Client Abroad Won't Pay Invoice: What Are My Options

You have five realistic options, not fifty. Send a formal demand in the debtor's local channel. Engage a contingency-fee collection agency. File a payment order procedure in the debtor's country. File a European Order for Payment if both sides sit inside the EU. Or escalate to full civil litigation or international arbitration. Everything else is a variation of those five.

The scenario: EUR 84,000 stuck in Germany

You run a Dutch B2B SaaS company. Your largest German enterprise customer has stopped paying its EUR 84,000 annual subscription. The Master Services Agreement is governed by Dutch law with a jurisdiction clause pointing to the court of Amsterdam. The CFO stopped replying to emails six weeks ago. Your renewal auto-generated the invoice 75 days ago. You are looking at the ageing report on a Tuesday morning and you need a plan before the next board meeting.

Here is what your five options actually look like for this file.

Option 1: formal demand in German. You send a Mahnung by Einschreiben mit Rückschein (registered post with return receipt) to the debtor's Handelsregister address, in German, setting a 14-day deadline and quoting the MSA clause and the invoice number. Cost: roughly EUR 5. Outcome: in uncontested B2B files, a properly drafted formal demand resolves a meaningful share of cases on its own. If the debtor pays or opens dialogue, you are done.

Option 2: contingency agency. On day 15 you hand the file to an international collection operator working on a success fee. Typical contingency in the 10 to 25% band, no upfront fee, no legal cost unless you escalate. The agency pulls the Handelsregister extract, runs a solvency check, calls the CFO in German, and opens a parallel written track. This is the default route for files in your band: the debt is clear, the counterparty exists, and you do not want to burn cash on lawyers before you know whether the debtor will simply pay.

Option 3: German Mahnverfahren. If the debt is uncontested, the Mahnverfahren is the fast lane. You file electronically at the central Mahngericht, court fee around EUR 38 for this claim size . If the debtor does not object within two weeks, you get a Vollstreckungsbescheid that is directly enforceable. From filing to enforceable title can take under two months in uncontested cases.

Option 4: European Order for Payment. Because you are a Dutch creditor and the debtor is German, you qualify for the European Order for Payment under Regulation (EC) 1896/2006. You file a Form A at the competent German court, the court examines the form, issues the EOP, the debtor has 30 days to oppose. If no opposition, the order is declared enforceable and moves across the EU without exequatur. Functionally similar to the Mahnverfahren for this corridor, but useful when the debtor has assets in multiple Member States.

Option 5: litigation under Dutch law. Your MSA picks Amsterdam. You can sue in Amsterdam, obtain a Dutch judgment, then enforce in Germany under the Brussels I Recast Regulation (1215/2012). Timeline: 9 to 18 months to first-instance judgment in a straightforward contract claim, more if the debtor contests aggressively. Cost: legal fees plus court fees, typically 5 to 15% of the claim. Reserve this for contested files, or when option 2 and option 3 have already failed.

For this scenario the sequenced play is: demand letter on day 1, contingency agency on day 15, Mahnverfahren or EOP at day 60 if silent, litigation only if the debtor actively contests. Ninety percent of files close before step 5.

The five options in detail

Option 1. Formal amicable demand in the local channel

The mistake most creditors make is sending a fourth informal English email. The move that actually changes behaviour is a formal demand delivered through the debtor's local legal channel, in the debtor's language, citing the debtor's law. Each jurisdiction has its weapon of choice.

In roughly 40 to 60% of uncontested B2B files, a correct formal demand closes the case without further escalation. It is the cheapest instrument you have. Use it first, always.

Option 2. International contingency collection agency

A contingency collection agency takes the file on a success fee basis. No recovered amount, no fee. The creditor carries zero upfront cash risk. Fees in this market sit in the 10 to 25% band for B2B commercial files, with lower percentages on larger claims and higher percentages on small or aged files. This is the default route for files between USD 2,000 and USD 100,000 where the amicable phase has stalled. You get multilingual negotiators, local-law formal demands, credit intelligence, and the option to escalate into legal action without switching provider.

