The job is done, the invoice has been sent and the payment term has passed. Your customer does not answer an e-mail or pick up the phone. For a freelancer that is more than an annoyance: the money has been earned, but it is not in the account. Hiring a debt collection agency as a freelancer is then a possible step, but not the first one.
Below you can read which steps you take yourself first, when a debt collection agency comes in and how it differs from a bailiff. After that come the collection costs and statutory interest, the rules for collection agencies and the route through the court.
In short:
- Before you hire a debt collection agency, you send a payment reminder and a formal demand yourself. If your customer is a consumer, a free demand letter giving 14 days to pay is mandatory before you may charge collection costs.
- The statutory collection costs are 15% of the first €2,500, with a minimum of €40 and a maximum of €6,775. With a business customer you can agree something different in a contract.
- A debt collection agency may only send letters asking for payment. Seizing assets or issuing a summons goes through a court bailiff.
- Since 1 October 2026 a private individual or sole trader does not have to pay collection costs to a debt collector that is not in the Justis register.
Invoice not paid as a freelancer: what first?
If an invoice has not been paid, you first take a few steps yourself. A phone call sometimes solves a lot: perhaps the invoice got lost or there is a question about the delivery. Then comes the payment reminder, according to Ondernemersplein the first formal step when an invoice has not been paid within the agreed period. In it, also tell your customer that you charge statutory interest once the due date passes. According to Ondernemersplein you put that on the invoice or in the reminder.
Payment reminder and formal demand
With a business customer a payment reminder is not mandatory, but it is sensible, says the KVK. If the customer still does not pay after that, the formal demand (aanmaning) follows. It is a formal letter, also called a sommatiebrief. In it you refer to the delivery, the invoice, any phone calls and the reminder. You give a payment term of 14 days and state that collection costs and legal steps will follow if the customer does not pay. Ondernemersplein advises sending the demand by post and by e-mail and keeping copies.
Is your customer a consumer? The fourteen-day letter
Stricter rules apply to a private customer. Under the Dutch Civil Code you may only charge collection costs once the customer, after the term has passed, has been asked in vain to pay within fourteen days. That demand also states the consequences of not paying and the costs you will then charge. That letter is called the veertiendagenbrief or Wik letter. According to the KVK the fourteen days only start once the customer has received the letter. The demand is free of charge: you may not add reminder costs, demand costs or administration costs.
When to hire a debt collection agency?
The step-by-step plan of Ondernemersplein gives the order: call first, then the reminder, then the formal demand. After that you can still offer the customer a payment arrangement. Only if that brings nothing does a debt collection agency, bailiff or collection lawyer come into the picture. Applying for bankruptcy is the very last resort.
If you choose a debt collection agency, you hand over the claim with all relevant information and proof. Think of the assignment or quote, the invoice, the reminder, the demand and the correspondence with the customer. The more complete the file, the fewer questions the agency has to ask before it writes to the customer.
From what amount?
From what amount hiring a debt collection agency makes sense depends mainly on the agreements with the agency. Even with a small invoice the creditor may ask for at least €40 in collection costs. The Dutch government gives the example: with an invoice of €250 the creditor may ask for €40, even though that is more than 15%. Read in the contract with the agency what you pay yourself if the collection fails, and weigh that against the amount that is outstanding.
Debt collection agency, bailiff or lawyer
A debt collection agency, a court bailiff and a collection lawyer can all collect a claim for you, but they are not allowed to do the same things. If you want to hire a bailiff, you choose the route with enforcement powers. A debt collection agency can only ask the customer to pay, says the Juridisch Loket; a bailiff can force the customer. The difference at a glance:
| Feature | Debt collection agency | Court bailiff | Collection lawyer |
|---|---|---|---|
| What it does | Letters asking for payment | Issuing a summons and enforcing a judgment | Demands, summons and bankruptcy petition |
| Enforcement powers | None: no seizure and no summons | Seizure of income or belongings after a judgment | None of its own: through proceedings in court |
| Register | Justis register of debt collection services | Own professional register | Roll of the Dutch Bar |
In practice the roles sometimes overlap. Many bailiffs run both a bailiff’s office and a debt collection agency, says the Juridisch Loket. As long as it is about letters without a court, that office works as a debt collection agency.
