Late Fee on a $6,000 Invoice, 30 Days Overdue
Interest at 1.5% a month
$90.00
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 amount6000 $
- Late fee rate you wrote in the contract1.5 % per month
- Days past due30
- Flat fee, if your contract has one0 $
Now owed$6,090.00
| Original invoice | $6,000.00 |
|---|---|
| Days late | 30 (1 months) |
| Interest at 1.5% a month | $90.00 |
| Flat fee | $0.00 |
| Total now due | $6,090.00 |
| Annual rate this equals | 18% |
| Per day from here | $3.00 |
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 | $6,090.00 | $6,090.00 |
| 60 days | $6,180.00 | $6,180.00 |
| 90 days | $6,270.00 | $6,270.00 |
| 120 days | $6,360.00 | $6,360.00 |
What else matters here
Six thousand dollars at 1.5 percent a month is $90 in 30 days, $6,090 due, $3 a day thereafter. Left for 120 days it reaches $360.
The cheapest late fee ever invented is a deposit. A job with thirty percent collected at signing and a progress payment in the middle never produces a $6,000 hole at the end, because the amount still outstanding when the work finishes is a fraction of the contract rather than all of it. Collections is mostly a symptom of payment terms that were set once and never revisited.
That is worth acting on rather than noting, because the terms are the part you control completely. What the deposit is, when each draw falls, what triggers it, how long after the invoice payment is due and what happens when it is not. Fixing those costs one conversation at signing, while fixing a bad invoice costs months of chasing and sometimes a lawyer.
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 $6,000 invoice at 30 days?
$90 at 1.5 percent a month, making $6,090 due and $3 a day after that.
How do I avoid large overdue invoices?
Collect a deposit and bill in progress draws. If most of the contract is already paid by the time the work ends, there is no large balance left to chase.
Is a late fee enough to keep customers current?
Rarely on its own. Payment terms set at signing do far more than interest charged afterwards, because they decide how much can ever be outstanding.
The late fee calculator takes any dimensions you like and hands back the same list.