I have thought about charging late fees, but I don't think it would be worth the hassle.  First, I have trouble getting many clients to pay for copies - I don't think they are going to pay late fees. I'm sure they will tell you that "there is no place to enter a late fee in our auto-pay system, sorry."  Second, the companies we have payment troubles with are the least likely to pay the late fees. They already aren't paying according to our terms, why would they suddenly start paying late fees?

What are you going to do if they don't pay it?  Cut them off?  Why not just cut them off when they fail to pay the original invoice on time?  If you could collect the late fees as part of a judgment, it may be worth something, but very few abstractors pursue collection to that point anyway.

I don't charge late fees... I just cut them off when they don't pay on time.  If they send another order, we call them and tell them if they overnight a check we would be happy to complete the order for them.  Sometimes, we will accept a fax of the check and their promise to put it in the mail.  So, far that has worked.

Best,
Robert A. Franco
SOURCE OF TITLE