Option 3. National payment order procedures

Every serious jurisdiction has a fast lane for uncontested money claims. This is the most underused instrument in international collection.

• Germany: Mahnverfahren. Court fee around EUR 38 for small claims. Enforceable title in weeks if not opposed.
• Italy: decreto ingiuntivo under Articles 633 to 656 of the Italian Code of Civil Procedure. Provisionally enforceable if the creditor has written proof of the debt.
• Spain: proceso monitorio under Articles 812 to 818 of the Ley de Enjuiciamiento Civil. Available for documented debts of any amount.
• Poland: elektroniczne postępowanie upominawcze (EPU), filed electronically via the Lublin e-court.
• Japan: tokusoku tetsuzuki, the summary payment demand procedure under the Code of Civil Procedure.
• UAE: Article 62 of the Federal Civil Procedure Law, amended 2023, permits a summary payment order for debts supported by written evidence.
• Australia: section 459E Corporations Act 2001 statutory demand, a different mechanism but functionally the same pressure instrument for corporate debtors.

Option 4. European Order for Payment

Regulation (EC) 1896/2006 created a single cross-border procedure available across 26 EU Member States (Denmark opted out). You file Form A, the court examines it, issues the order, the debtor has 30 days to oppose. If no opposition, the order becomes enforceable and moves across the EU under the recast Brussels I Regulation. One form, one language choice, no exequatur. For any intra-EU creditor-debtor pair in a straightforward money claim, this is often the cleanest instrument.

Option 5. Civil litigation or international arbitration

Litigation is the longest and most expensive route. Use it when the debt is contested, when the counterparty is sophisticated enough to require a judgment, or when strategic value exceeds the cash value of the claim. International arbitration under the New York Convention 1958 delivers awards enforceable in 172 contracting states, which is why high-value cross-border contracts increasingly carry ICC or LCIA arbitration clauses. Check your MSA. If you have an arbitration clause, you have an asset.

The wrong options creditors keep considering

Four moves waste time and money almost every time:

1. Hiring a US or UK law firm to sue in a foreign jurisdiction you don't operate in. Usually expensive, usually jurisdictionally mismatched, almost never the fastest path to cash.
2. Sending a fourth informal email. Each unanswered chaser signals weakness. After two, switch channel.
3. Writing the invoice off on day 91 without triage. You are burning enforceable value. Triage first, write off last.
4. Sending someone to seize goods in the debtor's country. In most jurisdictions this is criminal without a court order. Our guidance on debtor investigation and asset mapping explains the lawful alternative.

Decision framework by debt size

The framework assumes the debt is clear. Contested debts move one bucket up because you are buying a judgment, not just pressure. Files inside the EU often move one bucket down because the EOP and the Brussels I Recast enforcement chain are so fast. See our breakdown of the European Order for Payment across 27 countries and the mechanics of the German Mahnverfahren for the two instruments you will reach for most often.

How InterStation handles an unpaid international invoice

1. File triage. We read the contract, the invoice trail, the governing law clause, and the jurisdiction clause before we talk to the debtor.
2. Debtor intelligence. Handelsregister, Registro Mercantil, Companies House, or equivalent. We confirm the legal entity, directors, and solvency signals.
3. Formal demand in the local channel. Burofax, PEC, LRAR, Einschreiben, or the local equivalent, drafted in the debtor's language.
4. Collection negotiation. Multilingual negotiators run a parallel written and phone track, with a documented settlement range.
5. Legal escalation pathway. If amicable fails, we hand off into a payment order procedure, an EOP filing, or full litigation through our jurisdictional network, without changing provider.

See the full international collection intelligence workflow and our guide on what a foreign debtor silence actually means.

FAQ

When a foreign client has gone silent on an invoice, the worst move is doing nothing and the second worst is hiring the wrong firm in the wrong jurisdiction. Our desk runs file triage in 48 hours and returns a costed plan before a cent is spent. Contact Us, Free Review.