Late Fee on a $20,000 Invoice, 30 Days Overdue
Interest at 1.5% a month
$300.00
1.5% a month, simple interest charged pro rata by day, with no flat fee added.
How that number is worked out
These are the figures this page was built with and every line the calculator produces from them. Change anything above and all of it moves.
- Unpaid invoice amount20000 $
- Late fee rate you wrote in the contract1.5 % per month
- Days past due30
- Flat fee, if your contract has one0 $
Now owed$20,300.00
| Original invoice | $20,000.00 |
|---|---|
| Days late | 30 (1 months) |
| Interest at 1.5% a month | $300.00 |
| Flat fee | $0.00 |
| Total now due | $20,300.00 |
| Annual rate this equals | 18% |
| Per day from here | $10.00 |
Days past due compared
Interest is simple and pro rata by day, so it climbs in a straight line rather than accelerating.
| Days past due | Now owed | Total now due |
|---|---|---|
| 30 days | $20,300.00 | $20,300.00 |
| 60 days | $20,600.00 | $20,600.00 |
| 90 days | $20,900.00 | $20,900.00 |
| 120 days | $21,200.00 | $21,200.00 |
What else matters here
Twenty thousand dollars at 1.5 percent a month is $300 in 30 days, $20,300 due, and $10 a day from there. At 90 days the interest alone is $900.
If the job is still running while this sits unpaid, the question is whether to keep working. Most well written contracts give the contractor a right to suspend for non payment, and several states give one by statute on top of that, but almost all of them require written notice and a cure period first, commonly around seven to ten days.
That order matters enormously. Notice, then the cure period, then suspension, all documented, is a remedy. Walking off without the notice is a breach by you, and it converts a straightforward collection into a counterclaim about delay and abandonment that can cost more than the invoice. The notice should also say what resuming will cost, because remobilizing is not free and the contract should say who pays for it.
What this calculator assumes
- A late fee is only collectable if it was in the contract or on the invoice before the invoice went late. A fee that first appears in a reminder email is not enforceable anywhere.
- 1.5 percent a month is 18 percent a year and is the common trade figure, but states cap this. Several cap it below 18 for consumer work, and a rate over the cap can void the whole fee clause, not just the excess.
- Interest here is simple, charged pro rata by day. Compounding monthly is legal in some states and not others, so the simple figure is the safe one to put on paper.
Questions people ask
What is the late fee on a $20,000 invoice at 30 days?
$300 at 1.5 percent a month, for a total of $20,300 and $10 a day after that.
Can I stop work if I am not being paid?
Usually, but only after written notice and a cure period, which most contracts and several state statutes require. Stopping without notice is a breach by you.
Who pays to restart a suspended job?
Whoever the contract says. Remobilizing costs real money, so the suspension notice should state what resuming will cost and the contract should say the non paying party bears it.
The late fee calculator takes any dimensions you like and hands back the same list.