Top Late Payment Excuses & How to Overcome Them

Are you facing late payment problems in your business? Whether customers say invalid reasons to avoid the payments of the invoice? Every business flourishes with the help of on-time invoice payments from customers.

Delay in invoice payments leads to negative cash flow in businesses. It is one of the most severe issues in the business world, and businesses lose their market and reputation and get bankruptcy because of the delay in invoice payments.

What happens when a business faces negative cash flow? The company has to face more issues such as employee payroll issues, wages issues, debt issues, the impossible to expand its business, etc.

In this article, we will discuss late payment excuses and ways to overcome them. Let us see the article in detail.

Overcome from Late Payment Excuses

1. Facing Issues with Payment

When the due date arrives, the customer says these reasons: I have a problem with my payment, my card is not working, bank issues, my payment is not processing, lost signal in bank servers, did not receive my checkbook, etc…

To overcome these issues, confirm with your customer whether the reason is valid or invalid. If the customers are facing issues with the payment, give them some time or extend the due date by three to five days.

If the customers say, irresponsible reasons to escape from the situation, the owner will not threaten them or use bad words. Instead, explain your situation politely, admit your reason, and give some time. So, owners handle sensitive issues with more care with customers.

2. Orders are Not Satisfied

When customers are against your product orders, and the product does not satisfy the customer, please ask the feedback and build a conversation with them on a common platform.

Once you receive the feedback and understand their queries, take the necessary steps to sort out the problem without any delay. This shows the trustworthiness of your business, and you can expect positive results from the customers side.

Once you resolve the issue, customers feel happy and fasten the process of invoice payments. They become committed to your business.

3. We Clear the Invoice Payment

It is a common excuse. The owner can expect when the invoice due date to arrive in the business. The customer says the following reasons: I paid the amount, but banks are taking time to process the payment, Network issues arise during the payment process, I paid through cheque so, it takes time to reach your bank, etc.

To resolve this issue, the owners should check their bank accounts. You will receive the payment, but you forgot to check your bank statement. Every business owners make these mistakes.

Today every business shifted to online invoice software. Sometimes, you can expect invoice errors and wrong entries of customer bank account information. Before asking for the customers payment, check all the details in your records.

4. Stuck in An Emergency

It is one of the best reasons to procrastinate the situation for quite some time. The customer says these reasons: we are in the hospital, I am not feeling well so, I am not available for the next two days, My family member is not well, we are in the emergency ward, etc…

To resolve this issue, confirm the reason, and give enough time for customers to recover from their illnesses. In this situation, you cannot judge the customer whether it is the right reason or not.

After two days, contact them and verify their health. Calm down, and ask them when we can expect the payment and handle the situation with caution. But when they prolong the payment, contact them once again.

5. Transferring our Bank Account

Changing an account from one bank to another is not an easy task. It contains more processing work as removing the account from the old bank, filling the savings account form in the new bank with proof, verification process, applying for ATM Card, etc…

As a business owner, you should give some time for the bank account changes. But the customer says the same reason for weeks and months, do not consider it as a reason to avoid the invoice payment. Ask them for proof of the bank account transfer or else, contact the bank to verify by yourself.

6. Need Some Time to Solve Cash Problem

Today every human being is facing cash flow problems in their life. If your customer informs you that they are facing cash flow issues and are unable to pay on the due date, accept their situation and ask them when they can expect the payment.

Confirm the date and give a reminder call or message. Before that, ask the customer to make their possible payment, and the rest receive it from the customer on the due date. So, that you can stay confident in the invoice payment.

And inform them about the penalties if they make late payments.

7. Some Typo Errors

Sometimes, customers can delay payments because of errors present in the invoice. If the customer informs of the typo error, immediately take action and make changes to the invoice.

Once you make changes, inform them through email and explain the changes. And inform the customers to pay again, if they make the prior payment.

Ask them to send proof of the invoice that you have made a typo error for confirmation.

8. You Didn't Send Me the Reminder

Sometimes, customers forget to make payments on the due date. The customers say that they didn't receive reminders from your side.

To resolve this issue, extend three days grace period from their due date. Ask them to make payment within these three days, otherwise, they will get penalties.

9. My Network Signal is Lost

If the customer says, I am out of town, and my network signal is not good in my place. So, I will make the payment once I return to my hometown. Sometimes, you can expect this reason at the time of invoice payment.

To resolve this issue, confirm their destination and suggest an alternate payment mode. If the method does not give hands, give some time for customers, and confirm the date. Ensure to inform the customers once they cross the date, they should pay the penalty amount.

Closing Thoughts

I hope you get idea of how to overcome the late payment excuses. You get an idea of how to handle them with care. Successful of a brand entirely depends on the potential customers and their trustworthiness towards the brand. So, businesses need to understand their customers.

Invoices play an essential role in every business. Nowadays, every business shift to online invoice software to speed up invoice creation.

Use our InvoiceTemple, it is one of the best online invoice software in the market. It is trusted more than 40,000 business owners in the market. It helps to create invoices within minutes. It has some special features to organize all invoices and financial information in one place. Create the first five invoices for free and upgrade to the premium version of our software.

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