A reminder is an official notice to a debtor to pay an outstanding debt. It is often sent by a company or collection agency and can announce legal action if the payment is not made within a certain period.
In this article, you will read about when it is best to send a reminder and what to consider regarding the debtor.
What is a reminder?
If you have customers who have not paid an outstanding invoice on time, it is wise to send a payment reminder. In this reminder, you inform the customer of the invoice that still needs to be paid and the period within which you want to receive the amount.
Unfortunately, it happens that the debtor, for whatever reason, still does not pay the bill after the reminder. The reason can be serious, so we recommend communicating clearly with your debtor. Compared to a payment reminder, a reminder is more formal and urgent. If you want to send reminders without further communication, this can be harsh for the debtor. Although you have the right to payment, it is wise to communicate clearly to avoid misunderstandings. Just like the services you provide professionally, you should pay enough attention to sending payment reminders and reminders to ensure it is done correctly.
When do I send a reminder?
Before you send a reminder with possible collection costs, you have already sent a payment reminder. In the payment reminder, you mentioned the payment term within which you want to receive the payment. If this is not heeded, you can choose to send a reminder. An important part of the process is finding a good balance between giving debtors space to pay and taking other measures when payment is not made.
Procedure for sending a reminder
1. First payment reminder
Have you sent a first payment reminder, but received nothing by the due date of the payment term? It is an unpleasant situation when you are not paid and there is no response to your request. In that case, we advise you to send a reminder after 7 to 14 days. Where you kindly requested the debtor to take action in the payment reminder, you can communicate the request more firmly and clearly at this stage.
2. Possibly a short, second reminder
Depending on your company and how you want to deal with late payers, you determine whether and how many reminders you send after sending the reminder. A short email, WhatsApp message, or SMS should suffice. It is especially advisable to be consistent in this and to continue communicating clearly with the debtor.
3. Send the final reminder
If you are considering starting a collection process, do not do so before sending a final reminder with a warning about the collection process. You are required to do this for individuals. To ensure that it is really received, we advise you to send the final reminder by post and email. Registered mail is not necessary.
In the final reminder, you must specify exactly what the reminder is about and what the amount of collection costs (Debt Collection Costs Act (WIK)) will be. After receiving the final reminder, the debtor must have 14 days to pay without incurring collection costs.
4. Amicable collection process in your own hands
If you still do not see the desired result after the final reminder, you can start an amicable collection process. You can keep this process in-house, giving you more insight into the actions of debtors and outstanding amounts.
Sending reminders with the help of Payt
Sending payment reminders and reminders are things you understandably want to avoid. It is not only unpleasant, but it also takes unnecessary time and energy. To help you with this, we would like to point out our software with which invoices are automatically followed up. Without you having to do anything, the software goes through the process of cash allocation and sending payment reminders. Are you curious about how it works? Feel free to contact us or request the free demo.
