---
name: ar-collections-chase
description: Run a tiered dunning ladder on overdue invoices, with tone that escalates only after your approval. Use this skill when: Every morning, or weekly sweep — Checks the AR aging report for anything overdue.
---

# Collect what's overdue, keep the relationship

Goal: run the dunning ladder on overdue invoices and queue every email for approval.

Connected tools this skill uses: stripe, googlesheets, gmail, slack.

## When to use

- Every morning, or weekly sweep — Checks the AR aging report for anything overdue.
- Or when the user asks directly to run the dunning ladder on overdue invoices and queue every email for approval.

## Method

Run the collections chase for {{stripe_account}}.

1. Pull every open invoice and match it against the AR aging sheet in
   {{ar_sheet}}; compute days overdue for each.
2. Exclude any invoice flagged {{dispute_field}} as disputed — hold those out
   of the ladder entirely, and never place a disputed invoice on any rung.
3. Place each remaining invoice on the dunning ladder from memory (day
   {{rung_1_days}}: reminder, day {{rung_2_days}}: follow-up, day
   {{rung_3_days}}: final notice). Check the send-history log first and skip
   any rung already sent for that invoice, so the same rung never fires twice.
4. Draft the email for each invoice's rung, in the tone defined for that
   rung. Never escalate tone faster than the invoice has aged.
5. Validation: recompute each invoice's days-overdue and rung placement a
   second time against a fresh Stripe pull before drafting, so the ladder
   never fires on stale data.
6. Post all drafts to {{approval_channel}} for one-tap approval, grouped by
   rung, with the account name and days overdue on each.
7. On approval, log the invoice, rung, and send date to the send-history
   file, so the ladder always knows what has already gone out.

Never send a collections email without explicit approval, and never chase a
disputed invoice — hold it for the controller to resolve instead.

## Dunning ladder policy

Place each overdue invoice on the correct rung of the dunning ladder,
using only the tone assigned to that rung.

## Method
1. Pull the invoice's days-overdue from the latest Stripe pull, not a
   cached figure.
2. Recompute days-overdue independently against the AR aging sheet in
   `{{ar_sheet}}`; hold the invoice if the two figures disagree.
3. Check the send-history log for that invoice and skip any rung
   already sent.
4. Match days-overdue against the ladder's rung boundaries.
5. Assign the tone defined for that rung — never a harsher one.
6. Log the rung and tone before handing off to drafting.

## Rules
- Never advance an invoice past the rung its days-overdue earns.
- Never re-fire a rung already logged as sent for that invoice.
- Recompute days-overdue from a fresh pull before every placement; hold
  on mismatch rather than guess.
- Rung boundaries and days-overdue thresholds (set on first run, then
  stored in memory).
- Never send a collections email without explicit approval — this
  skill assigns the rung, it does not authorize the send.

## Output
A rung assignment per invoice: `{invoice_id, days_overdue, rung,
tone}`, passed to the drafting step.

## Dispute detection

Identify any invoice under dispute and remove it from the collections
ladder entirely.

## Method
1. Check the dispute field (`{{dispute_field}}`) in `{{ar_sheet}}`
   before placing an invoice on the ladder.
2. Treat any populated dispute flag as authoritative — do not weigh it
   against days overdue.
3. Pull a fresh read of the dispute field at placement time, not a
   cached value from the last run.
4. Route disputed invoices to a held list, separate from the ladder.
5. Log the invoice, the dispute reason if present, and the date held.
6. Re-check held invoices each run in case the flag has cleared.

## Rules
- Never place a disputed invoice on any rung, at any tone.
- A held invoice goes to the controller to resolve directly — the
  agent does not chase it or auto-clear it.
- Dispute field name and location (set on first run, then stored in
  memory).
- If the dispute flag is ambiguous or missing, hold the invoice rather
  than assume it is clean.

## Output
A held list: `{invoice_id, dispute_reason, date_held}`, excluded from
the ladder run.

## Tone calibration

Draft the collections email in the tone that matches the invoice's
rung, never escalating faster than the days overdue justify.

## Method
1. Read the tone definition for the assigned rung from memory.
2. Draft the email body using only that rung's approved language.
3. Check the draft doesn't borrow language from a later rung (no
   "final notice" wording on a reminder).
4. Include invoice-specific facts: account name, amount, days overdue.
5. Attach the draft to the approval queue instead of sending it.

## Rules
- Never use a tone harsher than the rung assigned.
- Never send a collections email without explicit approval — every
  draft waits in the queue.
- Tone definitions per rung (set on first run, then stored in memory).
- Never threaten legal or credit action unless the rung's tone
  explicitly allows it.

## Output
A drafted email per invoice: `{invoice_id, rung, tone, subject,
body}`, queued to `{{approval_channel}}` for one-tap approval.

## Recurring jobs

This skill pairs with scheduled jobs. Offer to set each one up; only create the ones the user approves:

- AR dunning sweep (Daily each morning (or weekly sweep, per your preference)) — https://eluu.ai/cookbook/ar-collections-chase/jobs-setup/ar-dunning-sweep.md