The Broker Hasn’t Paid Me
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Before assuming the worst: most late freight payments are paperwork problems. A missing POD, an invoice that never arrived, a reference number that doesn’t match their load. Work through those first, because they’re the majority and they’re fixable in an afternoon.
Check these in order
- Are their terms actually up? Net 30 from invoice date, not from delivery. Check the rate confirmation; you may be chasing a payment that isn’t late.
- Did the invoice arrive, and to the right place? Many brokers have a separate AP address from the person who booked the load. Invoices sent to the dispatcher’s inbox often stop there.
- Was the paperwork complete? Signed POD is the usual blocker. Also lumper receipts, scale tickets, and anything the ratecon specified.
- Do the reference numbers match? A load number that doesn’t tie to their system sits in a queue rather than getting rejected, so you hear nothing.
- Has it been rejected without you being told? Rejection notices go astray constantly. Call AP directly and ask.
Four out of five late payments resolve somewhere in that list.
If the paperwork is clean and they still haven’t paid
Call, don’t email. Ask for accounts payable specifically, not the broker you dealt with. Get a name and a date.
Put the date in writing afterwards. “Confirming our call: payment scheduled for the 14th.” That converts a verbal promise into a record.
Check their credit. If their days-to-pay has deteriorated or other carriers are reporting problems, this isn’t about your invoice. Stop hauling for them before the exposure grows.
Escalate on a schedule, not on frustration. A predictable cadence (call, written confirmation, formal demand) works better than sporadic chasing.
If you factor
Tell your factoring company early rather than after the invoice ages. They deal with this daily, they have collection processes you don’t, and on non-recourse arrangements the exposure may not be yours at all. Waiting makes it harder for everyone.
If it turns out to be fraud
If the company that hired you had no authority, or was impersonating a legitimate broker, this isn’t a collections problem. Different playbook entirely. What to do if you were double-brokered.
Preventing the next one
- Invoice the day of delivery. Every day between delivery and invoice is a day added to their clock, not yours.
- Capture the POD at the dock. The single biggest cause of late invoicing is paperwork arriving days after the freight did.
- Check broker credit before booking, not after chasing.
- Track days-to-pay per broker. The ones who pay slowly are usually the same ones every time, and that belongs in your rate for them.
Where Hey Bubba! fits
Hey Bubba! is an AI back-office automation platform for fleets. Payment terms are extracted from every rate confirmation and attached to the load, PODs are captured and validated as they arrive, and invoicing is prepared once the paperwork clears, which removes the most common cause of late payment before it happens.
Frequently asked questions
Net 30 from invoice date is standard, with QuickPay options for a fee. Check the rate confirmation for the terms on that specific load.
Most often a missing or illegible POD, mismatched reference numbers, or missing accessorial receipts.
Confirm the paperwork is clean, escalate to AP in writing with dates, involve your factoring company if you have one, and check whether the entity had valid authority.
Invoice the day of delivery with complete paperwork. That does more than any escalation process.
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