How to chase an invoice without losing the customer

Timing does more work than wording

The single biggest factor in whether a reminder gets paid is how soon it arrives. Early, the invoice is still a live item on somebody's list and the work is still fresh in their mind. Late, it has been filed, the goodwill has faded, and you are asking someone to revisit a closed matter.

There is also a queue effect on commercial work. An accounts department pays some suppliers this week and some next, and the ones who ask are nearer the front. Not asking is a decision to be at the back.

So send something the day after the due date, every time, without deciding each occasion whether it is worth it. That decision is the thing that costs you money, because the answer on any individual invoice always feels like next week.

Three messages, three temperatures

You need three and only three. Anything more is a habit of sending reminders rather than a process for getting paid.

Day one after due: friendly, assume it was missed, keep it under four lines. The point is to be easy to act on, not to be persuasive.

Day seven to ten: factual. Invoice number, amount, due date, days overdue. Ask a direct question, because a question needs a reply in a way a statement does not. "Can you confirm when this will be paid?" or "Is there a problem with the invoice I can sort out?"

Day twenty-one: formal. State the amount, state that interest and compensation apply if it is a business debt, and state what you will do next and when. This is the last message before the letter before action, and it should read like it.

The first reminder

Short enough to read on a phone at a set of traffic lights, which is where it will be read.

Hi [name],

Hope the [job] is all good.

Just a quick one: invoice [number] for [amount] was due yesterday and I do not think it has come through yet. It may well have crossed with your payment.

Bank details are on the invoice, reference [number]. Give me a shout if you need it sent again.

Thanks,
[your name]

The second reminder

Warmth out, facts in. Still not unfriendly, but nothing in it apologises for asking.

Hi [name],

Following up on invoice [number], [amount], which was due on [due date] and is now [n] days overdue.

Could you confirm when it will be paid? If there is a problem with the invoice or the work, tell me what it is and I will sort it out.

    Invoice: [number]
    Amount: [amount]
    Due: [due date]
    Bank: [sort code] / [account number], reference [number]

Thanks,
[your name]

The last one before it gets formal

Include the interest line only if the customer is a business, because there is no statutory interest on a domestic debt. Mean the deadline you set, because you are going to have to act on it.

[name],

Invoice [number] for [amount] was due on [due date] and remains unpaid [n] days later. I have contacted you about it on [dates] and have not had a response.

[Business customers only:] As this is a business debt I am entitled to statutory interest at the Bank of England base rate plus 8%, and to fixed compensation of [£40 / £70 / £100] on this invoice, under the Late Payment of Commercial Debts (Interest) Act 1998.

Please pay [amount] in full by [date, 7 days out].

If I have not heard from you by then, I will send a formal letter before action, which is the last step before a county court claim. I would much rather not.

[your name]
[business name]

When the customer is a company, the problem is usually not the customer

On commercial work the person who hired you and the person who pays you are rarely the same person, and an invoice stuck for six weeks has usually failed a process rather than been refused. It is worth finding out which before you escalate to someone who cannot help you.

Ask your contact for the name and email of whoever handles accounts payable, and copy them in from then on. Ask whether a purchase order number is required, because in a lot of companies an invoice without one is silently rejected and nobody tells the supplier. Ask what their payment run days are, because if they pay on the 25th, chasing on the 26th is a month wasted.

Then check your own invoice against what they need. The wrong company name, a missing PO, or an email address that belongs to a person who left are all common, and all of them look identical to being ignored.

The two things not to do

Do not chase by phone only. A call that ends in a promise leaves you with nothing, and the promise will be remembered differently. Call if it helps, then send a short message afterwards confirming what was agreed, which is both polite and a record.

Do not go public. Posting about a customer on Facebook, or telling their neighbours, feels satisfying and does more damage to you than to them. It can also be defamatory, and it converts a debt you would probably have recovered into a dispute about your conduct.

The best version of this is the one you do not send

Everything above is manual work at the exact moment you are least inclined to do it, which is why most sole traders skip the first two messages and send the third one angrily a month late.

If your invoicing sends the reminders on a schedule, under your business name, and stops the moment the invoice is marked paid, the chasing happens whether or not you felt like being the person who chases. That is the real value of automating it. Not the writing, which takes five minutes, but the deciding, which takes weeks.

Common questions

How soon should I chase an overdue invoice?

The day after it was due. Early reminders get paid at a much higher rate than late ones, they are easier to write because you are not annoyed yet, and they read as organised rather than desperate.

How many times should I chase before escalating?

Three: a friendly note the day after it was due, a factual one at around ten days, and a formal one at around three weeks that says what happens next. More than three and the reminders themselves teach the customer that nothing follows them.

Should I phone or email?

Either, but always put it in writing afterwards. A phone call that ends in a promise to pay leaves you with no record, and if the debt ever reaches a court the paper trail is most of your case.

What if the customer keeps saying the payment is coming?

Ask for a date and confirm it in writing. A specific date is either met or visibly missed, which moves the conversation forward, whereas an open promise can be repeated indefinitely at no cost to them.

Can I stop work or take back materials if they have not paid?

Sometimes, and it depends on what your contract says and what kind of job it is. On construction work covered by the Construction Act there is a statutory right to suspend after giving seven days' written notice. Removing materials already installed is a different matter and can expose you to a claim, so take advice before touching anything already fitted.

Do the maths

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More on getting paid

• Letter before action for an unpaid invoiceA free letter before action template for UK tradespeople owed money, what the pre-action rules require you to enclose, and how long to give them to pay.
• Taking a customer to the small claims court over an unpaid invoiceHow to claim an unpaid invoice through the county court, what the fees are, how long it takes, and the part nobody mentions: winning is not the same as being paid.
• Charging interest on a late invoiceUK statutory interest is the Bank of England base rate plus 8% on business debts, with a fixed sum per invoice on top. When you can charge it, when you cannot, and how to work it out.
• Payment terms for a one-person trade businessWhat payment terms to use as a UK sole trader, why they belong on the quote rather than the invoice, and the home-visit cancellation rule most tradespeople miss.
• When a main contractor will not pay youThe Construction Act gives subcontractors payment notices, a right to suspend work and adjudication in 28 days. What it covers, what it does not, and how to use it.
• Retention, and how to actually get it backWhat retention is, the usual 3% to 5% and when each half is released, why subcontractors lose it, and the practical steps that get it paid back to you.
• Checking a customer will pay, before you startThe free Companies House checks that take five minutes, the red flags worth walking away from, and how to protect yourself on domestic work where no credit check exists.
• Stage payments, and how to structure themHow to split a job into stage payments a customer will agree to, what makes a milestone enforceable, and why the money should always be slightly ahead of the work.
• Should you put an unpaid invoice with a debt collection agency?What debt collection agencies charge, when a third-party letter works better than yours, and when a free letter before action does the same job for nothing.
• Writing off an unpaid invoiceWhether you can claim tax relief on a bad debt depends on which accounting basis you use, and most sole traders are now on the one where there is nothing to claim.

All of it, in the order you need it, on the getting paid hub.

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