Your Invoice Is Overdue. What Now?
Before you chase anyone
The uncomfortable first step: check whether your invoice was chaseable. Four failures account for most "unpaid" invoices, and all four are yours to fix:
- Wrong legal entity. You billed the brand; their finance system only knows the registered company.
- No PO number. Where a client uses purchase orders, an invoice without one cannot enter their system at all. It was never late — it was never accepted.
- Sent to the wrong person. Your day-to-day contact is rarely the person who pays. The invoice is sitting in an inbox belonging to someone with no authority to act on it.
- No due date on the document. "Payment on receipt" is read by an accounts payable queue as "no deadline".
The field-by-field version of this list is in what to include on an invoice.
If one of the four applies, do not send a reminder. Reissue correctly, say briefly why, and restart the clock.
The escalation ladder
Due date
│
├─ +1 day Check your own invoice against the four points above.
│
├─ +3 days Short, friendly reminder. Re-attach the PDF.
│ Assume it was missed, because it usually was.
│
├─ +10 days Second reminder. Copy accounts payable or a second contact.
│ Ask a direct question: has it been scheduled for payment?
│
├─ +21 days Phone call. Ask for a payment DATE, not an explanation.
│ Confirm what was said in writing the same day.
│
└─ +30 days Formal notice: amount, invoice number, original due date,
any statutory interest, and a deadline for payment.
Each rung is deliberately unremarkable until the last. Escalating too fast damages a working relationship over what is usually somebody's holiday.
The messages
Day 3 — the reminder that works
Subject: Invoice INV-2026-001 — due 11 April
Hi Maria,
Just a quick note that invoice INV-2026-001 for EUR 1 800.00 was due on 11 April. I have attached it again in case it went astray.
If it is already scheduled for payment, please ignore this — and if it needs to go to someone else, let me know who.
Thanks, Anna
Short, no accusation, and it ends with the two questions that actually unblock things: is it scheduled, and am I emailing the right person.
Day 10 — second reminder
Subject: Second reminder — invoice INV-2026-001, 10 days overdue
Hi Maria,
Invoice INV-2026-001 (EUR 1 800.00, due 11 April) is now ten days overdue and I have not been able to confirm it is in the payment run.
Could you confirm the date it will be paid, or forward this to whoever handles payments? I have copied accounts@northwind.example in case that is faster.
Thanks, Anna
Copying a second address is the point of this one. It converts a private oversight into a visible one, without a word of complaint.
Day 21 — the call
Do not ask "when do you think you might be able to pay?" — that invites an estimate. Ask "which date will it be paid on?" and then say you will confirm it by email. Send that email the same day, quoting the date they gave.
Day 30 — formal notice
State facts only: invoice number, amount, issue and due dates, what has already been sent, any interest you are entitled to, and a specific deadline. No adjectives. This is the document you would later hand to a lawyer or a debt collection service, so write it as though someone else will read it — because they might.
Late-payment interest
Many countries give businesses a statutory right to interest and a fixed recovery fee on overdue B2B invoices, without needing a clause in the contract. In the EU this comes from the late-payment directive, implemented separately by each member state; other countries have their own equivalents, and some have none.
Two practical notes. First, check what applies where your client is, not where you are. Second, mentioning the entitlement at the day-30 stage is often more effective than actually charging it — the point is to signal that the sequence has a next step.
This is general practice, not legal advice. Rules differ by country and by contract; check before you rely on a right.
Prevention, which is where the leverage is
Chasing is expensive and unpleasant. Everything below is cheaper:
| Habit | What it prevents |
|---|---|
| A due date on every invoice, not "payment terms" | The open-ended queue |
| Agree payment terms before starting | The argument about what was agreed |
| Ask for the PO number and billing entity up front | Two weeks of reissue |
| Take a deposit from new clients | Working thirty days for free for a stranger |
| Send to the payer, copy your contact | The invoice sleeping in the wrong inbox |
| Keep the sequence auditable | Not noticing the one that was never paid |
A deposit is best requested as a proforma invoice — it is the document designed for money before delivery, and it does not consume an invoice number.
Knowing which invoices are outstanding
The last habit is the one people skip, and it is the reason invoices go unpaid for months: nobody noticed. A folder of PDFs cannot answer "what is outstanding right now?"
In Kinvoice a PRO account keeps saved invoices in a journal with their status visible in one list, and any period — a month, a quarter, a year — can be downloaded as a single ZIP. That last one matters at the formal stage: when someone asks for the full history of your dealings with a client, it is one download rather than an afternoon.
Related
FAQ
How long should I wait before chasing an unpaid invoice?
Three days after the due date is enough for a short, friendly reminder. Most late payments are oversights, and waiting a fortnight to mention it only delays a fix that takes one email.
Can I charge interest on a late invoice?
In many countries businesses have a statutory right to interest and a recovery fee on overdue B2B invoices, without a contract clause. It depends on where your client is based, so check the local rules before relying on it.
What do I do if the client stops replying entirely?
Escalate the channel rather than the tone: phone, then a second contact or accounts payable, then a written formal notice stating the invoice number, amount, dates and a deadline. Keep every step in writing.
How do I stop this from happening again?
Put a due date on the invoice, agree terms before starting, ask for the PO number and the exact billing entity up front, and take a deposit from new clients. Those four prevent most of it.