Features · Late fees
Late fees, agreed up front.
Set your terms once. They're printed on every invoice you send, your client is reminded before a fee is due, and the fee follows only when it's fair, added for you or with one click.
Your terms, in plain words
Start from a ready-made set or build your own. Settings shows what your terms mean for a real invoice, fee by fee, before you save.
- 1.5% a month: 1.5% of what's unpaid every 30 days, from 5 days overdue, up to 10% of the invoice.
- A flat fee: one amount, once, 5 days overdue.
- Both: a flat fee first, then a monthly percentage a month later.
- Your own: up to two parts, each a percentage of what's unpaid, a yearly interest rate or a flat amount, charged once or every 7 to 90 days, with a cap or without one.
- UK statutory terms for accounts in pounds: the law's fixed sum of £40, £70 or £100, then 8% a year over the Bank of England base rate, worked out for each invoice.
Fair to your client
- Agreed before the work is paid for. The terms are printed on every invoice, and on estimates too: approving an estimate accepts them.
- Fixed when you send. Changing your terms later never changes an invoice already sent.
- Warned in time. Reminders and the payment page say "Pay by Nov 11 to avoid a $15.00 late fee" before the day comes.
- Never on a fee. A percentage is worked out on what's unpaid of the work, never on earlier fees.
- Knows when to stop. No fee on a paid, archived or payment-plan invoice, or one paid automatically; none while you've paused reminders, and none more than a year overdue.
Ask first, or add it for you
- Ask first: when a fee is due, the invoice, the Outstanding list and a short morning email say so. Add one, or every fee that's ready, in one click.
- Add it automatically: BillGrid adds each fee on its day, and your client sees it in their next reminder.
- Waive any time. Take a fee back with a reason, and send your client a short note if you like.
- Per client. Give a client your terms, terms of their own, or none at all.
- Invoices already out. Bring open invoices under your terms: each client gets the terms first, with their next reminder or a short email, and a fee can follow only after.
What it doesn't do
A flat fee applies to invoices in your account's currency; for clients billed in other currencies, a percentage works everywhere. Late fees are general business practice, not legal advice: rules differ by place, and Settings notes when a rate is above what many US states allow. For the background, read our guide to late fees and late payments, or try any terms on a sample invoice with the late fee calculator.
Questions
Do late fees cost extra?
No. They're on every plan, including the $8 Professional plan.
Will a client be charged a fee they never saw?
No. A fee can follow only from terms the client already received, on the invoice, with an estimate they approved, or with a reminder.
Where do fees show up in my numbers?
On the invoice as their own lines, and in Profit and Loss and client revenue, kept apart from the work you billed.
Go further
Step by step in the Help Center: Late fees. Weighing other tools? See how BillGrid compares.