FAQs

FlexPay is a managed service delivered by Oriel Collections Limited, one of the UK’s leading FCA regulated payments agencies. We’re trusted by some of the UK’s largest public sector, finance and commercial organisations to manage credit and receivables on their behalf. We also work with SMEs across all market sectors.

FlexPay can be used for a wide range of services and products including:

Business customers

• Accountancy, legal and other professional services
• Training, professional skills, coaching and accreditation
• IT and office equipment, supplies and services
• Venue hire, events and marketing
• Travel and accommodation

Individuals (End-Consumers)

• Continuous services such as gym, club and professional memberships
• One-off requirements like computer equipment, white goods and legal services
• On-going treatments such as hair & beauty, wellness activities and coaching
• University, college and technical courses, adult education and private tuition
• Student accommodation, learning resources and gap year travel
• Venue hire, events, weddings and travel

FlexPay is not limited to a one-off service or product and can be used by your customers for additional purchases at any time, helping to increase revenues and maintain customer loyalty.

You can provide an advance payment option enabling your customers to save for future services and products (like a holiday or Christmas savings plan).

FlexPay plans are in place for a maximum of 12 months, with monthly instalments set by your customers at a rate they can afford. Alternatively, you can limit the number of instalments within the 12-month period and select a shorter payment window such as three, six or nine months.

For continuous services lasting longer than 12 months with no end date, that’s no problem – FlexPay can be rolled-over automatically until you or your customer decides to cancel. Services lasting longer than 12 months, but with a specified end date, can also be rolled-over automatically (for example, a university course lasting three years).

Before finalising your customers’ FlexPay plans, we will implement basic checks to ensure that we have right contact details and that they are able to pay their monthly instalments.

We will ensure that you understand how the FlexPay portal works and provide you with your own secure login so that you can track customer progress and access your reports – it’s easy; once your contract has been signed, we’ll capture the services and products that you would like to sell through FlexPay and upload them on your behalf.

New customers will be asked to register the first time they use FlexPay via our secure portal. Here’s how it works:

• Our team will email the new customer with a link to the FlexPay portal for online registration*
• The customer will provide us with their contact details, preferred payment schedule and method of payment
• Customers will also be asked to create their unique login ID at this time
• We will send a confirmation email confirming the customer’s FlexPay plan and how to contact us with any enquiries
• We will use prompts to encourage timely registration and refer customers back to you if they have not signed-up within 30 days

The collection of monthly instalments will then begin on the agreed dates and your customers can use their ID to check their FlexPay balance or contact us at any time.

* If you choose to add a FlexPay button to your website, customers can register directly on the portal and this step will not be required.

You can add a FlexPay button to your website allowing customers to click and register directly – this will also enable you to use FlexPay like a traditional payment gateway (such as PayPal), allowing them to pay in full at the time of purchase.

If you are providing a continuous service beyond a 12-month period and there is a break in supply (for example, a summer recess during a course), your customers will be prompted to set-up a new FlexPay plan.

Customers can end their FlexPay plan early by paying in full but this may incur outstanding admin fees. The fees will be made clear when the customer notifies us of early payment.

You can login to the FlexPay portal at any time to track customer payments and access your reporting metrics. We can also email reports to you at a frequency you decide – daily, weekly or monthly.

For late payments, we will ‘nudge’ your customer with reminders including calls, emails and SMS messages. If this is not successful, the next steps will be taken on your behalf:

• We will continue to engage positively with the customer and make every effort to get them back on track
• For payments in arrears by more than 30 days, the FlexPay Plan will be cancelled and the customer account will be moved across to our recovery team so that we can secure payment of the outstanding amount as quickly as possible
• At this stage, we will work with the customer to set up an affordable payment plan based on an amount they can afford
• The customer will now be liable for our collection costs (the exception to this is FlexPlan4 where no costs will apply)
• As a last resort, we can take legal action via our law firm partner but will always endeavour to work with your customer to recover the outstanding amount first (we have not yet had to take legal action on any account)

If your customer is in arrears and the FlexPay Plan is cancelled, we will charge you commission on all remaining amounts we recover but the customer is also liable for these costs – so, if we recover these costs, we will pass them back to you. If you supply your services or products in full immediately to the customer, however, we will not be able to recover the costs from them.

Please note that FlexPay is not a factoring service or loan and the risk of non-payment remains with your organisation. If you decide to cancel a plan on behalf of your customer at the recovery stage, a commission may be charged for any amounts already recovered (this will be agreed as part of your tailored FlexPay agreement).

You can cancel your FlexPay contract at any time and this will be confirmed in the terms and conditions of your agreement.