How to grow your payments app with private investigators
By SendPay Business · · 2 min read
Private investigators trace people who have moved, serve legal papers, and gather information for individuals, solicitors and businesses. Many ask for a retainer before starting, then bill hours, mileage and other expenses as the case goes on, and fixed-fee jobs such as tracing or serving papers are often paid in advance. Clients may be anywhere, and chasing money halfway through a case slows the work. A payments app that handles retainers, fixed fees and top-ups can win private investigators, and every client who pays them sees your app.
Talk to private investigators
Ask local private investigators:
- How do clients pay a retainer before you start?
- How do clients pay fixed fees for tracing or serving papers?
- How do you bill hours and expenses as a case goes on?
- How do solicitors and businesses pay you?
Take the retainer before starting
A link sent when the client agrees the work means the retainer is paid before the investigator spends time or money on the case.
Top up as the case goes on
When hours or expenses go past the retainer, the investigator sends a link for the top-up, so work carries on without waiting for a bank transfer.
Grow through legal and business clients
Investigators get much of their work from solicitors, debt recovery firms and businesses. When those clients take payments through your app too, each investigator can bring more of them onto it.
Build it
Create your own financial platform.
Pick a template, name it, brand it, preview every page before you pay. Your brand, your users, your fees.
Build my platform →Questions people ask
What about solicitors?
The solicitors and legal advisers guide covers small firms charging fixed fees and hourly bills for work such as wills, contracts and advice sessions, and often waiting weeks to be paid.
Solicitors and legal advisers →What about genealogists?
The genealogists and family history researchers guide covers tracing family trees and searching records for clients at home and abroad, usually with an upfront fee or a block of research hours.
Genealogists and family history researchers →Can I call it a bank?
In most countries "bank" is a protected word you can only use with a banking licence. Call it an account, a wallet, an app or a platform. The accounts and payments behind a SendPay Business platform are powered by licensed partners.
Is there a step-by-step plan I can follow?
Yes. The free launch checklist takes you from picking your people and naming your app to setting fees, going live and winning your first ten customers.
Digital bank app launch checklist →How do I start?
Pick a template, name it and preview every page before you pay. Your platform can be live on your own domain within 24 hours of confirmation.
Build my platform →Read next
This guide is general information, not legal or financial advice. SendPay Business is a technology company, not a bank, and does not take deposits; regulated services on the platforms are provided by licensed partners. PayPal, Patreon and Substack are named as reference points only and are not affiliated with SendPay Business.