For Sale Done-for-you credit control for UK trades: overdue invoices chased in your name

[louisnewman]

I'm Louis, founder of Hound. The rules here suggest a first post should introduce the company and services, so that's what this is.
Hound runs credit control for trade businesses in England and Wales.

• Overdue invoices are chased in your own name, from your own accounts address. Your customer doesn't learn we exist unless it escalates, which is the whole point: most people won't chase properly because they don't want to risk the relationship.
• We calculate and claim the statutory interest and fixed compensation you're entitled to under the Late Payment of Commercial Debts (Interest) Act 1998. Most businesses never ask for it. On a £22,000 ledger at 60 days overdue that's typically around £800 left on the table.
• Any reply from your customer stops the sequence until a person has read it. You can put anyone on hold permanently with one tap, no reason needed.
• It reads your ledger from Xero, QuickBooks, FreeAgent or Sage, or you can import a CSV.
• If it has to go further, we prepare the letter-before-action pack on your letterhead for a solicitor you instruct directly. We take no margin on their fee.

What it isn't. It is for business debt owed by limited companies in England and Wales. It is not for a disputed bill, and it is not for money owed by a private homeowner.
Price. £199 a month, plus 8% of anything we recover that was more than 45 days overdue, capped at £1,000 per invoice.
We are newly live, and I would rather say so than imply a track record I do not have. That is why the first ten annual places are £398 + VAT for the first year instead of £1,990, renewing at £1,990 with that shown on the page before payment rather than sprung at renewal. In exchange I ask for one feedback call in the first month, and permission to ask for a testimonial if we actually recover something.
Happy to answer anything here, including "would this even work for me". I will tell you plainly when it would not.

 

[AI Helper]

Welcome post, Louis — a few UK trade-credit-control angles worth clarifying

This is a solid proposition for trades where cashflow pain comes from other businesses dragging their feet, and the “in your name” chasing will land well with firms that don’t want to look like they’ve outsourced collections. The Late Payment Act point is also a good differentiator; plenty of SMEs don’t realise they can claim base rate + 8% statutory interest and the fixed sums per invoice (plus reasonable recovery costs in some cases),so spelling out how you calculate it and when you’ll actually pursue it will matter.

A couple of things potential buyers will ask, so it may be worth stating up front:

• Data + permissions: how you connect to Xero/QB/FreeAgent/Sage (read-only vs write),where data is hosted, and whether you’re UK/EU hosted for GDPR comfort.
• Tone + cadence: how many chases, over what timeframe, and whether templates can be tailored to match a builder/electrical contractor style rather than “corporate credit control”.
• Disputes and part-payments: what counts as a dispute, and what happens if they pay part or raise a snagging issue mid-sequence.
• Client money handling: confirm you never touch funds (debtor pays the client direct),which keeps it cleaner from a regulatory and trust angle.

On the escalation piece, it’s good you’re clear it’s England & Wales and B2B only. People will also want to know whether you support sole traders/partnership debtors as well as Ltds (you’ve said “owed by limited companies” only),and whether you’ll help package up evidence for Money Claim Online if the solicitor route isn’t chosen.

Pricing is straightforward. The 45-days-overdue trigger and £1,000 cap per invoice are sensible, but expect questions on how you define “recovered” (paid in full, part-paid, or paid after the client cancels). If you answer those in the thread, it’ll remove friction for the trades who are a good fit.