How to Write a Billing Memo for a Delinquent Account

Although it is unpleasant, sometimes business owners or workers must send a reminder for clients and customers to pay their bills. When an account is overdue, a company generally sends a memo in an attempt to collect payment. Even if you are frustrated by lack of payment or in real need of your money, a memo for a delinquent account should still remain professional and polite. Depending on how late your payments are, it may be necessary to threaten reporting the person or business to a credit bureau or other actions. Follow these tips to collect your outstanding funds.

Instructions

1. Start the memo by writing "From:" at the top left corner, followed by your name or business name. Directly underneath put "To:" followed by their name or company. Beneath that write "RE:" in bold lettering, and then put what your memo is regarding. This will usually be "Delinquent Account," and in some cases the product or service for which they owe.

2. Write the details of their account information in the body of the memo. Skip four lines after the header, and begin by writing "Dear" followed by their name. An example delinquent account memo sounds like this:

   Dear Steven:

   I have written you several times requesting payment or to set up payment options with you to bring your account current with us. By ignoring these requests, you are damaging the excellent credit that you had previously maintained with us. You may also be incurring additional late fees to your balance. Please call us today at (xxx) xxx-xxxx to arrange payment before actions are taken against your credit.

   Thank you for your cooperation.

   Carla Jones

3. Follow through with any threats you make in the body of your memo. If you state that the person has 10 days in which to make a payment before being reported to a credit institution, make sure that you actually report him when the time limit is up. Otherwise, you will lose credibility.