How October Reduced Overdue Payments by 40%

October is an online marketplace for business loans that lets investors lend money directly to small and medium sized enterprises. Its platform is built to be seamless, transparent, and easy to use, connecting businesses that need funding with investors looking for attractive opportunities. October has quickly become a trusted financing partner for SMEs across multiple industries.

We spoke with Julien Ramezani, Head of Client Operations at October, about how the team manages its finances, builds strong client relationships, and handles the daily challenges of online lendin

As October grew quickly, so did the volume of loan transactions. Every new loan added more invoices to send, more payments to track, and more accounts to follow up on. What had worked before became harder to manage as the complexity of accounts receivable increased.

The biggest challenge was getting paid on time. Late payments and unresponsive borrowers put pressure on cash flow and slowed down operations. Each overdue payment meant more time spent following up, and each unresponsive borrower meant another account left waiting.

At the same time, tracking and reconciling invoices took up a growing share of the team’s time and effort. As transaction volumes rose, so did the work needed to keep every invoice accurate and every payment accounted for.

That came at a cost. Every hour spent chasing and reconciling was an hour taken away from October’s core mission of providing innovative lending solutions. None of this was a question of effort. The team simply needed a better way to manage receivables at the pace October was growing

As loan volumes grew, October turned to Kolleno to streamline its invoicing and payment processes. Instead of managing more transactions with the same manual effort, the team could design customized invoices for each of its loan products using Kolleno’s template creation feature, keeping invoicing consistent as the business scaled.

To tackle late payments, Kolleno made paying simpler for borrowers. The customer payment portal gave borrowers one place to see exactly what they owed, which invoices were due, and how they could pay. With no hunting for invoices or asking for copies, borrowers had no reason to delay. The portal also carries the business’s own branding, so borrowers get a consistent, professional experience that builds confidence every time they hit pay.

Kolleno’s reporting tools gave the team clear insight into borrower payment behavior. Instead of compiling reports by hand and working from numbers that had already changed, October could see its receivables through real time dashboards, and AR analytics all in one place. With that visibility, October could address issues proactively and take more control over its cash flow.

Once paying became simpler for borrowers and payment behavior became visible to the team, the results followed. Within the first six months, October saw a 40% reduction in late payments. That improvement carried through to how quickly borrowers paid, leading to a 32% decrease in median days late. Payments that once dragged on now arrived closer to their due dates.

Better collections meant stronger cash flow, and stronger cash flow opened new opportunities. With more predictable income coming in, October could invest in expanding its lending platform and improving the user experience for borrowers and investors.

The team’s time shifted too. Time spent managing accounts receivable dropped by 35%, freeing the team from much of the work of tracking, chasing, and reconciling invoices. Instead, October could focus on delivering exceptional lending services to borrowers and investors alike.