Unpaid invoices: what to do when a client hasn’t paid
By Simon Tan, 30+ years in enterprise sales and marketing with Hewlett Packard, Forrester and IDC Research
Published · Updated · 5 min read
An invoice a few days late isn’t a crisis. One that’s been sitting for three months is a different problem, and it calls for a different response. Most guides treat every unpaid invoice the same way. This one doesn’t.
It’s also far more common than it feels. In a 2015 Freelancers Union survey of more than 5,000 US freelancers, 71% said they’d had trouble collecting payment at some point in their career.
Here’s how to handle it at each stage, without turning into a debt collector.
1. Assess where things actually stand
Before you write a word to your client, check your own side of things.
Is this the first time this client has paid slow, or is it a pattern? A one-off is worth a light touch. A repeat offender changes how much patience you owe them.
Confirm the basics on your end too: the due date you invoiced, the amount, and the email address you have on file. A surprising number of “unpaid” invoices turn out to be a wrong email address or a due date nobody agreed to. Fix that before you send anything.
That’s standard credit-management advice too. Before chasing, UK guidance from the Institute of Credit Management asks whether the payment terms were agreed up front, whether the invoice is accurate with no dispute raised, and whether the customer has confirmed receiving it.
2. Send the first reminder, and keep it light
A few days past due isn’t the moment for firm language. Assume good faith. Invoices get missed for ordinary reasons: buried in an inbox, waiting on approval, genuinely forgotten.
A short, friendly note does the job: a quick reference to the invoice number and amount, the original due date, and an easy way to pay. Nothing about consequences. Nothing that reads as a warning.
If you want the exact wording rather than writing it from scratch, the payment reminder templates page has a full set organized by stage.
3. Escalate the tone, not the threats
If the first reminder goes nowhere, the second one can be more direct. Direct isn’t the same as aggressive.
Say plainly that the invoice is now overdue. Ask for a specific response, a payment date or a reason for the delay, rather than just repeating the ask. A question your client has to answer moves things forward faster than a statement they can ignore again.
What doesn’t help: vague warnings about “further action,” references to legal consequences that aren’t actually being pursued, or language that sounds more like a threat than a business asking to get paid. It reads as bluster, and a threat you have no intention of acting on costs you credibility the next time you ask. Firm and specific beats vague and scary, every time.
4. Decide when to stop being polite
There’s a point where politely worded reminders have run their course. It usually shows up as a pattern: excuses without dates attached, promises that come and go, or a client who’s gone quiet entirely.
That’s the moment to get concrete. Name a real deadline. Say what happens if it passes, service paused, work on hold, whatever’s actually true for your business, and then follow through if it does. An empty threat is worse than no threat at all, because the next one won’t be believed either.
Just don’t let the polite phase drift on. Industry figures show commercial debts get steadily harder to recover the longer they sit:
| Group | Value |
|---|---|
| At the due date | 98% |
| 30 days | 94% |
| 60 days | 85% |
| 90 days | 74% |
| 6 months | 58% |
| 9 months | 43% |
| 1 year | 27% |
| 2 years | 14% |
Commercial Law League of America collectability chart. Industry figures for commercial debts, not the odds for any one invoice.
5. Know your options exist
For invoices that stay unresolved past this point, a few paths exist beyond more emails: small claims court for smaller amounts, a collections agency, or an attorney’s demand letter for larger ones.
This isn’t legal advice, and which path makes sense depends on your amount, your contract, and your jurisdiction. Worth a conversation with an actual attorney before you commit to one. Small claims court is the lightest of these: the Federal Trade Commission notes that dollar limits vary by state, some go as high as $25,000, and you usually don’t need a lawyer. Most invoices never need to go this far. But it’s worth knowing the option is real, so a client who’s testing whether you’ll actually follow up gets their answer.
Some places also protect freelancers directly. Under New York City’s Freelance Isn’t Free Act, the city received 2,542 freelancer complaints from 2019 to 2023, most about late or non-payment, and at least 773 freelancers reported recovering a total of $2.9 million.
How to collect payment from a customer, at a glance
If you’re looking for the short version:
- Check your own records are right before you send anything.
- Start friendly. Most late invoices are an oversight, not a dispute.
- Get more direct if reminder one doesn’t land: specific ask, specific date.
- Set a real deadline once patience runs out, and mean it.
- Know that small claims, a collections agency, or an attorney are real options for what’s left over.
FAQ
- How do I word a late fee on an invoice?
- Keep it factual and specific rather than punitive: “A late fee of 1.5% per month applies to invoices unpaid after 30 days, per our agreement.” State the rate, the trigger, and where it comes from (your contract or terms), rather than framing it as a penalty for bad behavior. It should read as a term you agreed to, not a threat you’re making now.
- What if my client says they never got the invoice?
- Resend it, note the original send date if you have it, and move forward as if this is reminder one. No reason to assume bad faith on a first claim like this. If it happens repeatedly from the same client, that’s worth noticing.
- How many reminders is too many?
- There’s no universal number, but reminders that land less than a week apart start to feel like pressure rather than follow-up. InvoiceHelix’s own automated campaigns never send two reminders for the same invoice less than 7 days apart, which is a reasonable floor for doing it by hand too.
Sources
How this guide was made. Simon Tan orchestrated a team of AI agents to research and write it, then gave it a final review and approval. Every source below was opened and checked before it was used.
- Freelancers Union (2015). The Costs of Nonpayment. Survey of 5,000+ US freelancers by an advocacy group.
- Institute of Credit Management with the UK Department for Business, Innovation and Skills. Managing Cashflow Guide 7: Chasing payment.
- Commercial Law League of America. Probability of Recovering Commercial Debt with Age (collectability chart).
- Federal Trade Commission, Consumer Advice. Solving Problems With a Business: Returns, Refunds, and Other Resolutions (small claims court).
- NYC Department of Consumer and Worker Protection (2023). 5-Year Report on NYC’s Freelance Isn’t Free Act.
Rather not write these by hand every time?
InvoiceHelix runs steps 2 through 4 for you automatically: a friendly reminder, then a firmer one, then a real escalation, each one checked against a compliance filter before it sends, and every reply read so you know the moment a client responds. You approve anything with real weight behind it before it goes out.
See the actual reminder wording at every stage on the payment reminder templates page.