A payment reminder text message is a short SMS or WhatsApp message that nudges a customer to pay an invoice before or after its due date. Texts get read faster than emails, which makes them one of the most effective ways to chase payment politely. The 15 copy-paste templates below cover every stage, from a friendly heads-up to a final notice.
Skip to what you need: before the due date, overdue reminders, gentle and polite reminders, WhatsApp templates, final notice and escalation, or specific situations. The sending schedule shows when to use each one.
15 payment reminder text message templates
Every template below fits the practical rules of payment reminder texts: short enough to read at a glance, specific about the invoice and amount, personalised with the customer's name, and finished with a direct payment link. Replace the bracketed fields and they are ready to send.
Before the due date
A reminder sent before the invoice is due is the cheapest way to prevent a late payment. It reads as helpful rather than chasing, and it catches genuine oversights early.
Template 1: Friendly reminder before the due date
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Hi [Customer Name], a quick heads-up that invoice [Invoice Number] for [Amount Due] is due on [Due Date]. To pay now, visit [Payment Link]. Thanks, [Your Business Name] |
Template 2: Due-date reminder
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Hi [Customer Name], invoice [Invoice Number] for [Amount Due] is due today. Please pay at [Payment Link] or call us on [Phone Number]. [Your Business Name] |
Overdue payment reminder text message templates
Once the due date passes, each message gets slightly firmer while staying professional. Space them out; the sending schedule below shows the timing that works.
Template 3: First overdue reminder (gentle)
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Dear [Customer Name], I am writing to gently remind you about outstanding invoice [Invoice Number] for [Amount Due], now [X] days overdue. To pay, please visit [Website URL] or call [Phone Number]. Sincerely, [Your Name] |
Template 4: Second overdue reminder (friendly but direct)
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Hi [Customer Name], a friendly reminder about outstanding invoice [Invoice Number] for [Amount Due]. Timely payment helps us keep our services running smoothly. Pay via [Website URL] or call [Phone Number]. Thank you, [Your Name] |
Template 5: Third overdue reminder (direct)
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Hi [Customer Name], invoice [Invoice Number] for [Amount Due] remains outstanding. The due date was [Due Date]. Please pay at [Website URL] or contact us at [Phone Number]. Thank you, [Your Name] |
Template 6: Short and simple overdue reminder
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Hi [Customer Name], invoice [Invoice Number] for [Amount Due] is [Overdue Days] days overdue. Please pay at [Payment Link] or call [Phone Number]. Thanks, [Your Business Name] |
Gentle and polite payment reminder messages
When the relationship matters more than the invoice, a gentle reminder for payment keeps goodwill intact while still asking clearly. These two suit long-standing customers and first nudges.
Template 7: Gentle reminder for a long-standing customer
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Hi [Customer Name], hope you're well. Just a gentle reminder that invoice [Invoice Number] for [Amount Due] is now overdue. If there's anything we can help with, please reply or call [Phone Number]. [Your Business Name] |
Template 8: Polite reminder with a payment link
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Dear [Customer Name], a polite reminder that invoice [Invoice Number] for [Amount Due] is outstanding. You can settle this in seconds at [Payment Link]. Thank you for your continued custom. [Your Business Name] |
WhatsApp payment reminder message templates
WhatsApp works well for payment reminders where your customers already use it for business, especially internationally. The rules differ from SMS: messages go through the WhatsApp Business Platform, the customer must have opted in, and reminder templates must be pre-approved by WhatsApp before you can send them. Keep reminder templates strictly transactional: under Meta's template categorisation rules, a payment reminder is a lower-cost "utility" template, but since 2025 any promotional content in it gets the template reclassified and billed as marketing.
WhatsApp template 1: Polite payment reminder
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Hi [Customer Name], I hope this message finds you well. I'm reaching out regarding invoice [Invoice Number] for [Amount Due], which was due on [Due Date]. If you have already arranged payment, please disregard this message. Otherwise, you can pay securely here: [Payment Link] Do let us know if you have any questions. Many thanks, [Your Name], [Your Business Name] |
WhatsApp template 2: Direct payment reminder
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Hi [Customer Name], Quick reminder that invoice [Invoice Number] for [Amount Due] is now [Overdue Days] days overdue. To pay now: [Payment Link] To speak to us: [Phone Number] Thanks, [Your Business Name] |
Final notice and escalation text templates
A final notice by text should say exactly what happens next and when. Pair it with the same message by email or letter, so there is a formal record if you need to escalate to a demand letter.
Template 11: Final reminder before escalation
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Dear [Customer Name], this is a final reminder regarding invoice [Invoice Number] for [Amount Due], now [Overdue Days] days overdue. Please pay by [Final Date] at [Payment Link] to avoid further action. [Your Business Name] |
Template 12: Notice of late payment charges
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Hi [Customer Name], invoice [Invoice Number] for [Amount Due] remains unpaid. As per our payment terms, a late payment charge of [Fee/Rate] will apply from [Date]. To avoid additional costs, please pay at [Payment Link]. [Your Business Name] |
Payment reminder texts for specific situations
Template 13: Instalment or payment plan reminder
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Hi [Customer Name], a reminder that your instalment of [Amount Due] for account [Account/Invoice Reference] is due on [Due Date]. Please pay at [Payment Link] or call [Phone Number]. Thank you, [Your Business Name] |
Template 14: Outstanding balance reminder
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Hi [Customer Name], your outstanding balance with us is currently [Amount Due]. Please pay at [Payment Link] or contact us at [Phone Number] to discuss. Thanks, [Your Business Name] |
Template 15: Debt collection reminder (significantly overdue)
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Dear [Customer Name], despite previous reminders, invoice [Invoice Number] for [Amount Due] remains unpaid and is now [Overdue Days] days overdue. Please contact us urgently at [Phone Number] or pay at [Payment Link]. [Your Business Name] |
Do payment reminder texts work?
