A self-serve debt payment portal
I simplified paying a debt into a self-serve portal, then designed the AI chat inside it, which has collected or arranged $4.09M across three agencies.
The problem
Paying a debt meant a phone call: high support costs for the agency, even with AI agents, and no self-serve option for people who already meant to pay.
Overview
Paying a debt shouldn't need a phone call. Many people who owe already mean to pay, but paying meant calling the agency in working hours. They should be able to pay on their own, even on their phone.
Where people start
Most people arrive from a text, on their phone, one tap away.
A debt collector
Nothing about the debt shows until the person is verified.
The agency's data
Offers, plans and payments all come from the agency.
Any agency's brand
Each agency gets one portal in its own name and colours.
What I shipped
A portal where people pay on their own, with help one tap away. I designed it and built the front end. Two agencies went live in early 2025, and a third joined later.
Sign in
A reference number or your name, plus the last four digits of the SSN.
See the offer, pick a plan
The discount first. Then how often, how many, and when.
Ask for help
Help opens Rifa's AI agent, which already knows the balance and the plan.
Signing in
Most people don't keep their reference number. So you can sign in with it or with your name, plus the last four digits of the SSN.
Offer and plan
Lead with the offer, then a few choices. The agency's first version put every choice on one screen, all at once.
I designed three options. The agency chose two steps, the plan then the payment: one decision at a time, with the plan reviewed before anyone types a card number.
Trade-off: someone who can't afford any offer has nowhere to go.
When payments fail
A failed payment shouldn't be the end of it. I built the next version as a working prototype, so the agency could try the errors themselves.
About a week for the prototype.
Reviewers hit a wrong SSN, a declined card, an expired one. I changed the prototype from their comments, and the agency adopted part of it.
The chat
Help inside the portal, with a person one step away. The chat opens on its own, at any hour, and in business hours a person can take over.
One chat for all
Designed once for the portal, then reused at each agency.
A number on screen
A strip on every screen: call us to ask, or to pay by phone.
Chat always in view
People weren't sure anyone would answer, so chat stays put.
Designing for model limits
An AI that collects money has to know when to stop. It works inside the US rules for debt collectors; I designed what sits around it.
Checks identity first
It says nothing about a debt until the person is verified.
Works without the AI
Switch the chat off and people can still sign in and pay.
Speaks with dignity
My first guardrail: “You're a person, not an account.”
People check what the AI flags. In the 30 days to 2 November 2026, each kind of flag fell by a third to a half.
- 6.1%of chats flagged by the AI
- 57%of flagged chats audited
- 80%of audited chats passed
Impact
The chat collects every month. At one agency, it has brought in more than $100K every month since April 2026.
- $4.09Mthree agencies since Oct 2025, $559K cash
- $100K+a month at one agency
- $2.42Mat Shepherd, a quarter of its total
Collected or arranged: cash, plus the face value of payment plans.
Reflection
Design for the person who can't pay. The portal is built for someone ready to pay.
Design the no, not only the yes. Someone who can't afford any offer, disputes the debt or can't verify who they are has no designed path.
Next time, start there. I'd design “I can't pay this” first, leading straight to a person.