Can AI chase unpaid invoices?
Short answer
Partly, and it is the larger part. An AI can track who owes you what, sort debts by age and draft each reminder in the right tone. Sending the email and any legal steps stay with you or with your own mail tool.
What are my rights when a customer pays late?
If you and your customer agreed no payment date, a payment is late 30 days after the customer receives the invoice or you deliver the goods or service, whichever is later (GOV.UK). Between businesses you can then charge statutory interest of 8% plus the Bank of England base rate, unless your contract sets a different rate (GOV.UK).
You can also claim a fixed sum for debt recovery costs, set by late payment law (GOV.UK):
- £40 for a debt up to £999.99
- £70 for a debt from £1,000 to £9,999.99
- £100 for a debt of £10,000 or more
What can AI do in credit control?
Credit control is mostly lists and letters, and an AI handles both well:
- keep an aged list of open invoices by customer
- move each debt through stages, from friendly reminder to final notice
- draft each reminder with the invoice number, amount and due date
- work out interest and the fixed sum if you decide to claim them
- spot payments that arrive and close the invoice
Anthropic's Small Business plugin has an invoice chase skill that drafts reminders from a ledger's receivables (knowledge-work-plugins on GitHub).
The biggest gain is consistency. People often delay chasing because it feels awkward or because nobody tracks the dates. An AI does not forget. Every overdue invoice gets the next step on time, in a polite and clear tone, and you see the list before anything leaves.
How does Octobooks support chasing?
Octobooks has a receivables desk with chase stages, aged lists of what customers owe, and matching of payments to invoices. Your AI can see which invoices are overdue, prepare the next reminder and record a chase note.
Octobooks does not send email or move money. Your AI hands the draft to you, or to the mail connector you use in your AI, and the receivables page shows beside the chat in Claude.
What stays with you?
Chasing touches customer relationships. You decide when a reminder goes out, whether to add interest and when to stop and call. Check your contract terms before claiming interest or costs. Court action or a debt collection agency is a step for you to take, with advice if you need it.
This page is general information, not legal advice.
Prevention helps too. Clear payment terms on every invoice, the due date in bold and a short reminder a few days before the due date often do more than a strong letter later. An AI can draft all three for you.