How to Chase a Late-Paying Customer Without Losing Them

An electrician finishes a rewire on a tenanted flat. Two days' work, a full van of cable, sockets and consumer unit gear, and an invoice for £2,200 with the rest due within 14 days. The first week passes, no payment. He sends a text. No reply. Another week. He sends another. "Sorry mate, will sort this week." Two more weeks. Nothing.

He's done £2,200 of work, paid for the materials himself, and the customer has gone quiet. He knows from a mate that "you can take them to court" but has no idea how. He knows there's a thing called statutory interest but doesn't know if it applies to him. He doesn't want to be aggressive, partly because the work was a referral and he hopes for more.

Most one-man bands have lived a version of this. Knowing what to do, in what order, is the difference between getting paid and writing off the cost. The good news is the playbook is short, mostly polite, and the legal backstop is genuinely on your side.

Why Chasing Feels Awkward (and Why It Shouldn't)

Most tradespeople wait too long because chasing feels rude. It isn't. The customer has had your time, your materials, your van diesel, and probably half a day of someone helping out. Asking for the money you both agreed isn't aggression. It's bookkeeping.

Two things make it harder than it needs to be. The first is the fear of a bad review, which almost never happens if you stay professional. The second is the lack of a clear sequence. People dread chasing because they don't know when "friendly nudge" becomes "firm reminder" becomes "I mean it now". A simple ladder fixes both.

Chasing late payments costs UK business owners around 86 hours a year on average, and roughly six in ten small businesses are owed money on unpaid invoices at any given time. The figures sound abstract until they're your figures. Most of the time it isn't bad faith — it's the same admin slip that catches you out at home.

First Thing First — Check the Invoice

Before you assume the customer's gone bad on you, check the basics. Half of "late payments" turn out to be admin issues, and pursuing the customer for an invoice that never arrived is a fast way to fall out for no reason.

• Did the invoice go to the right email or address? Spelling mistake, partner's old address, work email when it should have been personal.
• Are the bank details on the invoice correct? Sort code, account number, reference. You'd be amazed how often a number got transposed during a fast Friday-evening invoice run.
• Was the due date specific? "Net 14" or "due 30 days" leaves room for argument. "Due by 5pm Friday 16 May" doesn't.
• Is there a reply you've missed? Customers reply on WhatsApp, then on Messenger, then on email — it's easy to miss one in the wrong app.
• Is your customer one person or a household where one of them assumed the other had paid? That's surprisingly common.

Two minutes checking saves an awkward conversation and gives you a clean foundation for the chase if it turns out the invoice really has been sat there.

The Three-Step Chase: Nudge, Firm, Final

Don't make this up as you go. Use the same sequence every time so the customer can see the escalation isn't personal — it's how you handle every late invoice.

Step 1: The Friendly Nudge (1–3 days overdue)

Quick text or short email the day after the due date passes. Assumes good faith. Includes the bank details and invoice number so they don't have to dig.

Two sentences. No drama. Most customers reply within a day saying "sorry, totally forgot, sorting it now" — and they do.

Step 2: The Firm Reminder (7–10 days overdue)

Email this time, not text. Subject line that names the invoice and the amount so it can't get lost. Polite but specific, and crucially, an offer of a way out. If something's wrong with the work, this is the message that gives them permission to say so.

Notice what this does. It names a specific date, not "as soon as possible". It opens the door to a complaint without inviting one. It signals that you've kept records of when you previously contacted them. That last bit matters if this ends up in court.

Step 3: The Final Notice (Letter Before Action, 14+ days overdue)

This one goes by signed-for post and email. The physical letter changes the dynamic. Ignoring three texts is easy. Ignoring an envelope on the kitchen table that says "Final notice — formal demand for payment" is harder.

One important detail before the template. In Scotland, where we're based, there's no formal pre-action protocol for debt — practice is to give 14 days plus and keep the trail clean. In England and Wales there is a formal protocol: the Pre-Action Protocol for Debt Claims has been in force since 1 October 2017 and requires at least 30 days for an individual (homeowner or sole trader) to respond before you can file. Other businesses don't get the protocol's protection, so 14 days is fine for B2B. The safest move for any one-man band who works across both consumers and businesses is to use the 30-day window in every letter — it's bulletproof in both jurisdictions and across both customer types.

Two practical notes. First, send by Royal Mail Signed For so you can prove delivery — the court will look for this if it goes that far. Second, the letter explicitly invites the customer to dispute or propose a plan, which is a Pre-Action Protocol requirement in England and good practice everywhere. The vast majority of cases settle at this stage. Customers who were ignoring messages tend to take a printed, signed-for letter seriously.

Statutory Interest, Fees and When You Can Charge Them

Two important distinctions tradespeople almost always get wrong:

Business-to-business invoices

If you billed another business, statutory interest applies automatically under the Late Payment of Commercial Debts (Interest) Act 1998. The current rate is the Bank of England base rate plus 8 percentage points — somewhere around 11.75% simple annual interest at the time of writing. On top of that, you can add fixed compensation, which scales with the size of the debt:

Domestic customers

The Act doesn't apply automatically. To charge interest on a homeowner's late invoice, you need a written term in your quote or contract that the customer agreed to before the job started. Without one, you can still recover the debt itself but you can't add commercial-rate interest.

The fix is simple: bake an interest clause into your standard quote terms. Once it's signed off as part of the quote, it sticks for every job that customer accepts. How to write a quote that wins the job walks through what good payment terms look like in plain English.