Calculating collection costs
If you want to calculate collection costs, you start with the Dutch Civil Code: the creditor may charge reasonable costs for collecting a claim out of court. How high those extrajudicial collection costs may be is set out in the Decree on compensation for extrajudicial collection costs. The percentage is applied to the principal, the amount of the claim without interest and costs:
The compensation is at least €40. A worked example from the Dutch government: with an invoice of €3,500 the maximum is 15% of the first €2,500, so €375, plus 10% of the next €1,000, so €100. Together that is €475. VAT is only added if the creditor is not liable for VAT itself. And collection costs may only be charged once.
With a business customer the rules are slightly different. Under a commercial contract, a contract between businesses, the creditor is entitled to at least €40, without a demand, from the day after the final payment date. If your customer is a company, you can deviate from the scale in a contract or in your general terms and conditions. You cannot lower the €40 minimum in doing so. If nothing was agreed, the statutory scheme applies.
Statutory interest and commercial interest
On top of the collection costs you are entitled to interest for the time the customer is late. With a business customer that is the statutory commercial interest. It runs from the day after the agreed final payment date. If no payment date was agreed, the interest runs from 30 days after the customer received the invoice. With a consumer the ordinary statutory interest applies. According to the Dutch government the statutory commercial interest has been 10.4% since 1 July 2026 and the statutory interest for non-commercial transactions 4% since 1 January 2026. The percentages change; check what applies at that moment for every new claim.
Rules also apply to the payment term. If nothing was agreed, it is 30 days. Between businesses the maximum term is 60 days, unless you expressly agree a longer term that is not manifestly unfair. A large company must pay SMEs and self-employed entrepreneurs within 30 days, says Ondernemersplein. For consumers there is no statutory term: you set it yourself.
In summary: the statutory scale starts at 15% of the first €2,500 and is at least €40. With a business customer, the statutory commercial interest and any agreements in your terms come on top.
What does a debt collection agency cost?
There is no fixed price for a debt collection agency: each agency makes its own agreements. According to the KVK most debt collection agencies only charge once the collection has succeeded, which is also called no cure no pay. Always check what the contract says, though, because there can be exceptions. The KVK advises asking for quotes and reading reviews before you choose.
With a no cure no pay agency you in principle only pay once the collection has succeeded, but that is no guarantee that it costs you nothing. The costs of the collection are normally for the customer, within the statutory limits or your agreements with a business customer. Whether you actually get those costs back depends on what the customer finally pays and on the agreements about costs that cannot be collected.
Choosing a reliable debt collection agency
Since 1 April 2024 the Debt Collection Services Quality Act (Wet kwaliteit incassodienstverlening, Wki) has applied. It sets requirements for the quality and reliability of debt collectors. Since 1 April 2025 it has been prohibited to carry out or offer collection work without a court without being entered in the Justis register of debt collection services. This applies to collection from private individuals, sole traders, partners and partnerships, not from a bv. The register is public, so before you hire an agency you can check whether it is in it. Bailiffs and lawyers are in their own register.
That register is more than a formality. Since 1 October 2026 someone with an outstanding debt does not have to pay collection costs and accruing interest if the debt collector is not registered; the original debt does still exist. That applies to consumers, but also to sole traders, partners and partnerships. A registered agency must, among other things, have a complaints procedure and be affiliated with a dispute scheme. Every employee must have a certificate of conduct (VOG), and the registration has to be renewed every year.
Hiring a debt collection agency in 4 steps
If you decide to hire a debt collection agency, go about it like this:
Check that you have sent a reminder and a formal demand with a term of 14 days. With a consumer that demand must also state the collection costs.
