Invoices 90+ days past due: what to do with old B2B receivables

Most finance teams have a column on the aging report they would rather not look at: the invoices more than 90 days past due. By this point the friendly reminders have been sent, the customer's contact may have changed, and the balance has quietly moved from "late" to "at risk". The good news is that an old invoice is not automatically a lost one. What it needs is a different approach from the one that worked at 30 days.

This guide is a calm, step-by-step way to work that column. It is general operational guidance, not legal or accounting advice; limitation periods, interest rules, and write-off treatment differ by country and state, so check what applies to you.

Why 90 days is a turning point

At 30 days, most late payments are process problems: a missing purchase order, an invoice sent to the wrong inbox, an approval stuck with someone on holiday. By 90 days, the reasons tend to be different. The customer may be short on cash, may be disputing something they never told you about, or may simply have stopped prioritizing you. Each of those calls for a different response, which is why the first job is to sort, not to send another reminder.

Step 1: Sort the old balances

Export everything over 90 days and put each invoice into one of four groups:

Silent: no reply, no dispute, no payment. The customer is still trading as far as you know.
Disputed: the customer has raised a complaint about price, quantity, quality, or delivery.
Promised: someone has said they will pay, or proposed a plan, and has not followed through.
Unreachable: emails bounce, phones go unanswered, or the business may have closed or changed hands.

Sorting takes an afternoon and tells you where your time is best spent.

Step 2: Rebuild the record for each invoice

Old invoices are often weak on paperwork, because nobody expected to need it. For each one, gather the contract or accepted quote, the purchase order, proof of delivery or acceptance, the invoice itself, and a dated list of every reminder and reply. Confirm the open balance after credits and partial payments. If you cannot prove what was ordered and delivered, fix that before anyone contacts the customer again, whether that is you or a collector.

Step 3: Work each group differently

Silent: send one clear final notice with the exact amount, a calendar-date deadline, easy ways to pay, and the next step you will actually take. Then follow through on the date you named.
Disputed: answer the dispute line by line with your evidence. Offer to settle the undisputed portion now so the whole balance is not held hostage by one line.
Promised: put the promise in writing with specific dates and amounts. A written payment plan with small, regular instalments usually beats a vague promise of the full amount "soon".
Unreachable: check whether the business is still trading, whether it was sold or renamed, and whether there is a new contact. This tracing work is often where a specialist earns their fee.

Step 4: Decide what to keep in-house

Keep chasing yourself when the relationship matters, the customer is responsive, and the balance is small enough that your team's time is the cheaper option. Consider handing it to a specialist when the customer has gone quiet after a final notice, when tracing is needed, when the debtor is in another country, or when the same few accounts are taking a large share of your team's week. Whatever you choose, make the decision on purpose rather than letting the invoice drift toward 180 days.

Step 5: Know when to stop

Some balances will not be recovered. If a customer has closed with nothing left, or the cost of pursuing a small amount clearly exceeds the amount, talk to your accountant about writing it off and record what you learned, such as tighter credit checks or deposits for new accounts. Closing a balance deliberately is better than carrying it on the aging report forever.

How RevRecoup helps with old receivables

RevRecoup is built for this part of the ledger. You import the receivable, and it enters a held state: nothing is sent just because a record was imported. AI-assisted review checks the evidence, flags gaps such as a missing purchase order, and explains whether each record is held, reviewable, or eligible. You approve any next action before it happens.

You can keep it self-service, with branded follow-up and payment links, promises-to-pay, and plans tracked in one record; your first 25 eligible receivables are free, with no card required. Or you can request outsourced review, where a success-based estimated range is shown after review and accepted cases are matched to an approved specialist collector. Acceptance is case by case and not guaranteed, and there is no fee unless money is recovered.

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