Guide
Pricing & Negotiation
Creators
If a brand doesn't pay on time, you have a statutory right to late-payment interest from the due date (10% per year as of 1 July 2026), up to three reminder fees of DKK 100 each, and — if you invoice as a registered business — a DKK 310 compensation fee. If the brand still doesn't pay, you can file a payment order with the bailiff court yourself for undisputed claims under DKK 100,000, without a lawyer.
The invoice is sent, the due date has passed, and the brand has gone quiet. Most of the Academy's payment articles are written from the brand's side — this one covers the reverse situation: what you, as a creator, can actually do when the money doesn't arrive on time. The rules below are ordinary Danish commercial law — the Interest Act (renteloven) and the Debt Collection Act (inkassoloven) — not influencer-specific rules, but most creators have never needed to know them until suddenly they do.
This is general legal orientation, not advice on your specific case. For a larger, concrete claim, a lawyer or a licensed debt-collection agency is the right next contact.
Before you can claim anything, you need a date to point to. If the contract or the invoice states a concrete payment deadline — "net 14 days", for example — that's the date everything else is calculated from. If you never agreed a deadline in writing, you're in a weaker position: you can still demand payment, but it becomes an argument about what was actually agreed, instead of a clear, documented due date. That's exactly the kind of gap the contract checklist asks you to close before the collaboration starts — not after the invoice is already overdue.
| Step | What you do | When |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Reminder | Send a written reminder with a new deadline | As soon as the due date has passed |
| 2. Interest claim | Calculate and claim statutory interest from the due date | Ongoing — the right arises automatically; you don't need to warn the brand in advance |
| 3. Reminder fee | Add up to DKK 100 on top for each reminder you send | Maximum 3 reminders per claim, at least 10 days apart |
| 4. Compensation fee | Claim an extra DKK 310 if you invoice as a registered business | From day 1 after the due date — no prior reminder required |
| 5. Escalate | Hand the case to a debt-collection agency/lawyer, or file a payment order yourself | Once the reminders are exhausted and the brand still hasn't paid |
Even if you never agreed an interest rate in the contract, Danish law still gives you a statutory right to late-payment interest under renteloven § 5 — it doesn't require you to have written it into the contract or warned the brand in advance. The rate is Danmarks Nationalbank's official lending rate, set on 1 January and 1 July each year, plus a fixed 8-percentage-point surcharge. As of 1 July 2026 (checked 23 August 2026), that works out to a statutory late-payment interest rate of 10% per year. The interest runs from the due date regardless of whether you've sent a reminder — a reminder is not a precondition for interest, only for the reminder fee.
For each written reminder you send, you may charge up to DKK 100 in reminder fees — but for no more than three reminders relating to the same claim, and only if the reminders are sent at least 10 days apart. A fourth reminder doesn't earn a fourth fee, and two reminders sent the same week effectively count as one for fee purposes, because the spacing requirement isn't met.
Beyond interest and reminder fees, renteloven § 9a gives you the right to a fixed DKK 310 compensation fee per claim — set by executive order in 2013 and matching the EU directive's EUR 40 minimum. The fee applies only in B2B relationships: the underlying agreement has to have been entered as part of a business activity, and the debtor — the brand — has to be a business. That side is always satisfied, since the brand is a business. The clear, well-documented case for you as a creator is when you invoice as a registered business with a CVR number: then both parties' business status is unambiguous, and the right to the fee is clean. If you're instead paid as B-indkomst (personal honorarium income) with no CVR, whether the fee applies is a genuine grey area this article can't resolve — ask an accountant if it's relevant to your situation rather than assuming the fee applies.
The fee doesn't require a prior reminder, and you can claim it from the day after the due date. It can only be claimed once per claim, no matter how long the delay drags on.
