Write a payment reminder, without the blank page.

How do I word a payment reminder properly?

A reminder is right when the recipient knows exactly three things after reading it: which invoice is meant, how much is outstanding and by when he should pay. Everything else is decoration. Leave out accusations, exclamation marks and threatened consequences you do not intend to follow through. A factual tone costs nothing in effect and keeps the customer relationship intact. The Austrian Federal Economic Chamber publishes sample letters for the structure of such letters, and practice has followed them for years.

What belongs in a payment reminder

Austria prescribes no particular form for a payment reminder. In practice, though, a fixed set of details has become established, because it avoids follow-up questions and holds up in a dispute.

The details the generator puts into every letter.

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How many reminders are customary?

No particular number is prescribed. The widespread assumption that it has to be three reminders is a habit from accounting practice, not a rule. Many companies send one written reminder and then hand the claim over, because every further round costs mainly one thing: time. What the escalation looks like in full is set out in how debt collection works.

The three levels and their deadlines

The three levels differ not in content but in tone and in the consequence they announce. The generator keeps all three ready, so you do not have to write from scratch at each level.

Overview of the levels. The deadlines are values customary in practice, not prescribed periods.

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What matters is not the length of the deadline but that it has expired before you move to the next level. A reminder pushed out before the deadline ends devalues the one before it.

What you may charge as reminder fees

Only reasonable costs that you have actually incurred may be charged. Austria has no statutory flat rate for reminder fees. That is exactly why this generator suggests no amount: an invented standard rate in the letter is open to challenge and weakens your own position. Enter what has really been incurred at your end, or leave the field empty. Late payment interest is a separate matter; the amount for your period is worked out by the late payment interest calculator.

When to hand the claim to a debt collection institute

Handing over makes sense as soon as the last deadline you set has passed without a response. Whoever keeps reminding after that loses mainly time, and with time the likelihood of the claim arriving in full goes down. What happens after the handover is set out step by step in how debt collection works, and what the collection costs is on the page about debt collection costs.

If you are in that situation right now, the pages unpaid invoice and customer not paying take you through the next steps. Companies that send reminders in volume will find the process view in receivables management.

Reminding under German law? Deadlines and default rules differ. The comparison receivables management in Austria and Germany covers the position on both sides.