Late Payment Letter

How to draft a late payment letter? Check out this example late payment letter now!

Sometimes it happens that people tend to forget their bills and other loan dues, especially when they are tackling busy schedules within the week or because they forget about all the products they ordered during Black Friday and/or Cyber Monday. However, it is a manner of goodwill that when someone fails to comply with the agreement, one must at least have the decency to notify the person, agency or company with whom one has an agreement, especially when it comes to a monetary agreement.

What to do when you are not getting any response?
In case you haven't received any letter or email from your customer or the person you have an agreement with, you should send them firstly a friendly letter. If that is not working you can send them a more formal letter stating clearly what the consequences are of them paying late. They at least need to explain and comply with the agreement they have signed.

Whether you manage the finances at your work or at home, adequate communication is essential. Having truthful and accurate information exchange, enables and ensures you, you are able to make the right decisions. For those working in Finance, it's important to be accurate and always double-check every detail. Are you hesitant to write a demand letter or you don’t know how to start? Please let us inform you how to write a perfect compiled demand letter. A professionally constructed demand letter can be a very powerful tool to receive the last payments or services that were not provided. For this matter, you do not need a lawyer to write this demand letter; you can write the demand letter by yourself and save yourself the cost and effort of hiring an attorney. We help you by providing several kinds of sample demand letters (Synonyms of demand letters: letter of demand, claim letter, payment request letter, collection demand letter, etc).

However, if you have any reservations about drafting a demand letter yourself, you should at least talk to an attorney about your situation to get the right advice. Demand letters are often formal letters written by an attorney on behalf of a client demanding payment or some other service or action from another party, which was not received yet. They can also be less formal and written by one individual to another demanding payment. In both cases, they are the last resort to avoid litigation and expedite a resolution. Often demand letters are written to:

demand for personal injury
payment request
legal claims
settlement demand
a debt collection letter
insurance demand letter
auto accident demand letter
property destroyed without reimbursement
etc

While demand letters may be written for several causes in the Philippines, most are written when somebody else owes you some money. There is not one single layout for crafting a letter of demand. However, the following guidelines are applicable and will help you to draft an effective demand letter. In general, a demand letter includes:

what payment or action is demanded?
why the payment or action is being demanded?
what are the consequences for non-payment? and,
a time limit to comply with the demand letter?

The aim of the letter is often to persuade the other party into paying up, so we advise using a formal tone which will have more impact. However, if the relationship is very personal (friend or relative), it won’t be effective. Before you start compiling the letter, consider the relationship you have with the person who owes you the money. This consideration will help to determine the tone of the demand letter. If you are not going to hire an attorney to do this for you, it’s important to draft the demand letter with a rational tone, and with little emotion as possible, which is based on actual facts.

Note that after this letter is received, the relationship with this person is damaged, and might never be back to the level as it was before. If this demand letter is sent to a business, contractor, freelancer, individual with whom you may have future dealings, please consider these consequences.

Structure of a late payment demand letter

The first part, the introduction of the reason of the demand letter, will be a review of the facts that caused writing this letter. The facts are the important component and the basis of your demand. Therefore we advise for getting the facts straight, which is also a good preparation if this matter ends up in court. The next part will discuss the services or actions you performed, which caused why the person owes you the money. It can be that you did work for him/her, which was never paid for? Often a demand letter is written because someone borrowed money and the debtor refused to pay it back. Also if personal injuries occur, or if the property is destroyed without having any reimbursement. This section should be flawless, clear and summarizing.

In the next part, you will outline the consequences for non-payment. Remember here that you catch more flies with honey than vinegar; so you want to be polite and respectful. Considering the demand letter is by nature a threatening letter, it’s better to keep the facts straight and there’s no need to express extra aggression. The aim is to reach an agreement, which both parties can live with.

Instead of threatening to take them to court, you could suggest a meeting to discuss options or perhaps enter mediation. Remember that an angry letter may bring about an aggressive response and further postponement of a resolution. If the aim is to put the matter to rest as fast as possible, writing an offensive demand letter is not a good approach.

Finally, in the last part of the demand letter, you should always mention a period of time that this matter must be solved: the deadline. Always consider giving a reasonable time frame which is workable to receive the payment of debt, or agree to a payment schedule. Make it very clear that he/she must respond to the letter within a set time period. If you leave it ambiguous, you are setting yourself up for further delays. Make sure you are crafting a letter that is professional looking. Now that the letter is written and sent (preferably registered mail) sit back and wait until the offered time is expired. In any case, do not call or harass or try to intimidate the other party. In order to rapidly manifest your needs, you need to get your demand clear on paper exactly what it is that you want. Our Letter of Demand sample will help you structure your thoughts on every detail in a professional way!

Download this sample late payment letter now for your convenience! In case the payment is not received in time, legal proceedings will be started. And an additional interest and court fees will be claimed on top of the original sum for the outstanding invoice.

DISCLAIMER
Nothing on this site shall be considered legal advice and no attorney-client relationship is established.

Download Late Payment Letter

Invoice Templates

Related templates

Collection Demand Example

Collection Demand Letter

Cease and Desist Demand Letter

Latest templates

Latest topics