When a reminder sequence ends, the fee is still owed, but nothing is prompting the customer to pay it, so it tends to sit on your aged debtors list until someone notices. The next steps in Ireland are a personal call, a statement, an offer to pay in instalments, statutory interest and compensation if the customer is a business, and a final notice. After that comes a solicitor's letter or court proceedings, since unpaid invoices can't go through the Small Claims procedure.
In this article
The short version
- An overdue fee is still owed when a reminder sequence ends.
- Follow up with a call, a statement and an instalment offer.
- Business customers owe statutory interest and €40, €70 or €100 compensation.
- Unpaid invoices can't go through Small Claims; the District Court hears up to €15,000.
- Adfin keeps chasing until the invoice is paid or you pause it.
Why reminder sequences run out
Your automatic reminders are probably built as a fixed sequence. You choose a few messages, set them at points around the due date, and the sequence finishes when the last one has gone. QuickBooks Online in Ireland, for example, allows three automatic reminders at most on each invoice, scheduled no more than 90 days either side of the due date. If you build your own, it might stop at, say, 30 days overdue.
That works for your customers who pay after a nudge. The ones left at the end are the customers who didn't respond to the same messages everyone else received. Once your sequence finishes, the invoice stays open, your customer hears nothing more about it, and it can stay that way until you run a month-end review or a debtors report brings it back into view.
Your sequence also treats every customer alike. A client who always pays on day 35 and a client who has gone quiet for the first time get the same three emails, which tells you very little about which of them needs a call from you.
What to do once the reminders have finished
It helps if you decide the order of these steps in advance, so the end of your sequence starts the next stage and the invoice doesn't drop out of view.
- Call the person who approves payments. A conversation often shows you whether the problem is cash, a query about the work or an invoice that never reached the right inbox, and each needs a different answer.
- Send a statement listing every open invoice for that customer. Seeing the overdue fee next to the ones they've paid may prompt payment where another single reminder hasn't.
- Offer to split the balance. If the customer is short of cash, an instalment plan with fixed dates gets money moving and gives you a firm date to follow up.
- For business customers, add statutory interest and fixed compensation. Under the European Communities (Late Payment in Commercial Transactions) Regulations 2012, interest runs from the day after the payment date at the European Central Bank's main refinancing rate plus 8%, which is 10.4% a year from 1 July 2026, with compensation of €40, €70 or €100 depending on the invoice amount. Neither applies to consumers, and you don't need to send a reminder first.
- Send a final notice stating the amount, how it's made up, a deadline and what you'll do if it isn't met. Creditors usually give 7 days in a demand letter before going to court, although the law doesn't always require one.
Take a €2,400 invoice to a company client, 60 days overdue. Interest at 10.4% comes to €41.03 (€2,400 × 10.4% × 60 ÷ 365), and the fixed compensation on an invoice over €1,000 and up to €10,000 is €70, so the customer owes €111.03 on top of the invoice. Whether you claim it, or waive it for a client you want to keep, is your decision.
Small Claims, solicitors and the courts
The Small Claims procedure handles some disputes for consumers and businesses, up to €2,000, for a €25 fee. A business can use it to claim about goods or services it bought, and a claim can be brought against a business. Debt claims, such as unpaid rent, loans or invoices, are excluded, so you can't recover an overdue fee that way, however small it is.
For an unpaid invoice, the amount decides the court: under €15,000 goes to the District Court, €15,000 to €75,000 to the Circuit Court, and anything larger to the High Court. A solicitor's letter often comes before proceedings. If your customer is a business, what you reasonably spend recovering the debt, a solicitor's or collection agency's fees for instance, can be claimed on top of the fixed compensation. Take advice before you issue, particularly if the customer disputes the work.
Before any of this, weigh the amount against your time and against whether you'd want to work with that customer again.
Reminders that continue until the fee is paid
In Adfin, chasing continues until the invoice is paid or you pause it for that customer, so it doesn't end after a set number of days. Reminders go by email, SMS and WhatsApp, with no limit on how many on the free Essential level. You can set different chasing rules for different customers, send statements, and set up an instalment plan from the same place, so the steps above don't depend on someone remembering.
On Enhanced credit control, at 0.3% per paid invoice and only when it's used, Adfin's collection agents adjust the timing, channel and tone of each reminder for each customer within rules you approve. Statutory late payment interest can also be added to overdue business invoices automatically, with grace periods and waivers for the customers you choose, and left off invoices to consumers.
Common questions
Does an overdue fee stop being owed when reminders stop? No, the fee is owed until it's paid, written off or settled. Stopping reminders only means the customer isn't being prompted any more.
How many reminders should I send before a final notice? There's no legal number. Whatever number you choose, it helps to follow the last reminder with a call, a statement and an instalment offer before a final notice.
Can I add interest to an overdue fee in Ireland? On invoices to businesses and public bodies, yes: statutory interest at 10.4% a year from 1 July 2026, plus €40, €70 or €100 compensation. It doesn't apply to consumers.
Can I use the Small Claims procedure for an unpaid invoice? No, debt claims, including unpaid invoices, are excluded from Small Claims. A claim up to €15,000 goes to the District Court.
Should I offer an instalment plan on an overdue invoice? If the customer is short of cash but willing to pay, a plan with fixed dates can get money in sooner than another round of reminders.
Does Adfin stop chasing after a set period? No, chasing continues until the invoice is paid or you pause it for that customer. Essential credit control, with unlimited reminders, is free under fair use.
Sources
- Irish Statute Book - S.I. No. 580/2012, European Communities (Late Payment in Commercial Transactions) Regulations 2012 (accurate as of November 2026) https://www.irishstatutebook.ie/eli/2012/si/580/made/en/print
- Department of Enterprise, Tourism and Employment - Late payment interest rate (accurate as of November 2026) https://enterprise.gov.ie/en/what-we-do/supports-for-smes/late-payments/late-payment-interest-rate-
- Courts Service - About small claims (accurate as of November 2026) https://courts.ie/guides/about-small-claim
- Citizens Information - Court proceedings for recovering debts (accurate as of November 2026) https://www.citizensinformation.ie/en/money-and-tax/personal-finance/debt/court-procedures/
- Intuit QuickBooks - Send invoice reminders automatically or manually, Ireland (accurate as of November 2026) https://quickbooks.intuit.com/learn-support/en-ie/help-article/invoicing/send-invoice-reminders-automatically-manually/L84cQjpxo_IE_en_IE
