If your reminders go out on schedule and the same names stay overdue, sending more of them is unlikely to help. Check four things first: the due dates you set, who's receiving the reminders, how much effort paying you takes, and which customers produce most of the lateness. Once an invoice is about three weeks overdue, a phone call usually does more than another email.
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The short version
- Sending more reminders is unlikely to fix the same names staying overdue.
- Move due dates off weekends and never issue an invoice already overdue.
- Make sure the reminder reaches the person who approves payment.
- Put a payment link in every reminder so paying takes a minute.
- Rank customers by lateness, and call once an invoice is about three weeks over.
Check the due dates you set
This one's entirely in your hands and takes an afternoon. Pull last quarter's invoices and look at where the due dates landed.
Customers tend to pay on the due date itself, so where that date falls matters. In Adfin's payment data, invoices due on a Saturday or Sunday were paid on time noticeably less often than those due on a weekday, about 60% against 66% to 67%. A Saturday deadline means Friday was your customer's last working day to act on it, so it's worth moving due dates onto weekdays.
Then look for invoices that went out with a due date already in the past. It happens more than you'd think with catch-up or back-dated billing, and an invoice that arrives overdue can't be paid on time whatever your reminders say. Set terms from the day you send it.
Check who receives the reminders
An invoice can be chased perfectly and still sit with someone who can't approve it.
Take three of your stuck accounts and find out who approves payment there, and whether your invoice ever reached them. Reminders going to an accounts inbox that nobody reads aren't doing anything. Send to a named person, copy the general inbox, and make sure the invoice carries any purchase order number or reference your customer's system needs, because an invoice without one can sit unapproved for weeks.
Check how easy it is to pay you
Some of what looks like reluctance is just effort. Paying by bank transfer is a small chore: your customer has to log in, set you up as a new payee and copy your details across without a typo, which is easy to put off.
A payment link in every reminder, with the amount and reference already filled in, lets your customer pay by card, wallet or bank in a minute, from the message itself. For customers you invoice every month and chase every month, ask whether they should be paying by hand at all. A direct debit mandate means you collect on the agreed date and there's no decision left to put off.
Find the names behind the lateness
List every customer with five or more invoices, work out what share they paid after the due date, and rank them. Late payment usually comes from a small group. In Adfin's data, about a quarter of repeat payers produced around half of all late payments, while more than a quarter were never late at all.
Once you know the names, your reminders can differ: earlier and firmer contact for the customers with a record of paying late, a lighter touch for the rest.
At about three weeks overdue, another written reminder stops telling the customer anything new. A call tells you which situation you're in and gets you a date. Wording that tends to work:
- "Invoice 1042 for £1,200 was due on the 30th and it's still showing as unpaid. Is something holding it up your end?"
- "If cash is tight this month, I can split it into three payments starting Friday. Would that work?"
- "So it goes out on the 14th. I'll note that and come back to you on the 15th if it hasn't arrived."
A query needs answering before anything else, because more reminders tend to harden a dispute. For a customer who can't pay in full, offer an instalment plan. And if you get nothing from a business customer, you can claim statutory interest at 8% above the Bank of England base rate, currently 11.75% a year, plus fixed compensation of £40, £70 or £100 depending on the size of the debt.
Adfin's collection agents can do much of this for you within rules you set: chase each customer on their own schedule over email, SMS or WhatsApp, offer instalment plans, and add statutory late fees to overdue business invoices, leaving you the calls that need a person.
Common questions
Why do clients ignore payment reminders? Often the reminder isn't the problem. The invoice may be with someone who can't approve it, paying may take effort, the due date may already have passed, or the customer pays late whatever arrives.
How many payment reminders should I send? A note before the due date, a reminder the day after, another a week later, then a phone call. After three written messages, changing channel usually works better than a fourth email.
Is there a best time or day to send a payment reminder? There's no reliable general answer. Your customer's own history of replies and payments tells you more than any universal rule.
Should I stop chasing and move the client to direct debit? If you invoice them regularly and chase them every month, it's worth asking. A mandate means you collect on the agreed date and they don't have to remember.
What do I do when the same clients are always late? Rank your customers by how often they've paid late over their last five or more invoices, then chase that group earlier and more firmly.
When does a late invoice need a phone call instead of an email? Around two to three weeks overdue, or sooner on a large invoice. A call finds out whether it's a query, a cash problem or a queue, and gets you a date.
Sources
- GOV.UK - Late commercial payments: charging interest on commercial debt (accurate as of October 2026) https://www.gov.uk/late-commercial-payments-interest-debt-recovery/charging-interest-commercial-debt
- GOV.UK - Late commercial payments: claim debt recovery costs (accurate as of October 2026) https://www.gov.uk/late-commercial-payments-interest-debt-recovery/claim-debt-recovery-costs
- Bank of England - The interest rate (Bank Rate) (accurate as of October 2026) https://www.bankofengland.co.uk/monetary-policy/the-interest-rate-bank-rate
- Adfin - Credit control (accurate as of October 2026) https://www.adfin.com/credit-control
