Consumers built more payment plans than staff over the past 12 months

By Josh Allen, CEO, Tratta

Most of our clients didn't even allow payment plans online before they came to us. A consumer could pay a balance on the website and, maybe, some scheduled payments. But not a payment plan, and definitely not a settlement offer with a plan. If they wanted that, they had to call in or submit a request.

Over the past 12 months, at the creditor-rights law firms on Tratta, consumers built about 56% of all plans and staff built the other 44%. They also scheduled about 59% of the dollars. And consumers can build them any time, including when the office is closed.

Those plans pay just as well. So far, consumer-built plans have collected 20.3% of their scheduled dollars and staff-built plans 19.4%, with many of both still running.

Why the plan stayed on the phone

Turning on online payment plans sounds like flipping a switch. At a law firm, the plan may have to carry interest where the account accrues it, the disclosures have to change with the account, and the options depend on whether the account is pre-suit or in judgment, and on what each client allows. Most portals we replace are too rigid for that, so firms kept plans on the phone, where someone on staff could get it right.

Staying on the phone was often the safer call. Switching providers means client approvals and a long onboarding, and this industry has heard plenty of promises from new vendors that didn't hold up.

White-glove setup, at no cost 

Our team does the setup, white-glove, and we don't charge for it. A portal that sits half-configured doesn't help either of us. We build the rules you require, client by client: plan terms, settlement authority, interest, and disclosures that change between pre-suit and judgment. It takes 5 to 9 weeks.

When you go live, you can service all your accounts online the same way you service them over the phone. That' your whole book, every client and every stage, open to the consumer at any hour.

Outreach comes on top of that, and it's where you can move at your own pace. Start with a segment, like the low balances your collectors aren't getting to. Every text and email we send is tagged, so you can see which outreach produced which payment before deciding what to send next.

I'll be at NCBA Connect in Orlando, October 12-15.

Data: Tratta platform data for active creditor-rights law firm clients, September 2025 through
August 2026. Data is aggregated and anonymized.