If It Has to Go to Court

Last resort. The route depends on which side of the border you (or your customer) are on.

Scotland — Simple Procedure

For debts up to £5,000, Scotland uses Simple Procedure through the Sheriff Court. File via mygov.scot/court-claim-money or in person at your local Sheriff Court. Court fees are modest and scale with the amount; if you win, the fees are added to what the customer owes you. If you win and they still don't pay, the Sheriff issues a Decree — the Scottish equivalent of a judgment — which sticks on their record and can be enforced through Sheriff Officers.

Above £5,000, claims go to Summary Cause or Ordinary Cause depending on amount and complexity. Simple Procedure is designed for self-representation — you don't need a solicitor for a clear-cut unpaid invoice.

England & Wales — Money Claim Online

South of the border, the equivalent is the small claims track up to £10,000. File at gov.uk/make-court-claim-for-money. Court fees scale with the amount: roughly £35 on a £200 claim, £185 on £2,000, around £455 on £10,000. If you win, those fees are added back to what they owe you, and the court issues a County Court Judgment (CCJ) if they still don't pay. The court also offers free mediation before a judge sees it, which often resolves things in a single phone call.

Either side of the border, the practical pattern is the same. Once a claim is issued, the customer either pays the debt plus your fees and interest, or files a defence. Defences are rare for clear-cut unpaid invoices with a paper trail. Most claims never reach a hearing — the customer pays as soon as the official paperwork lands.

What Not to Do

The ways tradespeople accidentally turn a winnable case into a losing one:

• Don't remove or disable installed work. Once a boiler, kitchen unit, fence, smart lock or alarm is installed, it isn't yours to take or switch off, even if unpaid. Removing it is criminal damage; remotely disabling it can be unauthorised access to a computer system. The civil debt becomes a criminal allegation, and you've handed the customer a defence.
• Don't write public reviews about them. Defamation is real, especially if your post implies bad faith you can't prove. Same goes for naming them in a Facebook post or a community group.
• Don't turn up at their work, or sit on the driveway, or shout through the letterbox. That's harassment. Sheriffs and magistrates take a dim view of it and it kills any sympathy you'd have had on the merits.
• Don't keep going on WhatsApp once they've gone silent. Move to email and then to letter. Records that look professional in court read very differently from a screenshot of 47 unanswered blue ticks.

Simple test: would a sheriff or a magistrate look at this and think "fair enough" or "you've crossed a line"? If you'd be embarrassed to read it out, don't send it.

Prevent the Next One

Most chasing problems start before the invoice goes out. The fixes are boring but they work.

• Take a deposit on jobs over £500. Covers materials and signals customer commitment. The quote post above goes into the wording.
• Stage payments on bigger jobs — deposit, mid-job, completion — so you're never carrying the full balance into the chase.
• Put a specific payment due date on the invoice. "Due by 5pm on Friday 16 May" beats "30 days net" by a country mile.
• Make the bank details, sort code and reference number obvious. Tiny font on a printed PDF is friction; bold and centred on a digital invoice is not.
• Send the invoice the same day as completion, not "when you get round to it". Memory of value received fades fast.
• Use digital invoicing with a timestamped audit trail. From April 2026 most sole traders with self-employment income over £50,000 will need MTD-compatible software anyway. Making Tax Digital for Tradespeople covers what you actually need to do.

The audit trail is the underrated piece. When you reach the firm or final stage, "I sent reminders" needs to be backed up by something that says "reminder sent at 09:14 on 23 April; opened 11:02; no reply". A digital portal — including the one we build into our customer sites — does that automatically. Without it, "I think I texted them" is what you've got, and that won't carry weight.

Common Questions

Can I charge interest on a domestic customer's late invoice?

Statutory interest under the Late Payment of Commercial Debts Act applies automatically to business-to-business invoices, not to homeowners. For domestic work you can still charge interest if your written terms include an interest clause that the customer agreed to before the job started. Without that clause, you can chase the debt itself but not commercial-rate interest.

How long should I wait before chasing a late invoice?

Send a friendly reminder the day after the due date. Don't wait a week. Most overdue invoices turn out to be admin failures — wrong email, missed reply, partner forgot — and a quick nudge clears them up before either of you starts assuming bad faith. Save the firmer language for the second message a week later.

Should I send a debt collector or take it to court myself?

For most trades debts you're better off filing a claim yourself online. In Scotland that's Simple Procedure through the Sheriff Court, for debts up to £5,000, filed via mygov.scot. In England and Wales it's Money Claim Online, for debts up to £10,000. Most claims settle as soon as the customer receives the official paperwork — you rarely need a debt collector or a solicitor.

What if the customer says they're unhappy with the work?

Treat the complaint and the payment as separate things. Ask in writing for the specific defects, photos if possible, and a date you can come and look. Under the Consumer Rights Act 2015 a service must be carried out with reasonable care and skill, and if there's a genuine issue the customer is entitled to a fix or a price reduction proportional to the problem — not to withhold the entire invoice over one snag.

Is taking it to court worth it for a £500 debt?

Probably yes. Court fees on a claim of that size are modest and added to the debt if you win. The bigger lever is what comes after a win: a Sheriff's Decree in Scotland or a County Court Judgment in England goes on the customer's record and is much louder than any number of texts. Most claims at this size never reach a hearing — the customer pays once the official paperwork lands.