Your agency is not paying out your OnlyFans income: the procedure to recover it.

An OnlyFans agency that does not pay rarely starts with a refusal. It starts with a delay, "the payout hasn't come through yet", then a statement that does not match the platform's figures, then messages that go unanswered. Whether the agency collects your income and passes on your share, or invoices you a commission you dispute, the route to recovering what you are owed is mapped out. It starts with evidence and ends, rarely, in court. In order.

OnlyFans agency not paying: evidence first

Unpaid income is proved with three sets of documents. The platform's statements: OnlyFans, MYM, Fansly and Fanvue all make sales and payout history available for export; if the agency controls the account, ask it in writing for read access, and if it refuses, note that. The contract, with the payment clause (who collects, what percentage, within what deadline, with which statements) and the term clause. The exchanges: Telegram or WhatsApp messages and emails in which the agency acknowledges amounts, promises a transfer or pushes things back.

Save everything outside the apps, with the dates, in a chronological folder. Then rebuild a simple month-by-month table: what the platform paid, what the contract provides for you, what you received, and the gap. That table, more than any argument, will decide what follows: the agency, a mediator or a judge will read it first.

Do it before writing to the agency. A claim with approximate figures is easily contradicted; a claim costed to the cent, with statements attached, is not up for debate.

The letter before action: content and delivery

The letter before action is the step that turns a delay into a debt on the record. A clear letter is enough, provided it is dated, received and kept. It identifies the parties and the contract, lists the sums due with their period and their basis, sets a payment deadline (fourteen to thirty days are common), states what will follow if there is no payment, and asks, where relevant, for account access and missing statements to be handed back.

In England and Wales this is not optional politeness. The Practice Direction on Pre-Action Conduct expects a claimant to set out the claim in writing and give the other side a reasonable chance to respond before issuing proceedings. A claimant who skips it can be penalised on costs even after winning. In the United States, a demand letter is not usually mandatory, but it does three useful things: it fixes the date the debt was demanded, it forces the agency to commit to a position in writing, and it is the document that makes a settlement conversation possible.

How you send it matters. Recorded or certified delivery remains the benchmark, with a copy by email to the address the contract names. An ordinary email or a Telegram message may count as a demand, but you will have to prove receipt.

The letter is also the prerequisite for terminating the contract for breach, which we describe in our guide on how to leave your agency.

What else you can claim: interest and compensation

An unpaid invoice is worth more than its face value, and saying so in the letter changes the conversation.

In the United Kingdom, where both sides act in the course of business, the Late Payment of Commercial Debts (Interest) Act 1998 applies automatically unless the contract provides a substantial remedy of its own. It gives you statutory interest at 8% above the Bank of England base rate, running from thirty days after the later of delivery and the invoice, plus fixed compensation per invoice: £40 for a debt under £1,000, £70 from £1,000 to £9,999.99, and £100 from £10,000. On top of that you can claim the reasonable costs of recovering the debt where they exceed the fixed sum.

In the United States, there is no single equivalent. Interest comes from the contract where it provides for it, and otherwise from the state's statutory or judgment rate, which typically runs from 5% to 12%. Several states have prompt-payment statutes for particular sectors. Read the contract first: a well-drafted invoice clause is worth more than any statute.

These amounts are modest over a few months. They still have a useful effect: they appear in the letter, they remind the agency that time is working against it, and they are added to the principal in the claim.

Going to court: which one, and what it costs

When the letter produces nothing, a claim is the fastest route to something enforceable.

England and Wales. Money Claim Online handles money claims up to £100,000 and is filed online in an afternoon. Claims up to £10,000 are allocated to the small claims track, where the procedure is simplified, hearings are short and the winner generally cannot recover legal fees — which is precisely why you should not need a lawyer for one. Court fees are charged on a scale by the amount claimed, and are added to the sum you are asking for.

United States. Every state runs a small claims court, with limits from around $2,500 to $25,000 depending on the state; filing fees are typically $30 to $100, lawyers are often not permitted, and hearings come quickly. Above the limit, an ordinary civil claim, which is where the calculation changes: a lawyer on a contingency or hourly basis has to be worth it against the size of the debt and the agency's ability to pay.

In both systems, the claim is normally brought where the defendant is based — subject to whatever the contract says. Check the jurisdiction and governing law clause before you do anything else: a clause sending every dispute to a court on another continent is one of the quiet ways an agency contract stops you enforcing it, and it is a clause to negotiate before signing rather than discover afterwards.

Two limits, whichever country you are in. An agency incorporated abroad means enforcement abroad, which lengthens the timetable and the cost. And an agency with no assets will not pay any more readily with a judgment against it: hence the value of checking its solidity before signing, as we explain in our guide to checking an agency.

Mediation: when it is worth the detour

Between the letter and the courtroom, mediation has its place, and in England and Wales the courts actively expect parties to consider it — an unreasonable refusal to mediate can be reflected in costs. The Small Claims Mediation Service is free for claims on the small claims track. In the United States, many courts order mediation before trial, and private mediation is common.

Mediation does not suit every situation. An agency that has disappeared, dissolved its company or denies any debt will not come to the table. It suits an agency that exists, disputes an amount or a calculation method, and has an interest in protecting its reputation in an industry where everything gets around. In that case it avoids months of proceedings and sometimes preserves the relationship.

When it stops being a contract dispute

An unpaid amount is first of all a civil matter. It becomes something else in two situations.

The agency kept money that was never its own. Where the platform paid your income to the agency on terms requiring it to pass on your share, and the agency spent it instead, that is conversion as a civil claim — a claim over your property, not merely over a debt — and in the criminal law it can amount to theft or embezzlement. In the United States, using interstate wires or emails to obtain money dishonestly engages wire fraud under 18 U.S.C. § 1343, which carries up to twenty years. In the United Kingdom, the Fraud Act 2006 covers fraud by false representation and fraud by abuse of position, with a maximum of ten years.

The agency never intended to pay. A fake company, invented statements, a false identity: that is fraud from the outset, and it changes both the remedies available and the urgency of acting, because assets tend to disappear.

A criminal report does not replace a civil claim: it is added to it, and it changes the balance of power, provided it is serious. A report made to apply pressure, with no established misappropriation, rebounds on its author. That is why we only recommend it after reviewing the file, and why it is prepared with local counsel.

What recovery looks like in practice

Debt recovery in the OFM industry has one particularity: you have to explain to every person involved what a split, a payout or a chatter is before even getting to the law. That is what we do on our clients' behalf. A recent file illustrates it, in the opposite direction to this article: an agency was invoicing its commissions, a creator stopped paying, and £12,000 was recovered without the founder having to explain his model to anyone. The mechanics are the same when it is the agency that owes: evidence, letter before action, negotiation, then a judgment if necessary. In total, more than $400,000 has been recovered for our clients, agencies and creators combined.

No file guarantees the next one. What repeats is the method: a costed table, a letter that gives no purchase, a timetable that is kept. The first call is free, fifteen minutes, reply within 24 hours, and it serves first of all to say whether your case holds and what it will cost to see it through. Find us on the creators page or through the contact form.

Your contactOlivier MaciejewskiFounder of OFM Legal · Former international business lawyer (HEC Paris, Arendt, Clifford Chance) · Official MYM partnerHis background Updated July 20, 2026

This article is general information and does not replace advice tailored to your situation. OFM Legal is not a law firm: court proceedings are handled by our partner lawyers.

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