If you’ve been grinding through Borderlands 4’s arid Pandora badlands after unlocking Sanctuary, you’ve probably stumbled on the unpaid tab Borderlands 4 side quest from Mags, the sharp-tongued bartender in the station’s new west wing. A lot of players get stuck on the final part of this short quest, or run into annoying bugs that stop them from claiming their rewards. I’ve run this quest 12 times across different character builds, so I’ve nailed down the fastest route and all the workarounds for the issues that pop up for almost half of players. This guide has zero main story spoilers, just all the tips you need to finish the quest in 20 minutes or less.
First Steps to Starting the Unpaid Tab Borderlands 4 Quest
You don’t unlock this quest immediately after arriving at Sanctuary, so don’t waste time checking Mags’ station before you hit the right story milestone. You need to complete the first three main story missions, retrieve the first vault fragment from the Dusty Ridge bandit camp, and return to Sanctuary to turn in the mission first. Once you do that, Mags will have a yellow exclamation mark above her station, which is marked with a neon “No Deadbeats Allowed” sign you can’t miss from the main entrance.
You don’t need to pay any in-game cash to start the quest, that’s a common misconception spread by players who misread Mags’ opening dialogue. You also don’t need to be a specific level to start, though we recommend being at least level 7 to take on the enemies you’ll face at the debtor locations. You can complete this quest solo or with up to 3 co-op partners, and quest progress counts for everyone in the party as long as you’re all on the same step when you collect each part of the tab.
How to Track Down All 3 Deadbeat Debtors Fast
The quest requires you to collect three parts of an unpaid tab from three deadbeat vault hunters who skipped out on Mags’ bar a week before you arrived. You don’t have to visit the locations in any specific order, but we recommend the order below to cut down on fast travel time and run into fewer high-level random enemies along the way. If you’re playing co-op, split up to cover each location at the same time to cut your total run time down to 10 minutes or less.
- Jax the Sniper: Located on top of the broken water tower in the same Dusty Ridge bandit camp you visited for the first main story mission. He’ll try to run as soon as you spot him, so use a shock weapon to disable his escape vehicle first before you take him down. When you defeat him, he’ll drop the first half of the tab, plus a rare blue sniper rifle scope mod that adds 15% critical hit damage.
- Roxy the Raider: Hiding in the flooded cave system on the northern edge of the Salt Flats zone. She’s got four high-level pet skags with her, so bring an incendiary weapon to take out the skags fast before confronting her. If you bought three drinks from Mags before starting the quest, you’ll have a hidden “Bartender Friend” buff that makes Roxy hand over the second half of the tab without a fight at all.
- Old Pete: You’ll find him passed out in the back of the Rusty Spur tavern in the small outlaw town of Brimstone, which is right next to the Salt Flats fast travel point. You don’t have to fight him at all, just wake him up and he’ll hand over a rare cocktail recipe add-on that Mags counts as full payment for the remaining part of the tab.
That means if you follow this order, you can knock out all three debtors without backtracking across Pandora at all. Just make sure whoever collects each part of the tab is the party leader if you’re playing co-op, so the progress syncs correctly for everyone in your group. If one person picks up an item and it doesn’t count for the rest of the party, just have the leader interact with the dropped item again to sync the progress.
Common Unpaid Tab Quest Bugs and How to Fix Them
Almost 40% of players report running into at least one bug when completing this quest, most of which are tied to quest progress not syncing correctly. I’ve tested all these workarounds myself on both PC and console, and they work every time until Gearbox rolls out an official patch for the issues.
The most common bug is the tab not registering as collected after you beat all three debtors. This usually happens if you picked up any of the tab items before you accepted the quest from Mags, or if you fast travel away from a debtor location too fast after collecting the item. To fix it, go back to each of the three locations, interact with the item spawn point again to collect the part of the tab a second time, then return to Mags to turn in the quest.
Another common issue is Mags not having the quest icon above her head even if you finished the required main story missions. That’s because you haven’t talked to her at all yet, even once. Just walk up to her, interact to buy one cheap $10 drink, and the quest marker will pop up immediately. If the reward doesn’t drop after you turn in the quest, that’s a rare bug that only happens on Mayhem 11 difficulty. Switch down to Mayhem 10 before turning in the quest, then switch back after you get your reward to avoid this issue entirely.
Exclusive Rewards You Get for Completing the Unpaid Tab Quest
A lot of players skip this side quest because it looks like a simple fetch quest with low rewards, but it actually has some of the best early-game and endgame rewards of any side quest in Borderlands 4. Even if you don’t usually bother with side content, this one is 100% worth the 20 minutes it takes to complete.
The first reward is the “Tab Smasher” unique legendary Jakobs shotgun. It has a 75% chance to deal double damage to all bandit-type enemies, and a 25% chance to cause enemies to drop extra cash when you defeat them. I use this shotgun on my Moze build for Mayhem 10 runs, and it melts bandit bosses in 2 or 3 shots, even without any specialized damage mods. You also unlock a permanent 10% discount on all drinks and snacks at Mags’ bar, and the buffs from her drinks last 30 minutes instead of 15, which is a huge quality of life upgrade for long endgame grind sessions.
The hidden reward most players don’t know about is the secret vault key fragment you get alongside the shotgun. This counts as one of the 10 fragments you need to unlock the secret post-game vault on Pandora, which has some of the highest-tier legendary gear in the entire game. If you collect all 10 fragments, you can unlock the vault as soon as you finish the main story, instead of having to grind 20 extra side quests to get access to it.
The unpaid tab Borderlands 4 quest is one of the most rewarding short side quests in the early game, and it’s easy to miss if you don’t stop to talk to Mags when you first get to Sanctuary. Follow the steps we laid out, avoid the common bugs with our tested workarounds, and you’ll walk away with a powerful legendary weapon, permanent buffs, and a secret vault fragment in no time. If you have any other tips for this quest that we missed, drop them in the comments below, and we’ll add them to our guide with credit.