How to get paid on time.

Getting paid starts before the work does

Most late payments are decided at the start of a job, not the end. Agree these before any work begins, in writing:

• Payment terms — how many days after the invoice payment is due. Fourteen or thirty days is normal for business clients; shorter for individuals and new relationships.
• A deposit for new clients and longer jobs, and staged payments for anything that runs over a month.
• Who pays the invoice — the name and email of the accounts contact, and whether they need a purchase order number on it.
• What happens if payment is late — interest, a late fee, or pausing work. You only get to rely on terms the client agreed to before you started.

Invoice immediately, and get it right first time

The clock on payment only starts when the invoice arrives, so send it the day the work is delivered or the milestone is reached. Then remove every reason it could be put aside:

• A specific due date ("due 14 March"), not just "30 days".
• The purchase order number, if the client uses them.
• Line items described the way the client understood the work.
• Your payment details on the invoice itself, not only in the email.
• Sent to the accounts email, with your contact copied.

The guide to creating an invoice covers every field, and the free invoice generator lays them out for you.

A reminder schedule that works

Reminders work best when they arrive on predictable dates and get steadily firmer. Decide the schedule once and follow it for every client, so chasing never feels personal:

1. A few days before the due date — a friendly heads-up. Not a demand: a note that the invoice is due on a date, with the payment details. It catches invoices that were never filed.
2. The day after it is due — a polite reminder. Assume it was missed. Restate the amount and date, and ask when it will be paid.
3. At around seven days — a phone call to the accounts contact. A two-minute call resolves more overdue invoices than several emails, because you find out what is actually holding it up.
4. At two weeks — a firm reminder. State how late it is, ask for payment that week, and mention your late-payment terms if you have them.
5. At thirty days — a final notice. A clear deadline, usually seven days, and what happens next if it is missed.

The payment reminder email generator writes each of these from the invoice details and picks the right one from the due date.

What to say, and what not to

Good reminders are short, specific and calm. Each one should contain the invoice number, the amount, the original due date, how to pay, and one clear question or request. Leave out apologies for asking, sarcasm, and threats you are not prepared to carry out — especially in early reminders, when the most likely explanation is that the invoice is sitting in someone's inbox.

Keep everything in writing even when you call: a quick email after the call confirming what was agreed ("thanks — you mentioned it will be paid on Friday") creates the paper trail you need if it ever escalates.

Late-payment interest and fees

Whether you can charge interest depends on where you and your client are and what your terms said:

• UK: for business-to-business debts, the Late Payment of Commercial Debts (Interest) Act lets you claim statutory interest at 8 percentage points above the Bank of England base rate, plus fixed compensation of £40 to £100 depending on the size of the debt.
• EU: the Late Payment Directive gives similar rights for commercial transactions — interest of at least 8 points above the European Central Bank reference rate and a €40 minimum compensation, implemented in each country's own law.
• US and elsewhere: there is generally no automatic right; you can charge interest or fees if your contract or invoice terms set them out before the work, within your state's or country's limits.

Check the current rules where you are — and remember that charging interest to a client you want to keep is a judgement call. Its main value is often that stating it on the invoice makes late payment less likely in the first place.

When they still do not pay

If the final notice deadline passes, the usual next steps are, in order:

1. Pause further work for that client, and tell them so in writing.
2. A formal letter before action setting out the debt, any interest, and a final date before you start a claim.
3. A small claims court or debt recovery service, depending on the amount and where the client is. Many debts are paid as soon as a formal claim is threatened.

For larger amounts, a short conversation with a solicitor or a reputable collection agency is worth having before you start.

Make it a system, not a mood

The businesses that get paid reliably are not the ones with the toughest emails. They are the ones that invoice on the day, know at a glance which invoices are late and by how much, and send the next reminder on schedule without having to think about it. Inside an AWGCOR account, the Get paid page lists every unpaid invoice by how late it is, suggests the right reminder for each and logs what you sent — see chasing unpaid invoices in the dashboard.