Example Late Payment  

Reminder Letter 1  

What do you do when a customer hasn't paid

their bill?

The normal procedure is to wait a reasonable  

period of time and then send them a letter.    

  

Our advice?

If it's a large company, before writing a letter,

put in a telephone call to the company's
Accounts Payable department and ask them
when you can expect payment of your bill.

Have the invoice or bill to hand and be ready to

fax or email over a copy, direct to the person
you are speaking with.

Often, a line manager won't have forwarded

your invoice to the accounts payable clerk and
therefore, your payment can get delayed.

Never deal with your client contact, because

usually, they have no control over when
invoices get paid and of course, you don't want
to ruin a good relationship!

Assuming that you have already done all you

can by telephone, it's time to get serious.

Address your letter to the Accounts Payable

department or person and send the first
"friendly letter" as follows: 

Dear Sirs,

I enclose a copy of our invoice number xxxx

which is currently overdue for payment.

As our payment terms are strictly xx days, I

would be grateful if the outstanding amount of £
($, € etc) could be paid without further delay.

I look forward to receiving your payment by

return.

Yours faithfully,
 Your Name
Your Job Title

This is a simple and effective reminder and also

has the advantage of placing a copy of your
invoice directly on the desk of the person
responsible for paying you.

There is nothing wrong with expecting to be

paid for goods or services that you have
supplied and all businesses understand this
fact.

Remember that most larger businesses have