For many universities and student accommodation providers, student debt is the quiet drain on budgets that delays projects and squeezes student services. Fees that remain unpaid for more than 90 days significantly reduce the chances of recovery, and finance teams often struggle with manual reconciliation.
“It’s simple maths,” says Mark Reilly, chief executive officer of IODM. “If the money’s not there, you can’t spend it.” TransferMate and IODM believe the formula can be flipped by marrying receivables automation with cross-border payments, turning dated receivables into a strategic asset.
Thomas Butler, head of education at TransferMate, agrees that the partnership addresses one of higher education’s most significant financial challenges.
“Universities shouldn’t be losing valuable working capital simply because of complex cross-border payments,” he explains. “By embedding TransferMate’s regulated global payment infrastructure into IODM’s automation platform, we’re helping institutions collect faster, reconcile effortlessly, and reinvest those funds into what really matters, enhancing the student experience.”
From spreadsheets to a single source of truth
IODM already effectively handles the workflow for debt collection for institutions; the missing piece was international payments.
“We recognised two converging needs: more international students paying in multiple currencies, and the urgent need to automate follow-up, reconciliation, and payment allocation,” Mark states. “To really deliver an end-to-end solution, we needed to embed a payments infrastructure that supported multiple global currencies, regulated rails, and simplified cross-border payments. That’s where TransferMate came in.”
Thomas sees the collaboration bridging a long-standing gap between automation and trusted global payments. “By integrating our regulated payment network directly into IODM’s workflow, we’ve eliminated the manual friction that institutions face in processing student debt payments,” he explains. “Institutions can now accept payments in over 140 currencies from more than 200 countries and territories, all with complete traceability and compliance built in.”
Together, TransferMate and IODM close the loop. As Mark puts it: “We give universities a single unified solution from issuing the invoice, communicating, receiving the payment, allocating it, and reconciling it, whilst also delivering a better student experience.”
The scale of the problem, and why time matters
The pain inflicted by student debt is widespread across the education sector. “We’re seeing receivable days since outstanding (DSO) at 20-30% above average,” Mark notes.
As debts age, the chances of recovery decrease. It’s even harder when students move abroad or pay in foreign currencies. “It’s not unusual for a university to have somewhere between 1-3% of revenue sitting in aged receivables beyond 90 days,” Mark points out. “Once it goes beyond 90 days, it starts to really move into that write-off category.”
Student debt can be accrued in any country, whether the student is domestic or international. However, when a student is overseas, the complexity of collection multiplies.
Thomas acknowledges that the lack of visibility and traceability in traditional banking channels often compounds the issue. “When institutions rely on multiple intermediaries to move funds across borders, it’s easy for payments to go missing, arrive with incomplete data, or cost more than anticipated,” he explains.
When institutions rely on multiple intermediaries to move funds across borders, it’s easy for payments to go missing, arrive with incomplete data, or cost more than anticipated
“By processing transactions directly through TransferMate’s regulated global network, IODM and their clients gain access to preferential foreign exchange rates, and full traceability from the moment a payment is made to when it’s reconciled, helping them recover funds faster and reduce the percentage of debt that slips into write-off territory.”
Compliance, auditability, and fewer disputes
Compliance is another blocker in collecting international debt.
Cross-border payments require adherence to multiple jurisdictions, necessitating robust anti-money laundering (AML) and Know Your Customer (KYC) checks. However, many institutions aren’t equipped to handle these requirements. Practicalities, such as time zones and language barriers, add even more friction. Combine all of those factors, and you naturally increase the risk and cost of collection.
Many institutions might say, “Why bother?” and write off that debt.
“Because TransferMate is regulated, it gives the institution comfort around AML and KYC”, Thomas says. “FX conversion and payments are handled within the platform, reducing exposure to compliance issues, banking routing errors, or chargebacks.”
That transparency builds trust for both the institution and the student, while helping institutions track payments and keep a complete record of student payment history.
Delivering an automated end-to-end payment collection process
Once a student leaves with an outstanding balance, the integrated flow kicks in. “IODM integrates with the institution’s ERP via API,” Mark says. “That triggers a communication to the student, reminding them of the outstanding amount and providing a link to payment options.”
Thomas continues, “The student pays in their home currency; TransferMate processes the payment and FX, settles the payment across borders, and pushes funds into the institution’s account.”
The benefit is two-sided.
Students enjoy a streamlined user experience, and the institution can rely on a seamless process for receiving and automating reconciliation. The institution effectively outsources its collections workflow to IODM and TransferMate, freeing its team to focus on other tasks rather than chasing manual payments.
Results that move the needle
Mark points to the partnership’s consistent performance. “On average, we see a reduction in DSO between 15% and 30% within the first 12 months,” Mark reports. “And a decrease in manual interventions. Our metrics show 40-60% fewer touches per case compared to legacy manual processes.”
Cash flow improves quickly once onboarded. “Accommodation clients reported more than a 70% uplift in cash receipts in the first 12 months,” Mark says. “Universities have seen dramatic reductions in debtor days, increasing cash flow almost immediately. Institutions that might have budgeted for 5-10% of aged receivables unrecovered are now tracking a lot lower due to the automation.”
Asked to summarise the partnership in a sentence, Mark doesn’t hesitate for an answer: “It empowers institutions to eliminate payment friction for international students through end-to-end automation of receivables workflows, and to reclaim cash that strengthens working capital instead of sitting in an aged receivables ledger.”
The human payoff
Ultimately, recovered funds become student benefits. Institutions can see money once uncollected find its way back into their bank account and budget, eventually being deployed into areas needed for a better student experience.
And what institution doesn’t want that?
Get started with IODM and TransferMate today and turn student debt from a liability to an asset.
About the author: TransferMate is the leading global payments provider helping universities and education providers collect international fees faster, easier, and more securely. Through its regulated global network, spanning over 200 countries and territories in more than 140 currencies, TransferMate delivers transparent FX rates, full payment traceability, and seamless integration with student and finance systems, transforming the way institutions manage cross-border payments and collections.
