Forward the invoice. Fred — a real accounts persona, human-reviewed, you CC'd — sends the firm emails you can't bring yourself to send, then rings. You stay the good cop. $39 per invoice, free if they'd already paid.
No contracts. No "collections". Just your accounts department, on demand.
Hey!! Hope you're doing well and not too swamped :)
Totally no rush at all, but whenever you get a sec, I think the invoice from last month might still be open? Could be my mistake!
Anyway no worries either way, thanks so much!!
Hello,
Invoice #0417 for $1,850.00 was due 23 days ago. Per the agreement, a 1.5% late fee applies from day 15. Payment link is below.
Please confirm a payment date by Thursday. I'll follow up by phone if I don't hear back.
Regards,
Fred · Accounts
Straight from freelancers on Reddit, unedited:
"I lost over $3k because I'm too socially awkward to chase invoices."
30% of their invoices paid 15+ days late. Late fee in the contract, never once enforced. r/smallbusiness
"I'd wait 10 days to send a 'gentle nudge'… I didn't want to ruin the vibe."
Same thread. The vibe stayed great. The invoice stayed open.
"$40/month just to send a reminder feels like adding insult to injury. I just want something that pings them until they pay."
Software sends reminders. Clients ignore the tenth one too. Fred is a person with a phone.
Fred is your accounts department — first-party, in your name, on your paper. Never a debt collector. Never buys debt. Never contacts anyone but your client.
Pay $39, then email Fred the invoice (or a link), your client's contact, the due date, and your late-fee clause if you have one. Two minutes. Fred is on it within 24 hours.
Firm, polite, boring, immovable. Every message drafted for your situation, reviewed by a human, sent from Fred with you CC'd so you see everything and can call it off any time.
"Sorry about accounts, they're relentless" is a sentence you get to say. Most invoices clear within the first two touches. If it's still open after the call, Fred hands you a one-page summary and the next options — no extra charge.
That's about 2% of the average overdue freelance invoice — and roughly what you'd spend on coffee while not sending the email yourself.
The Fred guarantee: if your client turns out to have paid before Fred's first email went out, we refund the $39. If Fred's four touches don't get a response at all, you get the summary and the next email to send, drafted — on us.
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No. Fred is your accounts department, acting on your behalf as your own staff would — first-party, in your name. We never buy your debt, never report to credit bureaus, never contact anyone but the client on the invoice, and never threaten anything your contract doesn't already say. If an invoice needs a real collections agency or a lawyer, Fred tells you that instead of pretending.
Fred is polite and boring on purpose. Clients don't get angry at accounts departments; they pay them. You stay the friendly creative who "has no idea why accounts is so on top of things." If you'd rather Fred hold off on the call, say so in the hand-off email.
Fred's messages come from a real mailbox and a real number that goes to voicemail. Anything that needs a decision — a payment plan, a dispute, a "can we do half now" — Fred forwards to you the same day with a suggested reply. You decide; Fred delivers.
You get a one-page summary of every touch (useful if it ever goes further), plus the next email drafted — a final notice, or a payment-plan offer, your choice. No extra charge. About the client's excuses: they usually aren't forgetting. Fred just makes paying the path of least resistance.
The invoice (PDF or link), the client's name, email and phone, the due date, and — if you have one — the late-fee line from your contract. If you don't have a late-fee clause, Fred works without it, and sends you one to paste into your next contract.