BadCop › Templates › Invoice 60 days overdue: demand letter before collections or small claims

60 days overdue: the letter before action

When to send it

Sixty days past due, after the reminder ladder ran and a phone call went nowhere. This is a formal letter, sent by email and, ideally, by post.

The email

Subject: Letter before action: invoice {invoice_id}, {currency} {total_due} outstandingDear {client_name}, Despite reminders sent on the dates listed below, invoice {invoice_id} for {currency} {amount}, due on {due_date}, remains unpaid. With late fees under our agreed terms the balance is now {currency} {total_due}. Unless payment in full is received within 14 days of the date of this letter, I intend to pursue recovery, which may include a small-claims filing or referral to a collections agency, and to seek the additional costs that entails. If you dispute this invoice, please set out the reasons in writing within the same 14 days. Reminders sent: {steps_sent} Yours sincerely, {sender_name}

Placeholders in braces are filled in per invoice. Replace them by hand, or run badcop preview INV-1 --step escalate to render this template for a real invoice.

Why it works

A letter before action is the last step that costs nothing and the first one a court or collections agency will ask about. It states the debt, the deadline, and what happens next, without drama.

Tips

List the dates of every reminder. A tool that logs sends gives you this for free.
Fourteen days is the customary window in many jurisdictions; check yours.
Only threaten what you will do. If small claims is not worth it for this amount, say 'collections' or say nothing.

Automate it

This is the escalate step in BadCop's default ladder, sent at T+60 days from the due date. Put your invoices in a CSV, run one command a day, and every open invoice gets the right email at the right time, once.

pip install badcop
badcop init && badcop run --dry-run