How to chase a late payment without losing the customer

01Before you chase: make it easy to pay

Half of getting paid on time happens before the invoice is late. An invoice that’s clear about what’s owed, by when and how to pay gets paid faster than one that leaves the customer to work it out.

• Agree terms up front. Put your payment terms on the quote, so the customer’s yes includes them. The Department of Enterprise’s advice to small firms is to put contracts in writing with fair payment terms that both sides agreed.
• Invoice the day the job is done. Every day you wait is a day added to when you’re paid.
• Show how to pay. Your bank details and a payment reference, a link to pay by card, or both. The fewer steps, the sooner it’s paid.
• Keep a record. Note who owes what and when it’s due, and every reminder you send.

02Wording at each stage

Most late payers aren’t refusing. They forgot, the invoice went to the wrong inbox, or they’re waiting for a payday. So start friendly, get firmer step by step, and keep every message short. Each one should carry the invoice number, the amount, the due date and how to pay.

On the due date: a nudge.

Hi Mary, just a reminder that invoice 0042 for €[amount] is due today. You can pay by bank transfer to the account on the invoice, using 0042 as the reference. Thanks again for the work.

A few days late: still friendly.

Hi Mary, invoice 0042 for €[amount] was due on [date] and I haven’t seen it come in yet. It may have crossed with this; if not, the details are below. Any questions about it, just call me.

A week late: clear about what’s next.

Hi Mary, invoice 0042 for €[amount] is now a week overdue. Could you pay it this week, or let me know when you can? If there’s a problem with the work, tell me and I’ll sort it.

Two weeks late: firm and final.

Hi Mary, invoice 0042 for €[amount] is now two weeks overdue and I haven’t heard from you. Please pay it by [date, seven days away]. If it isn’t paid by then, I’ll need to take the next step to recover it.

Then pick up the phone. A call after the written reminders often gets an answer an email didn’t, and the Department’s advice is that statements, regular telephone calls, emails and reminder letters should be used routinely. Note what was promised and follow up on that day.

What not to do. Irish law makes it an offence to make demands for payment so frequent they’re calculated to cause alarm, distress or humiliation to the customer or their family, or to falsely say criminal proceedings will follow for non-payment. Don’t threaten what you won’t do, don’t post about the customer online, and don’t contact their family or neighbours.

03If they say something’s wrong

Sometimes a late payment is a complaint in disguise. If a homeowner says the work isn’t right, consumer law lets them withhold payment until the issue is resolved, with the amount held back reflecting what the problem is worth.

So don’t keep chasing past a complaint. Go and look, fix what’s genuinely wrong, and agree it in writing. Then invoice or chase the balance. Fixing a snag is cheaper than a lost customer, and it’s what the law expects anyway.

04Business customers: your rights under the late payment rules

When your customer is a business or a public body, the European Communities (Late Payment in Commercial Transactions) Regulations 2012 apply. They give you rights without needing a clause in your contract:

• When payment is late. If your contract doesn’t set a payment date, a payment is late once 30 days have passed. Business-to-business terms can be extended to 60 days by agreement, and beyond that only if expressly agreed and not grossly unfair to you.
• Interest. Unless your contract says otherwise, the rate is the European Central Bank rate plus 8 percentage points. From 1 July 2026 the rate is 10.4% a year, worked out daily. The rate is reset every 1 January and 1 July.
• Compensation. On top of interest, you’re automatically entitled to compensation for recovery costs, without a reminder.

A made-up electrician invoices a company €2,000.00 and is paid 20 days late. At 10.4% a year, interest for 20 days is €11.40, and the compensation for an invoice over €1,000 is €70.00.

Use these rights with judgement. Telling a good business customer that interest is now running can sour the next job; mentioning that you’re entitled to it in the final reminder often gets the invoice paid without charging it. The free late-payment cost tool below shows what slow payers cost you in money tied up and time spent chasing.

05Homeowners: different rules

The 2012 Regulations don’t apply to transactions with consumers, meaning someone paying for work on their own home. So there’s no automatic interest and no fixed compensation when a homeowner pays late.

With a homeowner, your tools are the ones above: clear terms on the quote, a deposit up front (see how much deposit to ask for), prompt invoices and polite, steady reminders. If those don’t work, the next step is a letter before action, often from a solicitor, saying you’ll go to court if the invoice isn’t paid by a set date.

06When to stop, and what comes next

Reminders have a natural end. After the final written reminder and a phone call, more emails rarely help. At that point, decide:

• Is the amount worth more than the time? Add up the hours a court claim would take, and what you’d earn in them instead.
• Is there a dispute? If the customer has raised a genuine problem, settle that first; a court will expect it.
• Is the customer still trading? If a business customer is in insolvency proceedings, the 2012 Regulations don’t apply to that debt, and you’ll be one creditor among many.

If you decide to go further, know which route fits. The small claims procedure can’t be used for debt claims, such as unpaid invoices. Debt claims instead go to court by size: up to €15,000 in the District Court, €15,001 to €75,000 in the Circuit Court, and over €75,000 in the High Court. Many trades take legal advice at this stage.

And when you stop, stop cleanly. Send one last message saying the invoice remains unpaid and what you’ll do next, then do it, or let it go. Either way, don’t take on new work for that customer without payment up front.

07What QuotePaid does for you

QuotePaid sends invoice reminders for you, by email at 9am on the due date and then 3, 7 and 14 days after, friendly first and firm at the end. If your customer has no email, you get a ready-written WhatsApp each time a reminder is due. A payment stops them: card payments mark the invoice paid by themselves, and a customer who paid by transfer can tap “I’ve paid” for you to confirm. Each morning after the reminders go out, you get a short email of who got one and who is newly overdue. QuotePaid’s reminders never add interest or charges.

Not every app sends reminders itself; some write them for you to send. Our roundup of quoting and invoicing apps shows which do what.