Your customer doesn’t pay? In order to still receive your money, a reminder is often necessary. But there are a few things to consider when formulating. Read here how to write a correct reminder as a freelancer.
Table of contents:
- Dunning process sequence
- Write reminders yourself
- Free reminder template
- Invoice management with GetMyInvoices
The most important answers on the topic of reminders:
Legally speaking, there are no mandatory components of a reminder. However, it should contain some information. These include:
- Name and address of you and your customer
- Invoice number, date and amount
- Notice that payment is pending
- Request for payment
- New payment deadline
If your customer doesn’t pay, you can first send a payment reminder or a reminder directly in which you set a new payment date. If you still haven’t received payment, you can either send further reminders, start legal dunning proceedings or hire a lawyer.
As soon as the due date you specified in the invoice has passed, you can send a reminder.
Outstanding invoice amounts are not only annoying for freelancers, but can also become a real problem: after all, you also have unpaid ones Download bills and receipts At her tax declaration take into account. Luckily, with dunning you have a few options to get your customer to pay. But what does a correct dunning process look like?
This is how the dunning process works
Legally speaking, there is no set order in the dunning process, unless you want to put your customer in default and subsequently charge late fees. In this case, however, you only have to send a reminder to assert any claims.
In practice, however, a certain sequence of steps has been established to encourage defaulting customers to pay outstanding invoice amounts.
Send reminder
Of course, invoices received by customers can be overlooked. Not every missed payment deadline is intentional! To remind your customer of the outstanding amount, you can send an Payment reminder write. However, under the law there is no difference to a reminder. So you are free to choose which name you choose. Freelancers usually make this dependent on the customer relationship and formulate reminders more informally. If your customer doesn’t pay even after being asked, you can either continue to dun or take the next step in the dunning process and hire a lawyer or start legal dunning proceedings.
consult a lawyer
If your reminder does not have the desired effect, a letter from a lawyer can often help to persuade customers who are unwilling to pay to reconsider. If your customer can be proven to be in default, you can also charge them their legal fees. If payment is still not made, you can contact your lawyer legal action procedure begin.
Begin the legal dunning process
Your warning(s) are falling on deaf ears, but you don’t want to contact a lawyer? As a freelancer, it is possible for you as a freelancer to begin legal dunning proceedings even without legal advice. To do this, fill out the relevant forms online and then send them to your local court. Unless your customer objects to this, you can foreclosure have carried out.
However, it often doesn’t get that far because many customers pay quickly after receiving the first reminder. To make it as easy as possible for you, there are a few things you should keep in mind when writing the reminder.
Write a reminder yourself as a freelancer – here’s how it works
One thing in advance: The law does not provide for any mandatory components in the reminder letter, which is why you are free in the wording. In order to still achieve the desired effect on your customer, your text should contain the following information:
- Your name and address
- Name and address of your customer
- Invoice number, date and amount
- Due date and current date
- Notice of the pending payment
- Request for payment
- New payment deadline
- Notice of late payment and the associated consequences
In order not to forget anything, you can either create your own pattern or simply download the following template for free.
