Template
Reminder procedure
The fixed cadence from due date to handover — who does what, and on which day.
- Owned by
- The finance function
- Cadence
- Day 0 to day 40
- Between reminders
- At least 10 days
When to use it
Use it when the reminders depend on who has time. The symptom is easy to recognise: some customers are chased on day 3, others on day 60, and nobody can say why. A procedure moves the decision out of the day's mood and into a calendar — and it is the document an auditor asks for when they want to know how you treat overdue claims consistently.
It has to be right
The wording is rarely the problem. It is the deadline, the fee and what the letter leaves out — and the mistake costs you the expenses, not the debtor.
- Write DAYS, not "on an ongoing basis". A procedure without dates never turns into action
- Put a name on every step. "Accounts" is not a person responsible, it is a department
- Decide in advance when a case is handed over — otherwise it never is
- State explicitly what STOPS the cadence, and who may restart it
- Keep at least 10 days between two fee-bearing reminders, or the fee cannot be charged
- Write the exceptions in up front. The customer who always has to be called first already exists
The fields that go wrong
Most placeholders are trivial. These are not.
- Section 2 — the days
- Days 0, 10, 20, 30 and 40 are the cadence Danish law leaves room for: at least ten days between two fee-bearing reminders (Interest Act § 9 b) and a ten-day deadline in the collection notice (Debt Collection Act § 10). Chase any closer and the fee on the following reminder cannot be charged. You may go slower — just not faster.
- Section 3 — what stops the cadence
- The most important section in the document. An objection must stop the automation immediately; a reminder on top of a dispute is the fastest way to lose a customer who was right. Also state who may restart the flow — otherwise the case sits still forever.
- Section 4 — the person responsible
- Name a role, not a department. If the responsibility is "accounts", it is nobody. And name a deputy: the most common reason day 30 never arrives is annual leave.
- Section 6 — the handover
- The day the case leaves the building. With no day written down, the decision is never taken — and the claim becomes time-barred instead. Decide it once, and let it apply to every claim above [AMOUNT].
Frequently asked questions
How many reminders should the procedure contain?
At most three fee-bearing ones. Danish law allows a fee on three reminders per claim, and in practice they stop working after the third. If the money is not in after three, what is missing is action — not another letter.
May we run a faster cadence than day 0, 10, 20, 30?
You may send whatever you like, but the fee follows the law. If fewer than ten days pass between two reminders, the fee on the later one cannot be charged. The collection notice itself must give at least ten days before the case may be handed over.
Should the procedure be the same for every customer?
In principle yes — that is the whole point. But write the exceptions in up front and by name: which customers get a phone call first, and who is allowed to decide it. An exception that is written down is a policy. One that arises in the moment is an accident.
When should a case be handed over to collection?
When the deadline in the collection notice has passed without payment and without an arrangement — day 40 in this procedure. What matters is not the day itself, but that it is fixed in advance. Cases where the handover is decided each time are systematically handed over too late.
Next step
Formal demand with collection noticeDay 30 in the procedure is the collection notice, and it is the only letter in the flow with statutory requirements for both content and deadline. Send it wrongly and you lose the right to the costs.Legal disclaimer. The template is generic and free to use. It is not legal advice and does not take account of the circumstances of your particular case. Rates, deadlines and statutory references change — check them before you use the document. If the claim is large, disputed or heading for court, call us before you send anything.