Collectors with and without access
Who counts as a collector in Prestafolio, how to register someone who collects without signing in, and what happens to their profile over time.
A collector is anyone who collects for your business, whether or not they have access to the platform. Each one has a profile: a name and, optionally, a phone number. Loans and service contracts are assigned to that profile, and the reports credit collections to it.
That way you can keep the book of a collector who will never use Prestafolio (because they have no phone, because they only collect a few days a week, or because you prefer to record their collections yourself) and still know what each one collected.
Two kinds of collector
| With access (agent) | Without access |
|---|---|---|
Signs in to the platform | Yes, with their email and the permissions you grant | No |
How it is created | By inviting them from Agents | With New collector in Collectors |
Sees their portfolio | Yes, the loans and services assigned to them | They do not sign in, so they see nothing |
Who records their collections | They do, or you from the office | You, from the office |
Cash | The money goes into the cash box of whoever records the payment | No cash drawer of their own: the money goes into the cash box of whoever records the payment |
Counts towards | Your plan's agent seats | The collectors-without-access quota |
Every agent automatically has a collector profile: it is created when you invite them, with their name. The owner has no profile: whatever you collect without crediting it to anyone shows up in the reports as Office.
Where to manage them
In the menu, Operations → Collectors. The list shows all your collectors, with and without access, with their status (Active or Deactivated) and, for those with access, which agent they are linked to. You can search by name and filter by status.
Only the owner manages collectors. An agent does not see this section, however many permissions they have.
Registering a collector without access
- Go to Collectors and click New collector.
- Enter their Name and, optionally, their Phone.
- Save.
From then on you can assign them loans and contracts and credit collections to them: see Assigning collectors and crediting collections.
Names are unique within your business. Prestafolio compares them ignoring upper and lower case and accents: if you already have José Pérez, you cannot create jose perez. If you really have two collectors with the same name, add something to tell them apart (a surname, the area).
How many you can have
Collectors without access are available on paid plans, up to 100 active per business. The section itself shows the counter: Active collectors without access: 12 of 100.
- Collectors linked to an agent do not count towards that quota: agents are limited by your plan's seats (Your plan limits).
- Deactivated collectors do not count. If you hit the cap, deactivate whoever no longer collects for you.
When a collector without access gets access
It happens all the time: someone starts out collecting with a notebook and one day you give them access. There is no need to start over, their history and portfolio are kept. There are two ways:
- When you invite them. In the invitation form, the Existing collector (optional) field lets you pick their profile. The new agent keeps their history and portfolio. If you pick no one, a new collector is created with their name. See Invite a collector.
- If you already invited them. In Collectors, open the profile's menu and click Link to an agent. The agent takes over that profile's history and portfolio. The profile the agent had until now is not deleted: it keeps its own loans, now without access, until you reassign them. Before linking, the screen warns you if that profile has an active portfolio.
Linking does not take a new seat: the agent already had theirs.
Editing, deactivating and deleting
Action | What it does | When it is allowed |
|---|---|---|
Edit | Changes the name or the phone. The history shows the current name. | Always |
Deactivate | The collector no longer appears when assigning loans and services or crediting collections, but still shows by name in the history, receipts and reports. You can Reactivate them at any time. | When they have no active loans or services assigned |
Delete | Removes the profile for good. It cannot be undone. | Only if they never had loans, services or payments |
To deactivate, reassign their portfolio first. If the collector still has active loans or services, the screen tells you how many and gives you a link to them so you can assign them to another collector from their detail. Then try again.
Why can't I delete them? Because they already have history: a loan, a service or a payment carrying their name. Deleting them would leave those records without an owner. In that case, deactivate them: the practical effect is the same and the history stays intact.
What happens to an agent's profile
- Blocking an agent cuts their access, but their portfolio stays on their profile. When you unblock them, everything is back as it was.
- Deleting an agent cuts their access and frees their seat, but does not delete their profile: it remains as a collector without access, with their history and portfolio, until you reassign it. If you invite them again later, they get that same profile back.