A client missed the payment, a week-by-week plan
The due date has passed and nothing has arrived. Most of these resolve in the first week, and the ones that don't are decided by what you do in the first month. Here is the sequence.
Day one: check before you chase
Before assuming the worst, check three things. A good share of missed payments are one of them.
- Did the invoice arrive? Wrong address, spam filter, or a supplier portal it was never entered into.
- Did it go to the right person? Large organisations pay from accounts payable, not from the person who hired you.
- Is the payment term what you think it is? Net 14 and net 30 are different weeks.
One short message resolves more of these than any formal process.
Days 3 to 7: the reminder
A short, neutral note: the invoice number, the amount, the due date, and a request for payment or a payment date.
Do not apologise for sending it. You are not asking for a favour.
Through an invoicing service this goes out on its own, in the service’s name rather than yours, which keeps your relationship with the client out of it entirely.
What you are entitled to, from the day after the due date
This is the part most freelancers leave on the table.
Penalty interest accrues automatically under the Interest Act, with no need to have mentioned it beforehand. For 1 July to 31 December 2026 it is 10,5 per cent a year on commercial contracts between businesses and 9,5 per cent otherwise. The Bank of Finland resets the rate every six months, so check the period before quoting it.
Standard compensation of 40 euros for collection costs, where the debtor is a business and the late payment entitles you to penalty interest. No itemising and no justification. Actual costs above 40 euros can be claimed on top, but only the excess.
Example. A 3 000 € invoice thirty days late at 10,5 per cent carries roughly 26 € of interest, plus the 40 € standard compensation. The interest is not the point on a single invoice, the signal is.
Week 2 to 4: the second contact, and a decision
If the reminder produced nothing, make the second contact a phone call. Email is easy to defer; a call gets you either a payment date or the real reason.
Then decide, and write it down:
- Client confirms a date. Note it and follow up on that date, not later.
- Client disputes the invoice. It is now a dispute. Ask for specifics in writing, and ask for the undisputed part to be paid in the meantime.
- Silence. Set the date you will escalate, and escalate on it.
Stop working in the meantime. Continuing to deliver for a client who has not paid the last invoice is how a recoverable debt becomes a large one.
Week 4 onwards: collection
A formal payment demand from a collection agency, stating the debt, the interest and the costs.
Against a business debtor there is also the tratta: a public demand that can be protested and published, reaching credit information. It is effective and it ends the relationship, so it is a decision rather than a step.
Beyond that lies enforcement through the courts, which is the route for an undisputed debt that is simply unpaid.
Through an invoicing service, unpaid invoices move into this on their own. What that covers is on debt collection services, and the whole process in detail is in the guide to debt collection.
What this does not fix
An insolvent client. No process recovers money that is not there, and it is worth saying rather than implying otherwise.
The protections against that one come earlier: a deposit or staged payments on large jobs, a credit check on a new client before a big commitment, and not letting a second invoice go out before the first one is paid.
If an invoice is already overdue rather than at risk, debt collection is the next step.
Sources
- Bank of Finland: reference rate and penalty interest rates, 1 July – 31 December 2026 (checked 22.9.2026)
- Act on the collection of debts 513/1999, section 10 e: standard compensation (
finlex.fi, checked 22.9.2026)
Frequently asked
- How long should I wait before chasing?
- Not long. Send a reminder within a few days of the due date. Waiting is the single most common mistake, and recovery rates fall sharply after about ninety days.
- Can I add interest and a fee?
- Yes. Penalty interest accrues from the day after the due date automatically: 10,5 per cent a year on commercial contracts for 1 July to 31 December 2026. On a business debt you can also claim 40 euros of standard compensation for collection costs.
- What if the client says the work was wrong?
- That is a dispute, not a collection matter, and collection will not resolve it. Deal with the objection on its merits, and if the invoice is partly undisputed, ask for that part to be paid while you sort out the rest.
Tell us what you invoice, and we will work out which plan fits.
A free conversation, at our office or online. We go through whether light entrepreneurship makes sense in your situation, which plan works out cheapest for what you invoice, and whether you want the accident and liability cover. The conversation commits you to nothing.