Your customer says “I’ve paid”: what to check

“We’ve already paid” is either true, partly true or a misunderstanding — and from the email alone you cannot tell which. Replying with another reminder treats your customer as if they are not telling the truth; replying “thanks, closed” risks writing off money you never received.

So do neither. Acknowledge the message, pause reminders for that invoice, and check. Most of the time the answer is in your own records.

• The exact amount, from the date they gave onwards. Allow for processing: payments made late in the day or between banks can take a business day or more to appear.
• Part payments. They may have paid some of it, or paid an older invoice first.
• Combined payments. One transfer covering several invoices, with a single reference that does not match any of them.
• The amount less fees. International transfers and some card payments arrive short of the invoice total.

• Received but not matched. The money is in the bank but has not been reconciled against the invoice, so it still shows as owing.
• Matched to the wrong invoice or customer. Common with similar company names, or when one person pays for several businesses.
• Credit notes and adjustments. These reduce what is owed, but they are not money received. If the balance is now zero because of a credit note, the invoice is settled, not paid — record it that way.

Ask which account they paid into, and compare it with the bank details you hold — not with anything in their email. If they paid an account that is not yours, stop: this is how payment redirection fraud often shows up, where a criminal sends “updated bank details” that look like they came from you.

In that case, do not treat the invoice as paid and do not send new bank details by email. Tell your customer to contact their bank straight away, and see Scamwatch’s guidance on business email compromise for what to do next.

If your records do not show it, reply with what you need to find it. Keep it neutral: you are matching a payment, not challenging them.

Hi [Name],

Thanks for letting me know about invoice [Invoice number]. I can't see the payment on our side yet, so I've paused reminders while I look.

To help me find it, could you send:
- the date it was paid
- the amount
- the reference you used
- the last four digits of the account number you paid into

If you have a remittance advice, that's even better.

Thanks,
[Your name]

• Found in full: record it as paid with the date you saw it, and thank them.
• Found in part: record what arrived and tell them the balance, with the invoice number.
• Not found, after their details: tell them what you checked and ask them to check with their bank. Keep reminders paused until one of you finds it.

Hi [Name],

Found it — thank you. Payment of [Amount] received on [Date] for invoice [Invoice number]. Nothing further is needed.

Thanks,
[Your name]

Copy this into your notes or your accounting software’s invoice notes, and tick it off as you go.

Customer says "I've paid" — checklist
Invoice: ________   Customer: ________   Amount: ________

[ ] Reminders paused for this invoice while I check
[ ] Bank feed searched for the amount, from the date they gave
[ ] Searched for part payments and combined payments (several invoices in one)
[ ] Searched for the amount less bank or card fees
[ ] Payment found in the bank but not yet matched in the accounting software?
[ ] Payment applied to a different invoice or customer account?
[ ] Credit note or adjustment on the invoice? (reduces what is owed — it is not cash)
[ ] Asked the customer for date, amount, reference and the account they paid into
[ ] Account they paid into is ours (checked against our records, not their email)
[ ] Result recorded: paid (date seen) / part paid (balance) / not found