A promise to pay (PTP) is a commitment from a customer to settle a specific invoice or balance by a stated date, recorded so it can be tracked and followed up.
Why it matters in B2B collections
A promise to pay converts a vague collections conversation into a dated, checkable commitment. That is valuable in two directions: it gives the collector a concrete date to work to instead of chasing on a generic cadence, and it gives finance a forecastable input, because a ledger of dated promises is a far better basis for a cash forecast than an aging report alone.
The kept rate is the metric
The number worth tracking is the share of promises actually honoured by the promised date, usually called the PTP kept rate. It measures something no other collections metric captures: the reliability of what customers tell you. A low kept rate is not primarily a collections failure, it is a signal that promises are being extracted to end an uncomfortable conversation rather than because payment was genuinely scheduled, which usually means the collector is talking to someone without authority to commit.
A broken promise is an escalation trigger
The most useful thing about recording promises is what happens when one is missed. A broken promise is a stronger signal than an invoice simply aging, because the customer has now failed a commitment they made themselves. That justifies changing approach rather than repeating it: escalating to a different contact, requesting partial payment, or placing the account on hold. Treating a broken promise as just another overdue invoice discards the most informative event in the sequence.
Promises make the cash forecast usable
An aging report says what is overdue. It does not say when any of it will arrive. A set of dated promises, weighted by that customer's historical kept rate, produces a genuinely forecastable view of collections. This is where a collections function stops being a cost centre reporting on the past and starts producing an input the CFO can plan against.
Promise to pay: common questions
What is a promise to pay in collections?
What is a PTP kept rate?
What should happen when a customer breaks a promise to pay?
Go deeper: How Finero tracks promises to pay.
How this connects to other terms
- Dunning
A promise to pay is the outcome the dunning ladder aims to produce.
- DSO (days sales outstanding)
Reliable promises are what turn collections activity into falling DSO.