Sample Collection Letter

What is a collection letter?

Any business is run on credits, and it is a customer's duty to return the payments on the fixed date. If any customer or company is unable to do so, an official letter is sent to them requesting the payments due. This letter is known as collection letter.

In any business, all the professional activities like sending notices, demand letters and applications, should be done in a formal way. In this, sending an official letter comes as the first step. The collection letter should be written in such a way that it should remind the consumer politely, about his impending payments yet not being harsh with the language. If this letter is ignored by the client, then the company is free to take further legal action against the client. This includes a few legal notices or letters like a reminder letter and a final demand letter following it.

Sample Collection Letter

From
Roger R. Keene
Accounts Manager
Keene and Ronald's Finances
1781 Austin Secret Lane
Gunnison, UT 84634
Phone- 435-528-0609
E-mail- RogerRKeene@teleworm.com

Date- January 5, 2010

To

Kelly R. Hazel
High Tower Constructions Pvt. Ltd.
4579 Oakdale Avenue
Plant City, FL 33566

(First reminder letter from Keene and Ronald's Finances)

Subject- Reminder of due payments by your company.

Dear Mr. Hazel,

You are our company's valued customer for past many years. You have always maintained it as a routine to pay all the bills in the desired time span. But this time, your due date was December 31, 2009; which has passed already. Hence, this is a gentle reminder regarding your due payments to the Keene and Ronald's Finances.

With your prompt credit records and credibility, our company has always given you considerable discounts for making the payments. Now, to keep your good credits with our company, and get benefits from our discount schemes, we request you to do your remaining payments, as soon as possible.

If there is something which is being a hurdle in the payment process and we can help you with; please come forward and let us know. You can always call the concerned officers or drop a mail to the company.

I suggest you to contact the Keene and Ronald's Finances immediately to avoid further inconvenience. Waiting for a reply from your company. Copy of the invoice and other documents are attached with this letter, for your convenience. Kindly have a look at them.

Thanking you,

Roger R. Keene

A formal sample collection letter can be written with the help of the sample given above. An ideal collection letter should be strictly formal, and it should able to convey the desired message ideally in three paragraphs. It should not be lengthy. These letters should be including all the details regarding the business deal it is written for. This makes the receiver recollect the things in a short period of time.

The ideal format of a collection letter should be as follows-

• Date
• Client Name
• Invoice date
• Reminder letter number
• Line of the subject
• Letter body

In addition, the purpose of your letter should be clarified in the first paragraph itself. It is always acceptable to come straight to the point in a formal letter. If you are enclosing any documents along with the letter; it should be mentioned in the last paragraph of the letter properly.

When the first collection letter is sent, it should be a gentle letter to remind the customer about his due payments. It should not be a demanding letter directly talking about the legal actions and other legal aspects. There are many possibilities which should be considered while writing it.

The customer might have made the payments, but your company might have not received it due to some bank related troubles etc. Considering this, a demanding letter is sent only after one or two reminders to the customer. This will maintain the company-customer relationship, and solve the purpose also.

You can also look for Financial Difficulties Collection Letter writing tips and how to write Bad Debt Collection Letter for more samples.