A commonly misunderstood point: the Debt Collection Act's "god inkassoskik" standard (§ 9) applies to inkassovirksomhed — meaning anyone who, on a commercial basis, collects claims for others, or collects purchased claims for themselves. If you send your own reminder for your own unpaid invoice, you're not covered by that law, and you don't have to follow its formal requirements. The standard only becomes relevant once you hand the case to a debt-collection agency or a lawyer running a debt-collection business on your behalf — at that point it's their conduct the law regulates: no undue pressure, no misleading threats, and a duty to be able to document the claim if the brand disputes it.
If the claim is undisputed — the brand hasn't previously objected to it — and the amount (excluding interest and costs) doesn't exceed DKK 100,000, you as the creditor can file a betalingspåkrav (payment order) directly with the bailiff court (fogedretten) yourself, without going through a lawyer. This simplified debt-collection process combines establishing the claim and enforcing it into a single approach to the court, instead of a judgment followed by a separate enforcement case. If the brand doesn't object within the deadline, the payment order becomes enforceable — meaning it can be executed as if it were a court judgment. Domstol.dk, the Danish courts' own website, blocked direct fetching during research for this article (23 August 2026); the threshold and process are instead corroborated across multiple independent Danish debt-collection and law-firm sources.
If the brand objects — to all or part of the claim — the case can no longer be handled as an undisputed payment order; it has to go through ordinary civil proceedings instead. The same basic principle applies here that Forbrugerombudsmanden emphasizes in its general guidance on debt collection: it's the creditor who has to be able to document the claim — not the debtor who has to prove innocence. Keep the contract, the delivered work and all correspondence from day one. It's the same logic that applies in the reverse situation — see what happens if an influencer doesn't deliver for why documenting the timeline is the first thing a brand is asked to do when it's the one filing the complaint.
| Situation | Recommended action |
|---|---|
| Short delay (a few days), the brand responds and explains why | One friendly reminder with a new deadline — no need to escalate yet |
| No response after one reminder, the claim is small (a couple thousand DKK) | Send up to two more reminders (DKK 100 each), claim interest continuously — often enough to get paid |
| No response after three reminders, claim is undisputed and under DKK 100,000 | File a payment order yourself, or hand the case to a debt-collection agency |
| Brand disputes the claim in whole or in part | Gather documentation and prepare for ordinary civil proceedings — the payment-order route is closed |
| Claim exceeds DKK 100,000 | The payment-order process doesn't cover it — get legal help from the start |
The figures below are a made-up example to illustrate the calculation — not a real customer case.
You invoiced a brand DKK 8,000 for a campaign, with an agreed payment deadline. 45 days after the due date, nothing has been paid, and you've sent two reminders at least 10 days apart.
Total claim = DKK 8,000 + DKK 98.63 + DKK 200 + DKK 310 = DKK 8,608.63 — DKK 608.63 on top of the original fee, before the case has even been escalated to debt collection or the bailiff court.
In our experience at Make Influence, most late payments to creators trace back to a brand's internal approval process, not an unwillingness to pay. That doesn't change the fact that you, as a creator, are entitled to know your rights if it drags on. A structured, written process — reminder, interest claim, potentially the compensation fee — isn't aggressive; it's the same kind of predictability the article on non-delivery from the influencer's side recommends the brand follow. The rules run both ways.
The clear, well-documented case is when you invoice as a registered business with a CVR number. If you're instead paid as B-indkomst with no CVR, the right to the fee is a grey area — ask your accountant.
Yes. Renteloven § 5 gives you a statutory right to interest regardless of whether the contract mentions it. It's still a good idea to write the rate in, so both sides know it up front.
No. The payment-order (betalingspåkrav) process is specifically designed so you, as the creditor, can go directly to the bailiff court yourself, without a lawyer, provided the claim is undisputed and under DKK 100,000.
No. The Debt Collection Act applies to commercial debt-collection activity — collecting claims for others, or collecting purchased claims. Sending your own reminder for your own invoice isn't covered.
Generally 3 years from the due date, under forældelsesloven § 3. Don't wait long to act if the brand doesn't respond to your reminders.
The interest and reminder-fee principles are the same, but affiliate income is often taxed differently (typically as B-income) than an invoiced fee — see affiliate influencer marketing in Denmark for the tax difference.
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