Please Send Payment: Polite Payment Request Phrases

"Please send payment", "please remit payment", "kindly make the payment": the line that asks for the money is often the hardest to write, so most of us reach for a stock phrase. Each one means something slightly different and sounds a little more or less firm. This guide explains the common phrases, when each fits, and better versions you can copy into an invoice, an email or a text.

One rule makes almost any phrase work: put a date and an amount next to it. "Please send payment" is a wish; "Please send the $1,850 for INV-0107 by Friday, December 4" is a request someone can act on.

The phrases at a glance

Phrase	What it asks	How it sounds	Best for
Please send payment at your earliest convenience	Pay as soon as you can	Polite, open-ended	A first, friendly reminder
Please remit payment	Send the money	Formal, businesslike	The payment line of an invoice
Please pay the attached invoice	Pay this invoice	Neutral	The email that sends the invoice
Please settle the invoice (or your account)	Pay what is owed	Formal	Balances and statements
Kindly make the payment	Please make the payment	Very formal	Clients who write this way themselves
Please process the payment	Put the invoice through your payment system	Neutral	Accounts payable, once the invoice is approved
Could you confirm when payment will be sent?	Give me a date	Polite and firm	Any reminder after the due date

"Please send payment at your earliest convenience"

The Cambridge Dictionary defines "at your earliest convenience" as "as soon as you like or can" (Cambridge Dictionary). That is the problem and the charm of the phrase: it is courteous, and it lets the client decide when. It is fine for a first reminder on a small invoice. Used twice, it reads as if you don't mind waiting.

• Softer: "Whenever you have a moment this week, could you send payment for INV-0107 ($1,850)?"
• Clearer: "Could you send payment for INV-0107 ($1,850) by Friday, December 4?"
• Firmer: "Please send payment for INV-0107 ($1,850), which was due on December 1, by December 4."

"Please remit payment"

To remit is "to send (money) to a person or place especially in payment of a demand, account, or draft" (Merriam-Webster: remit); Cambridge marks this sense as formal. "Please remit payment" simply means "please send the money". It belongs on the invoice itself, next to where the money should go:

Please remit payment to: Fern Studio, sort code 00-00-00, account 00000000, quoting INV-0107.

"Please remit payment upon receipt" means the invoice is due on receipt: payment is expected as soon as it arrives. In an email to a person, "please send" or "please pay" sounds less like a form letter.

"Please pay the attached invoice"

The plainest phrase, and the right one when the email carries the invoice:

Hi Sam, please find attached invoice INV-0107 for $1,850, due on December 1. You can pay by bank transfer or with the payment link on the invoice.

"Please find attached" is a set phrase in business email; the request that matters is the amount, the due date and how to pay.

"Please settle the invoice" or "settle your account"

To settle an account is "to close (as an account) by payment" (Merriam-Webster: settle). The word suits balances: a statement, a part-paid invoice, several invoices at once.

• Neutral: "Please settle the remaining $900 on INV-0107."
• Firmer: "Please settle the outstanding balance of $900 by December 11."

Be careful with "settle" in a dispute. Merriam-Webster also lists closing an account "by payment often of less than is due", so a client may read "let's settle this" as an opening for a discount. Ask for the full amount by name.

"Kindly make the payment"

Kindly, used this way, means "as a matter of courtesy: please" (Merriam-Webster: kindly). "Kindly make the payment at the earliest" is common in formal business English, and if your client writes that way, matching their style is fine. Elsewhere, plain "please" does the same job with less ceremony:

• "Could you please make the payment for INV-0107 by December 4?"

"Please process the payment"

This one is for the person who pushes invoices through a company's system, usually in accounts payable. It assumes the invoice is approved and only needs to be paid. If you are not sure it got that far, ask first:

Could you let me know whether INV-0107 has been approved, and when it is scheduled for payment?

From softer to firmer: one invoice, five lines

The same invoice, INV-0107 for $1,850 due on December 1, as the weeks go by:

1. Before the due date: "A quick heads-up that INV-0107 ($1,850) is due on December 1."
2. On the due date: "INV-0107 ($1,850) is due today; the payment link is on the invoice."
3. A week late: "I haven't seen payment for INV-0107 yet. Could you confirm when it will be sent?"
4. Two weeks late: "INV-0107 is now 14 days overdue. Please pay by December 18 or let me know the date it will be processed."
5. A month late: "INV-0107 ($1,850) is 30 days overdue. As set out in our agreement, work on the next phase is paused until it is paid."

Use the last line only if your agreement says so. The full emails, with subject lines, are in our payment reminder email templates; scripts for calls, disputes and silent clients are in how to ask a client for payment.

Text and WhatsApp versions

Short, with the number and the amount, and only with clients you already message this way:

• "Hi Sam, a reminder that INV-0107 ($1,850) is due Friday. Thanks!"
• "Hi Sam, INV-0107 ($1,850) was due on December 1 and I haven't seen it yet. Could you check when it will be paid?"
• "Hi Sam, following up on INV-0107 ($1,850), now two weeks late. Can you pay it by Friday? I've emailed the invoice again."

How Clodou helps

Clodou is an AI back office you run by chat. Ask "Draft a reminder for INV-0107" and it writes one with the invoice number, the balance still owed and the due date, in the tone set in your Settings: the Formal tone opens with "Dear" and asks to "arrange payment at your earliest convenience", the Friendly tone opens with "Hi" and asks when you can expect payment. A draft is only a draft: nothing is emailed until you send it. When Clodou emails a reminder itself, an owner or admin approves it first, unless a Team workspace has switched on automatic reminders in Settings.

Ask "Who owes me money?" to see every overdue invoice with what is left to pay. On Solo and Team, your own payment link prints on every invoice, so each reminder points to a clear way to pay. Clodou does not charge late fees or collect debts for you.

Key takeaways

• A phrase works when it carries an amount, an invoice number and a date.
• "At your earliest convenience" means "as soon as you like or can": fine once, weak twice.
• "Remit" means send money: use "please remit payment to" on the invoice, "please send" in an email.
• "Settle" means close an account by payment; ask for the full amount by name.
• Get one step firmer each time, and save consequences for what your agreement says.