacted.