Overdue invoice reminder emails
Five templates that escalate in the order that keeps the relationship: a heads-up before the due date, a polite note the day it slips, a firmer one at a week, one that names your late-payment terms at two weeks, and a final notice at thirty days. Fill in the details once and every one of them writes itself, and the page tells you which one to send today.
Your invoice
The follow-up schedule, and why it is shaped like that
| When | Send | What it is doing |
|---|---|---|
| 2 days before | Heads-up | Removes the "I did not know it was due" excuse and is the only email on this page that is still a favour. Attach the PDF again. |
| Day 1 late | Polite | Assumes an accident. Most invoices that are one day late are in an approvals queue, not a dispute. |
| Day 7 | Firm | Stops asking whether they received it and asks for a date instead. A question they must answer. |
| Day 14 | Terms | Puts your agreed late-payment terms in writing again and states what you will pause. This is the one that usually gets paid. |
| Day 30 | Final notice | A deadline, a named consequence and a last chance to pay before you escalate. It leaves [dates of your earlier reminders] for you to fill in, because only you know what you actually sent. Send it once, mean it, and be prepared for it to end the engagement. |
Three things that work better than tone
- Attach the invoice every single time. Half of "we never got it" is true in the sense that nobody can find it. A PDF in the thread ends that conversation.
- Ask for a date, not for money. "Can you confirm the payment date?" is small enough to answer, and an answered date is something you can refer back to.
- Put the number in the subject line.
INV-0007 — 2,400 USD, 14 days overduesurvives a scrolled inbox; "Following up" does not.
What not to do
Do not apologise for asking to be paid. "Sorry to bother you, I know you are busy" tells an accounts-payable clerk that this email can wait. Do not chase twice in one day; the second one only makes the first easier to ignore. And do not threaten anything you have not already agreed in writing — a finance charge you never mentioned in your terms is not leverage, it is a surprise, and surprises get invoices disputed.
These are templates, not legal notices
Nothing here is legal advice. Late-payment interest, statutory charges and what you are allowed to say before it counts as harassment differ by country and by whether your client is a business or a consumer. Check your own rules before the final notice, especially before you name a consequence. Everything you type stays in this browser and is remembered only on this device.