Automating reminder runs:deadlines, interest and exceptions.

What the law sets out

The starting point is art. 102 CO: once an obligation is due, the debtor is put in default by the creditor sending a reminder. If a specific due date was agreed for performance, the debtor is in default as soon as that day ends.^[1] In everyday terms: anyone stating a concrete payment date on the invoice needs no extra reminder for default to begin.

Art. 104 CO sets the price of waiting. In default on a monetary debt, default interest of five per cent a year is owed, even where the contractual interest is lower. Higher contractual rates can still be claimed during default, and between merchants the higher usual bank discount rate at the place of payment may be applied where it exceeds five per cent.^[2] If the damage exceeds what the interest covers, that too has to be compensated, unless the debtor proves they are not at fault.^{[3, 4]}

Three stages that work in practice

More stages do not bring more payments, only more work. Three are enough if they arrive reliably:

Guide values from practice. The periods are yours to choose; what matters is that they are kept.

Debt enforcement follows. The enforcement office issues the payment summons with the request to pay within 20 days.^[6] The debtor can file an objection within ten days of service.^[7] If the enforcement was not stopped by an objection, the creditor can file the continuation request at the earliest 20 days after service.^[8] The debtor bears the enforcement costs, but the creditor has to advance them.^[5]

What enforcement costs

The fee for the payment summons depends on the amount claimed.^[9]

Fees under art. 16 GebV SchKG, plus postal charges. Status of the source: 18.09.2026.

What bexio can do by itself

Since summer 2026 bexio offers an automatic reminder process. In the settings under reminder levels you can define per stage whether the reminder is triggered before or after the due date and how many days the customer has for that stage. Messages go out by email through templates.^{[11, 12]} The manual route through the reminder run, which creates collective reminders, remains available.^[13]

What your own automation adds

The built-in process covers the standard case. Your own automation starts where rules go beyond sending. The bexio API supplies open items, invoices, payments, contacts and files for exactly that.^{[14, 15]}

• Exception list: customers with an instalment plan or an open complaint are skipped, without anyone switching the automation off.
• Thresholds: small amounts below a defined limit do not go to enforcement, they are collected or written off.
• A second channel: after the second notice, a task for the office instead of just another email.
• Log: every message with time, recipient and stage, so that a dispute can be traced.
• Handover: when the last stage is reached, the file for enforcement or collection is created automatically.
• Block in the shop: anyone above the threshold of open items no longer sees payment by invoice on their next purchase.

The biggest gain sits less in the technology than in the evenness. A reminder run that goes out every Tuesday morning without being asked collects payments earlier than one that only happens when somebody has time. Two figures make that visible: the average time between invoice date and payment, and the share of invoices still open beyond the second stage. Both can be calculated from the open items in bexio without extra effort and sent by email every month.^[14]

How to introduce the reminder run

1. Put the payment date on the invoice: a concrete date starts default without an extra reminder.^[1]
2. Check your terms: no contractual basis, no reminder fees.^[10]
3. Define stages and periods: three stages, clear intervals, one named person for escalation.
4. Define exceptions: instalment plans, complaints, key accounts with their own agreement.
5. Switch the automation on: either in bexio or through an automation, but not both in parallel.^[11]
6. Measure after four weeks: how many invoices are still open, and how has the average payment time changed?

Frequently asked questions