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Debt collection · Germany

Zahlungserinnerung — a payment reminder, not a court letter

A Zahlungserinnerung is a polite reminder from a company that says an invoice has not been paid. It is not from a court or an authority — it is the first and mildest step of private debt collection.

How serious: routineAlso called: Erinnerung, freundliche Zahlungserinnerung, 1. Mahnung

A Zahlungserinnerung is a friendly payment reminder. A company's records show an open invoice under your name, so it wrote to remind you. That record may be correct, already settled, or simply wrong. The letter has no fixed legal form.

It is the first and mildest step of private debt collection. The sender is a business, not the state. At this stage the tone is polite and there are usually no extra fees yet.

One legal detail matters. Under BGB §286, a payment demand sent after the due date can put a debtor into default (Verzug) — and a consumer is in default at the latest 30 days after the due date and receipt of the invoice, if the invoice specifically warned of that consequence. From default on, interest and collection costs can be added.

Who sends it

Any private creditor: a shop, a telecom provider, a landlord, a gym, a utility, or another company that believes you owe it money. It is not an authority and not a court.

Plain company letterhead with no court or authority seal. Look for words like 'Zahlungserinnerung', 'Erinnerung', 'offener Betrag' or 'wir möchten Sie erinnern', an invoice number, an amount, and a requested payment date. The tone is polite, and usually no extra fees have been added yet.

The deadline

There is no statutory response deadline for this letter itself. The date that counts is the payment date the company prints on it — a date the creditor chooses freely.

If you do nothing

Not paying can put you into legal default (Verzug). Under BGB §286, a demand sent after the due date triggers default, and a consumer is in default at the latest 30 days after the due date and receipt of the invoice — if the invoice specifically warned of this consequence. From default on, interest and collection costs can be added.

How it escalates

  1. 01A formal Mahnung usually follows. Once you are in default (BGB §286), default interest of 5 percentage points above the base rate accrues for consumers (BGB §288).
  2. 02The creditor may hand the claim to an Inkasso agency; from default on, consumers must in principle bear the resulting collection costs.
  3. 03The creditor may apply for a court Mahnbescheid (ZPO §692), which starts the court dunning procedure.
  4. 04If that is also ignored, a Vollstreckungsbescheid and then enforcement — bailiff, account garnishment — can follow (ZPO §699, §700).

Your options, procedurally

  • Payment by the date stated in the letter settles the matter.
  • If the invoice was already paid, proof of payment can be sent to the creditor in writing.
  • If the claim is disputed, an objection can be sent to the creditor in writing.
  • A payment extension or installment plan can be requested from the creditor in writing — a private agreement the creditor is not obliged to accept.

Common questions

Is a Zahlungserinnerung from a court?

No. It is a private letter from a company. It has no court or authority seal and no fixed legal form.

Do extra fees already apply?

Usually not at this stage. Interest and collection costs can only be added once you are in legal default (Verzug) under BGB §286.

What if the invoice was already paid?

The sender's records may be wrong. Proof of payment can be sent to the creditor in writing.

Sources

Facts verified against the sources below on 28 August 2026.