Look up the agency in the register of debt collection services. If it is not in it, a private individual or sole trader does not have to pay it any collection costs.
Ask for several quotes and read what you pay if the collection succeeds and if it fails.
Give the agency the assignment, the invoice, the reminder, the demand and the correspondence, so that it can start right away.
If the debt collection agency gets nowhere
If the customer still does not pay after the agency’s letters, the route through the court remains. The court bailiff summons the customer. If it is about an amount of money up to and including €25,000, the subdistrict court (kantonrechter) handles the case, and you do not need to hire a lawyer for it. For that amount the interest up to the day of the summons counts too. If the customer does not comply with the judgment, the court bailiff looks at whether seizure of income or belongings is possible.
Limitation of the claim
Do not wait too long. Under the Dutch Civil Code a claim from a contract becomes time-barred five years after the day on which it became due. With a consumer sale, the sale of a product to a consumer, it is two years; for services to consumers it is five years according to Ondernemersplein. A written demand interrupts the limitation period. After that a new period starts, so a limitation of the claim can be prevented with a timely letter.
Good to know: a written demand keeps a claim alive. After each interruption the limitation period starts again.
Invoices and reminders with Vivid
The step-by-step plan starts with the invoice and the payment reminder, and that step is in your own hands. With a business account from Vivid with a Dutch IBAN you create and send your invoices from the same app:
A reminder from the invoice is the first formal step of the plan. For the formal demand, the collection costs and everything after that, the rules above apply.
Vivid in short: invoices and reminders in every plan, plus payment links, so you keep track of open invoices before a debt collection agency is needed.
Sending invoices with Vivid
A business account with a Dutch IBAN, with invoices and reminders in every plan and payment links.
Frequently asked questions
When do you hire a debt collection agency as a freelancer?
When a reminder and a formal demand giving 14 days to pay have brought nothing, and a payment arrangement has not either. With a private customer you first have to send a free demand letter that states the collection costs.
From what amount can you hire a debt collection agency?
There is no fixed amount. Even with a small invoice the creditor may ask for at least €40 in collection costs. Whether it is worth it depends on the agreements with the agency if the collection fails.
Who pays the costs of the debt collection agency?
The collection costs are in principle for the customer, within the statutory scale or your agreements with a business customer. If the agency is not in the Justis register, a private individual or sole trader does not have to pay collection costs. What you pay the agency is set out in the contract.
How do you calculate the collection costs?
With the statutory scale on the principal. You charge 15% of the first €2,500 and 10% of the next €2,500. Then 5% of the next €5,000, 1% of the next €190,000 and 0.5% of the rest. The minimum is €40 and the maximum €6,775.
What is the difference between a debt collection agency and a bailiff?
A debt collection agency only sends letters asking for payment. A court bailiff can summon the customer and, after a judgment, have income or belongings seized.
How do you check whether a debt collection agency is reliable?
Look up the agency in the public Justis register of debt collection services. Since 1 April 2025 a debt collection agency may not do or offer collection work without a court and without registration for debts of private individuals, sole traders, partners and partnerships. Then compare quotes and terms.
When does an unpaid invoice become time-barred?
An invoice to a business customer becomes time-barred five years after the end of the payment term. With the sale of a product to a consumer it is two years. A written demand interrupts the limitation period, after which a new period starts.
This article provides general information and is not legal or financial advice. The rules and percentages mentioned are as published by the Dutch government (Rijksoverheid), Ondernemersplein, the KVK, Justis and the Dutch judiciary (Rechtspraak), and as laid down in the Dutch Civil Code, the Decree on compensation for extrajudicial collection costs, the Debt Collection Services Quality Act and the Code of Civil Procedure, and may change. Vivid’s payment services are provided by Vivid Money S.A., an electronic money institution authorised and regulated by the Commission de Surveillance du Secteur Financier (CSSF) in Luxembourg; its Dutch branch is registered with De Nederlandsche Bank (DNB) as an electronic money institution. Brand names mentioned belong to their respective owners.
