Head of Collections (Credit Vetting and Tenant Billing) at IGrow Wealth Investments

• IGrow Wealth Investments Group of Companies, proudly positioned as South Africa’s #1 Investment company, is seeking an analytical, firm but fair Head of Collections (Credit Vetting and Tenant Billing) to join our team in Midrand, Gauteng or Durbanville, Cape Town.
• This role serves as the operational backbone of IGrow Rentals' credit risk, tenant billing and collections function. The individual is responsible for vetting prospective tenants' creditworthiness and affordability prior to lease approval, ensuring tenants are billed accurately and timeously each month, and driving the collection of outstanding rental and other charges to minimise arrears and bad debt across the rental portfolio.
• IGrow Group of Companies is a scaling business, and this role is intentionally positioned as a foundation for growth. As the group expands its rentals footprint across South Africa and beyond, we foresee a clear and exciting progression path for the right individual.

Minimum requirements (Advantageous):

• National Diploma or Degree in Finance, Accounting, Credit Management, Risk Management or a related field.
• Minimum 5 years' experience in a credit control, collections, billing or credit vetting role, of which at least 2 years are in a management/supervisory capacity.
• Proven track record of managing a collections/credit book and improving arrears/recovery rates.
• Experience in property management, rentals or a related financial services environment.
• Strong understanding of credit vetting principles, affordability assessment and the National Credit Act.
• Strong leadership and people-management skills, with the ability to manage a team responsible for vetting, billing and collections.
• Highly numerate, with strong attention to detail and reconciliation skills.
• Confident and firm communicator, comfortable handling difficult conversations with tenants and internal stakeholders regarding payments and arrears.
• Experience with property management/billing software and CRM platforms (Zoho CRM, WeConnectU RAMS experience prefered).
• Strong reporting skills, with the ability to compile and present arrears, billing and collections data to EXCO.
• Proactive, solutions-oriented mindset, with the ability to design and implement new processes.
• Ability to work independently and take full ownership of the collections and vetting function.

Duties and responsibilities include, but not limited to:

Reporting Structure & Cross-Functional Relationships

• Reports directly to the Rentals CEO, with functional oversight of the Collections, Credit Vetting, Tenant Billing and AI Collection Agent sub-functions.
• Maintains close working relationships with Portfolio Management, Finance and Legal, while remaining organisationally independent of Asset Management/Portfolio Management, so the role can hold those functions to account without a conflict of interest.
• Owns the collection outcome, while Portfolio Managers continue to be responsible for the accuracy of the underlying tenant and lease data, supplying the documentation needed to support collection, keeping investors informed on arrears, and resolving property-level tenant queries and disputes at source.
• Works with Finance to keep tenant billing and collections data reconciled; Finance continues to own the general ledger, accounting controls and financial reconciliation.
• Reports on collection rates, arrears ageing, recovery rates, bad debt, credit vetting performance and billing accuracy, with visibility at Rentals leadership/EXCO level, while remaining under the direct line management of the Rentals CEO.

Credit Vetting & Tenant Screening

• Own and continuously refine the tenant credit vetting process, including affordability checks, credit bureau/TPN checks, reference checks and employment verification.
• Set and enforce minimum affordability and credit criteria for tenant approval, in line with IGrow's risk appetite.
• Review and approve or decline borderline applications, escalating high-risk cases to the appropriate manager.
• Track vetting turnaround times and ensure SLAs are met so as not to delay lease signing.
• Regularly review vetting criteria against actual arrears/default outcomes and adjust criteria accordingly.
• Ensure that the vetting process is conducted thoroughly on every placement, without unnecessarily declining applications in a way that leads to increased vacancy, while ensuring the collection department is set up for high rental collection rates downstream.

Tenant Billing

• Oversee the accurate and timeous monthly billing of all tenants, including rental, utilities, levies and other recoverable charges.
• Ensure billing systems and tenant ledgers are correctly configured and maintained, including escalations, pro-rata charges and once-off adjustments.
• Manage the resolution of billing queries and disputes raised by tenants or Portfolio Managers.
• Reconcile tenant statements against lease agreements and escalation schedules to ensure accuracy.
• Ensure the monthly tenant billing process is conducted accurately and on time to allow for the collection process to be conducted promptly and effectively.

Collections & Arrears Management

• Lead the collections function for the rental portfolio, driving down days-in-arrears and bad debt write-offs.
• Set and manage collections KPIs, including collection rate, arrears ageing and recovery rate, and report on these to EXCO/Management.
• Design and implement a structured arrears escalation process, including reminders, demand letters, payment arrangements and legal handover, in conjunction with Legal/attorneys where required.
• Manage relationships with debt collection agencies, attorneys and credit bureaus as needed.
• Negotiate and monitor payment arrangements with tenants in arrears, escalating non-compliance appropriately.

Reporting & Analytics

• Compile monthly collections, arrears and credit vetting performance reports for EXCO/Management review.
• Analyse arrears trends by portfolio, agent and property to identify systemic risk areas.
• Monitor the financial impact of bad debt and rental losses and recommend mitigating strategies.
• Set up daily collection dashboards to monitor team collection progress.

Process, Systems & Compliance

• Maintain and improve the systems and processes used for vetting, billing and collections, including CRM and property management/billing software.
• Ensure all credit vetting, billing and collections activity complies with the National Credit Act, POPIA and other relevant legislation.
• Liaise with Finance to ensure billing and collections data reconciles with the general ledger.
• Train and support Portfolio Managers and Rental Agents on vetting criteria and billing/collections processes.
• Schedule the collection plan for the month amongst the IGrow Rentals Collections department team members and AI Collection Agents.
• Monitor team and AI Agent performance.

Cross-Departmental Coordination

• Act as the key point of contact between Rentals, Finance and Portfolio Management on all matters relating to tenant credit risk, billing and collections.
• Attend relevant Rentals and Finance meetings to align on arrears risk, write-offs and process changes.
• Provide prompt, complete and accurate debt collection notes on all accounts to be made available to the Asset Management department for investor feedback.
• Carry delegated authority within this function, including setting and enforcing credit and vetting criteria, approving or escalating borderline applications within agreed parameters, determining collection procedures and deadlines, agreeing payment arrangements within set limits, initiating legal handover recommendations, and requiring billing corrections — extending to holding other departments to account where an arrears issue originates outside Collections.