It is good form to send a covering letter with your late payment to explain why it is being paid late. A nice apology will go a long way to repair a fraught relationship and may well allow you to purchase other goods on credit in the future instead of being potentially blacklisted.
Forgetting things is a common problem, but in business it can cause bad relations between companies especially where money and late payments are concerned. If you do forget or overlook a payment, pay it AS SOON as you are made aware of the discrepancy.
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Letter to a friend for late payment of a loan
Consumer to a business apologising for late payment
Late payment cover letter – Sample 1
[your business name]
[business name]
[business address]
[date]
Dear [name]
Please find enclosed my payment for [account number / invoice number] which I’m afraid to say is well overdue.
I can only apologise for my oversight which was not intentional, but rather a result of [insert your particular reason here. Make it truthful. The following are some examples]
my taking annual leave and forgetting to pass on a message to my staff to ensure that ourstanding invoices were paid.
a member of staff being taken ill and not updating the paid and unpaid invoices causing confusion.
a memeber of staff mistakenly marking your invoice as paid.
your invoice being mis-filed.
one of our biggest clients not paying their bill causing us cashflow problems which are now resolved.
I would like to assure you that this will not happen again as we pride ourselves on being a prompt and reliable paying company.
Once again I hope you will accept my sincere apologies.
Yours sincerely,
[Your name]
[Your position]