I appreciate the opportunity to do business with you and ask for your understanding during this temporary financial difficulty. I am writing to follow up on invoice #12345 for [$Amount]. In an ideal situation, your client may only require a friendly reminder to pay. It’s not uncommon for invoices to slip through the cracks of a busy accounting department. Therefore, a cordial follow-up email may be sufficient to get the ball rolling.

It can also act as an incentive to pay up sooner rather than later. This will help build trust with the customer, which is critical for any successful business relationship. And of course, it increases the likelihood that they’ll pay up in a timely manner, since you’re expressing compassion and sympathy. Keep it conversational and polite, while still firmly emphasizing the importance of paying their invoice on time. An assurance that you value their business and are open to discussing payment options if necessary. The first rule is that the receiver must immediately know that this letter is addressed to him/her.

How to prevent late payment in future

Unfortunately, as freelance business owners we face this predicament more often than we’d like. Everyone who has freelanced long enough has at least one story about a client who disputed charges, was late on a payment, or just outright refused to pay. In fact,The Freelancer’s Unionfound that 71% of freelancers have had trouble getting paid. But before involving a collection agency or debt collector, we suggest you try sending one more email and/or a past due invoice letter. If your invoice is overdue by 60 days, it’s time to take it up a notch. Assuming this isn’t your first reminder, you want to convey more assertiveness and remind them of your contract and/or T&Cs.

However, at the same time, you shouldn’t jump to harsh methods of collecting the debt. This email should serve as a reminder of the late payment but also anylate payment feesyou will be charging. For example, most companies don’t start with extra costs for late payments the day after the due date. Let customers know that they have multiple How To Write A Late Payment Email options to pay their balance. They may not know that you accept PayPal, or they just got so used to mailing in a check that they forgot about their new corporate credit card. If you want to keep customers no matter how long it takes them to pay, you could present them with a payment plan option to at least receive a partial payment.

After long overdue invoices

This personal touch may be just what they need to remember that they owe you money. This is an urgent message regarding invoice #12345 for [$Amount]. Direct Debit may be an ideal choice to propose, as it allows https://quick-bookkeeping.net/ you to manage payments on your end. This option can also be advantageous for your customers since they won’t need to remember to pay invoices. Please let us know when we can expect to receive the payment.

Our accounts team has sent you two outstanding invoice letters on 10th June 2023 and 12th July 2023. If your invoices go unpaid even after 90 days, send a final unpaid invoice letter to your client. You need to mention that your next step is involving a collection agency.

Explaining the Issue

This will help ensure that your invoice doesn’t get lost in the shuffle and that you’re able to get paid in a timely manner. One potential solution to this predicament is to apply late payment fees automatically and be willing to waive them to assist the customer. Nonetheless, it’s crucial to convey that such a waiver is an exception and not expected to happen repeatedly. Additionally, implementing more rigorous credit control measures with that customer would be ideal. Imposing charges for overdue invoices can serve as an effective strategy to prompt businesses to give them higher priority. Nevertheless, such fees may also have a counterproductive effect in certain circumstances.

Put an end to late payments and manual chasing tasks, by setting up schedules to send out polite payment reminders to your customers. You can pick from multiple letter templates, ranging from a friendly reminder to a stern one. And if you’re already anFiverr Workspace user, you can populate your letter automatically based on your invoice information, right from the software.

It’s always good to stay in contact with customers in regards to your invoice payments. However, there’s another method you can use to automate the process. If we have still not received your payment by , we will be forced to escalate this invoice to our legal team. You’ll know the time to send this email based on your terms and conditions. If you give your customers 60 or 90 days to pay, then this email should be sent around this point. The difference in this email is that there’s more emphasis on the invoice’s past due date, late fees charged, and future penalties if not handled accordingly.