Look at the invoice and read the wrong number first. Not the amount. The date.
An invoice three weeks old and an invoice ten weeks old are two different problems, and the mistake almost everyone makes is to use the same message on both. The amount barely matters. The age decides what will work.
Here the delay can cost more than the delay
This is the part that makes Portugal different, and it has nothing to do with the client's manners.
The document may have already declared the income
Depending on what you issued and when, the income may be recorded on the day you issued it rather than the day the money lands. If that is your situation, an invoice that goes unpaid for a quarter is not just cash you are waiting for. It is cash you are waiting for while the declaration has already happened.
Whether that applies to you, and whether the timing of what you issue can be arranged differently, depends on your regime and your circumstances. It is a fifteen minute question for an accountant and the Portal das Finanças, and it is worth asking before the invoice rather than after, because it changes the order in which you do things for every job afterwards.
The practical consequence for chasing: your deadline is not the client's payment habit. It is your own calendar.
What works changes with the age
Three stages, three different messages, and using the wrong one wastes the stage.
Under thirty days
Assume nothing has gone wrong, because usually nothing has. Invoices sit in inboxes, approvals wait for one person to come back from somewhere, and a polite short reminder is often the entire solution.
Send the invoice again as an attachment rather than asking whether they received it. Removing the need to search is worth more than the reminder itself.
Thirty to sixty days
Stop reminding and start locating. The question is no longer whether they will pay but who has it, and those need different sentences.
Ask directly: is this with accounts, is it awaiting an approval, or is there something missing from my side. That last option is not politeness, it is the most common real answer. A missing purchase order number or a wrong entity name will stop a payment silently for weeks and nobody will tell you.
Past sixty days
Change register once, clearly, and only once. A short message that states the amount, the date, the work delivered, and a specific date by which you expect payment, sent to a named person and not to a shared mailbox.
Do not escalate twice. A creator who sends four increasingly annoyed messages has taught the client that the deadline moves, which is the opposite of the intended lesson.
| Who owes you | Why it is stuck | The lever that actually moves it |
|---|---|---|
| A small Portuguese business | The owner does everything and forgot | Make paying take one action, not three |
| A Portuguese agency | It is waiting on their own client | Ask when their client pays, not when they will |
| A foreign client | Your invoice failed a formal check | Ask what their supplier system needs |
| A large local company | A cycle date nobody told you about | Find the cycle and invoice to it next time |
The second row is the one creators handle worst. An agency that has not been paid cannot pay you, and treating that as bad faith burns a relationship that was going to pay eventually. Asking about their client's payment date turns a confrontation into a shared problem, and often produces a real date.
The line that prevents most of this
Payment terms on the quote, before the shoot, in one sentence.
Say when payment is due and what triggers it, and for a first collaboration with someone you do not know, ask for part of it before delivery. Not because they are suspicious, but because a client who cannot approve a deposit also cannot approve the final payment, and it is better to learn that in week one.
The version that works reads plainly: fifty percent on acceptance of the quote, the balance within thirty days of delivery. No creator has lost work over that sentence. Several have lost a fee for not writing it.
When to stop
There is a point where chasing costs more than the invoice, and pretending otherwise is how a small debt eats a month.
Portugal is a small market and the temptation to escalate loudly is real, especially in a niche where you know the same people. Weigh it honestly: a public argument costs you the next two clients who hear about it, and the amount is rarely worth that. Formal recovery exists and is a genuine option for larger sums, but it is a separate decision with its own costs, and it is a conversation for a lawyer rather than a step in a chasing sequence.
The better use of the hour is the quote for the next job, with the terms in it.
Keep reading
- Doing UGC without putting your face in it
- Your Best Sentence Is Probably Third
- August Will Look Like Your Business Is Failing
- When Not to Buy UGC
- The complete UGC guide for Portugal
Frequently asked questions
Should I charge interest on a late payment?
You can state a late payment term on the quote, and stating it works better than applying it. Most creators use it as a deadline that exists rather than a fee they intend to collect.
Do I stop working for a client who pays late but always pays?
Not necessarily, but price the delay in. A client who reliably pays at ninety days is a financing arrangement, and it belongs in your rate rather than in your patience.
What if the client says the video underperformed?
Performance is not a payment condition unless you agreed one, and you almost certainly did not. Separate the two conversations: the invoice is due for work delivered, and the next brief is where results get discussed.
Is it worth invoicing a foreign client differently?
Ask them at the quote stage what their supplier onboarding requires. Foreign clients rarely refuse to pay, they refuse to process, and the fix is administrative and known in advance.
Sources
Checked on 27 August 2026. Thresholds and rates change: where this guide and the official source disagree, the official source is right.