How to chase a late invoice

Before you chase: check your own invoice

Work through this before sending a reminder. It is uncomfortable, but a surprising share of "difficult customers" turn out to be ordinary customers holding an invoice they cannot process.

• Is there a due date? "Payment terms: 30 days" is not a date. Print the actual date.
• Is the customer's registered name correct? Accounts departments match invoices to purchase orders by exact name.
• Is your registration number on it? Many companies cannot enter a supplier invoice without one.
• Are your bank details on it? Obvious, and frequently missing.
• Did it go to the right person? The person who ordered is often not the person who pays.
• Is there a PO number, if they use one? Without it, some systems reject the invoice silently.

A reminder sequence that works

Escalate on a schedule rather than on emotion. Firm and predictable beats angry and sporadic.

When	Channel	Tone
3 days before due	Email	Helpful heads-up
Day after due	Email	Neutral, assume oversight
7 days overdue	Email + WhatsApp	Direct, ask for a payment date
14 days overdue	Phone call	Person to person, agree a date
30 days overdue	Written notice	Formal, state next steps

Three days before due

This one prevents more late payments than every angry email afterwards combined. It arrives before anyone is at fault, so nobody has to be defensive.

The day after it was due

One week overdue

Asking for a date is the important part. "Please pay soon" can be agreed with and ignored. "Which date?" requires an answer.

When they say they already paid

Ask for the payment date, the amount, and the reference. Then check against your records. If a partial payment came in, issue a receipt for what you received and show the remaining balance — that single document usually ends the disagreement, because both sides are finally looking at the same number.

Preventing it next time

• Ask for a deposit on larger jobs. Record it against the invoice and show the balance due.
• Shorten your terms for new customers. 14 days until they have a payment history.
• Invoice immediately. An invoice sent three weeks after delivery signals that the money is not urgent to you either.
• Find out who actually pays before the first job, and put them on the invoice from the start.
• Keep every document. Quotation, invoice, receipts. A complete trail makes disputes short.

Knowing when to stop

At some point the cost of chasing exceeds the amount owed. Decide that threshold in advance — a figure and a number of weeks — so the decision is not made while you are angry. Below it, write it off and stop taking their work. Above it, seek proper advice on recovery; this guide is not legal advice and small-claims procedures have their own requirements.

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