Yes, measurably. Around 95% of text messages are read and replied to within three minutes of arriving, according to 2025 SMS statistics, while transactional emails often sit unopened for hours or days. For payment reminders that speed matters: the sooner the customer sees the nudge, the sooner the invoice gets paid, and a text is hard to miss even when the customer is away from their desk. The often-quoted claim that texts have a 98% open rate is repeated everywhere but poorly sourced, so treat the honest version as: nearly every text gets seen, and quickly.
Text messages work because they are read, and read quickly. The catch is capacity: sending personalised texts by hand for every overdue invoice does not scale. Finance teams using Chaser's SMS payment reminders send them automatically at the right point in the chasing schedule, personalised from invoice data, alongside email, automated calls, and letters. Businesses using Chaser reduce their days sales outstanding by an average of 10 days.
When should you send a payment reminder text?
Send the first text before the invoice is due, then escalate steadily. Texts land best mid-morning, Tuesday to Thursday, during the customer's business hours; never outside 8am to 9pm local time. This schedule maps each of the templates above to the right moment:
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Timing |
Tone |
Template |
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3 days before due date |
Warm, no pressure |
Template 1 |
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Due date |
Neutral, matter-of-fact |
Template 2 |
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1 day overdue |
Polite and gentle |
Template 3 |
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7 days overdue |
Friendly but direct |
Template 4 or 7 |
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14 days overdue |
Direct, clear consequences |
Template 5 or 11 |
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21+ days overdue |
Firm, escalation flagged |
Template 12 or 15 |
Consistency matters more than any single message. Customers learn quickly whether your deadlines mean anything, and a predictable, polite sequence gets invoices paid faster than sporadic chasing.
How to write an effective payment reminder text: 5 best practices
1. Keep it short and specific
A standard SMS is 160 characters per segment; longer messages split and cost more. Lead with the essentials: who you are, the invoice number, the amount, and the due date. Every template above puts those four facts in the first sentence or two.
2. Personalise every message
Use the customer's name, the exact invoice reference, and the exact amount. A message that reads like a bulk blast is easy to ignore; one that is clearly about a specific invoice is not. Automation platforms like Chaser merge these details in automatically, so personalisation does not cost you time.
3. Make paying effortless
Include a direct payment link in every message, taking the customer straight to a page where they can settle the invoice, for example through Chaser's Payment Portal. Every extra step between reading the text and paying loses a percentage of payers.
4. Stay polite and professional
Firm is fine; hostile is not. The tone should match the stage: warm before the due date, matter-of-fact when overdue, formal at final notice. Write every message as if it might later be read by a judge, because at the escalation stage it might.
5. Say what happens next
From the second overdue reminder onwards, each message should state the next step and its date: a phone call, late payment charges, or escalation to collections. Clear consequences, calmly stated, are what move persistent late payers to act.
Is it legal to send payment reminders by text?
Yes, in every market Chaser serves, provided you follow the messaging rules. Payment reminders about a genuine invoice are generally treated more leniently than marketing texts, but the practical requirements below still apply.
United States: payment reminders about an existing invoice count as informational messages under the TCPA, which need the customer's prior express consent. Giving you their mobile number in the course of doing business generally covers that, but marketing texts need a higher standard of written consent, so keep promotions out of reminder texts entirely. Honour opt-outs quickly: since FCC rules effective April 2025, businesses must process a stop request within at most 10 business days, and a customer can revoke consent by any reasonable method. Send only between 8am and 9pm in the recipient's local time, and if you send from a standard long-code number, complete A2P 10DLC registration through your SMS provider so carriers do not filter your messages.
United Kingdom: a plain reminder about an existing invoice is a service message, not direct marketing, so PECR's marketing-consent rules do not normally apply, and texts to corporate numbers at limited companies sit outside those rules anyway, per ICO guidance. The line to hold: the moment a reminder also promotes a product, discount, or upsell, it becomes marketing and the consent rules bite. Keep reminders purely about the invoice, and UK GDPR basics still apply to the personal data involved.
Everywhere: identify your business in every message, include a simple way to opt out or reply, keep records of consent and of every message sent, and stay inside business hours. If a third-party agency chases debts for you, stricter debt-collection communication rules apply to them. In Australia (Spam Act 2003) and Canada (CASL), the rules target commercial electronic messages; a purely transactional payment reminder generally is not one, but the same principle holds everywhere: add promotional content and the consent regimes apply.
Automate your payment reminder texts
The templates above solve today's overdue invoices. The bigger win is never writing them by hand again. Finance teams spend around 14 hours a week chasing payments manually, according to Intuit. Credit control software like Chaser sends personalised SMS reminders automatically at each stage of your schedule, escalates to email, calls, and letters when texts go unanswered, and hands the worst cases to an integrated debt collections service, all connected to your accounting system in about five minutes.
Want payment reminder texts sent for you, at the right time, every time? Speak to an expert to see Chaser's SMS chasing in action.
This article is general guidance for businesses, not legal advice. Messaging rules vary by country and change over time; check the current rules where your customers are based.
