Reminders That Count: Mahnung, Wezwanie, Requerimiento
Automatic reminders are easy. Default interest, the €40 lump sum, and a court file are not. Here is the difference between a nudge and a demand in Germany, Poland, and Spain.
Reminders That Count: Mahnung, Wezwanie, Requerimiento
Receivables products advertise a button that "triggers payment reminders for invoices that are overdue." That button is a mail merge. Default (Verzug, zwłoka, mora) is a legal state. Confusing the two is how you send three friendly emails and still have no interest, no lump sum, and a weak exhibit.
Nudge Versus Demand
| Nudge | Demand | |
|---|---|---|
| Purpose | Memory. "Due date was Tuesday." | Put the debtor in default and start the evidence pack |
| Tone | Neutral, invoice copy attached or referenced | Formal, amounts, legal basis, new deadline |
| Timing | Before due date, on due date, a few days after | When the law lets default start, then on a documented date |
| Channel | The channel they already use (Peppol comment, email, platform message) | A channel you can prove: registered mail, platform record, KSeF-linked correspondence, burofax |
| Effect | Sometimes a payment | Interest, lump sum, later court |
Send nudges. Do not call them Mahnungen.
Germany: Verzug, Mahnung, § 288 BGB
BGB § 286: the debtor of a due payment is in default after a Mahnung. If a calendar date was agreed ("payable by 15 October"), default begins the next day without a Mahnung. If you wrote "Net 30" and the date is calculable, you are in the calendar-date world. If you wrote nothing usable, you need the Mahnung.
B2B default interest is Basiszinssatz + 9 percentage points (§ 288 (2) BGB). From 1 July 2026 the Bundesbank Basiszinssatz is 1.52%, so 10.52% a year until the next reset. § 288 (5) adds a €40 lump sum when the debtor is not a consumer. You may claim higher actual collection costs.
The Mahnung should name the invoice, the due date, the amount, the new deadline, and that default interest and the €40 are claimed. It should go to the legal entity you invoiced, not to a generic info@ that a trainee reads. Keep the send proof. Email can work as a Mahnung in some fact patterns. It is a poor exhibit if the debtor denies receipt. After you have a structured e-invoice, attach or cite that file. Do not attach a flattened PDF that is no longer the legal invoice.
A second and third "reminder" without new facts is noise. After the Mahnung, the next step is a lawyer's letter or a Mahnbescheid, not another pixel-tracked mail.
Poland: Wezwanie, UPO, Statutory Interest
Deemed receipt is the KSeF assignment (art. 106na). The UPO is the delivery exhibit. The wezwanie do zapłaty should cite invoice number, KSeF number, UPO date, original due date, statutory interest, the recovery compensation, and a short new deadline (often 7 days).
Statutory interest for commercial delay is the NBP reference rate plus 10 percentage points (14% a year in H1 2026; confirm the half-year rate in force on the day you issue the demand). Compensation bands under the late-payment rules: €40 / €70 / €100 depending on the invoice amount. Most SMEs never invoice these because the pack is assembled by hand. The pack is: FA(3) or visualisation, UPO, KSeF number, wezwanie, interest calc.
A pre-due "przypomnienie" is a nudge. It does not replace the wezwanie.
Spain: Requerimiento, Status, Law 3/2004
Default interest is automatic: ECB + 8 pp (10.40% a year for 1 July to 31 December 2026). €40 lump sum per invoice. Maximum private term 60 days. The gap is enforcement culture, not missing statutes.
Once RD 238/2026 status reporting applies to that counterparty, the requerimiento should cite the invoice, the reported acceptance (or the silence past four days), the due date, the missing or late payment date, the rate, and the €40. A burofax still has ritual value in Spanish collections. The platform status is the new fact that older burofax files did not have.
Do not report the invoice as paid because you sent a reminder and the buyer replied "ok." Paid is a bank date.
A Sequence That Does Not Embarrass You in Court
- Before due: one nudge with the legal invoice reference (KSeF number, XRechnung id, Facturae number).
- On due + 1 to 7 days: second nudge if the buyer usually pays on the next run.
- When default can start: one demand (Mahnung / wezwanie / requerimiento) with interest and lump sum, on a provable channel, stored with the invoice.
- After the demand deadline: recovery, not a fourth friendly template.
Plandesk can send the nudges on a schedule and assemble the demand from the invoice, the market artefact (UPO, transmission log, Spanish status), and the statutory rates for that half-year. The button is not the legal act. The stored document is.
This material is information of a general nature and does not constitute legal or tax advice. For a specific situation, verify the current rules or consult a qualified adviser.