Cheapest Collection Agency Prices in 2023 – Compare The Cost
For as little as a 6% fee, no matter how expensive debt collection is, it is still affordable compared to letting your debts simply languish until the statute of limitations expires on them.
One model that is commonly applied throughout the debt collection industry makes their services incredibly cheap for their clients by charging on what is known as a contingency basis. This means that they only assess a fee if they are successful in recovering the debt.
- Lowest Collection Agency Fees: 6%, and generally only includes newer debt recovery.
- National Average Debt Recovery Rates: 21% – 60% depending on the age of outstanding debts.
This is a good rule if finding a low-cost debt collection firm is your foremost priority: only do business with companies that work on a contingency basis. The truth is that there are never any guarantees when it comes to debt collection – if a company requires payment upfront, they can’t promise you that they will collect on your debts. Therefore, if bottom-line affordability is your top priority, it makes sense to stick with one of the many contingency-based companies. However, if you’re willing to put up some up-front costs, you may be able to find much more discounted collection services that work on a flat-fee basis instead.
What Factors Affect Debt Collection Agency Pricing?
Debt collection firms charge based on the techniques and resources they employ in order to collect your debts. Factors that might cause a company to charge a higher rate include:
- Do they pursue litigation against clients?
- Are their services offered across the country?
- Do they pursue clients who have relocated to different countries?
- Do they offer an online interface for you to communicate with them?
You may also find that companies sometimes shift their rates based on the sizes or age of the debts that you want them to collect. Others stay consistent across the board, so know which type of company you’re working with before you sign on to their service, especially if you encounter a wide range of debt sizes and ages in your organization.
What is Debt Recovery Services?
Any time a customer or a client owes your company money for a service or product you provided to them, there is a record of that debt. Many companies offer a certain amount of time for a debt to be cleared, which can range from a week or less to 90 days or more. However, when a customer fails to pay the debt after the agreed-upon terms, you run the risk of losing out on income that you are fairly owed if you cannot collect on the debt. There are many laws that govern what collectors can do, so you’ll want to research the reputation of each company carefully.
Debt collection companies consist of professionals who are experts in collecting debts from customers who have defaulted on their payments. They use a variety of tactics and strategies, ranging from simple communications to litigation and repossessions, in order to recoup the money that you are owed.
Debt collection is a time-consuming and often frustrating business because in many cases customers who have defaulted on a debt don’t wish to be found. They may be actively avoiding paying their debt, or they may be embarrassed at their inability to do so. Although many companies attempt to collect on outstanding debts internally, the truth is that in all but the most simplistic cases this is often going to be very difficult to do. Debt collectors are experts in finding people with outstanding bills, and can then open proceedings to complete the collection.
What to Look for in Low-Cost Debt Collection?
When you’re in the market for a new debt collection firm, you first and foremost want a company with a high success rate. Here are a few things to keep in mind:
- No company can boast a 100% successful collections rate. Anyone who tells you that they can is stretching the truth, and you should probably look elsewhere.
- Accurate collection success rates are a good indicator of how effective a company is, however.
- A company should be able to provide references that can attest to the success of its tactics.
Secondly, when shopping for a low-priced debt collection firm, you don’t want to venture into the territory of unscrupulous debt collectors. Debt collection is a tightly regulated industry and there are many guidelines and pieces of legislation that debt collection firms must adhere to. If you do business with a firm that is willing to bend these rules (and some are), you could find yourself linked to their actions unwittingly. A thorough Internet search to see if there have been any concerns about the legality of a debt collector’s actions is a good way to protect yourself against this type of problem.
Finally, if you deal with a global client base, you need to shop for an affordable debt collection firm that also offers international collections. You may also want to look for a company that has agents that operate in specific languages if you do a lot of business in countries where English is not the primary language.
Bargain Debt Collection Companies with Discounted Prices
If you’re in the market for an inexpensive debt collection company, don’t be afraid to negotiate when it comes to their rates. These companies specialize in negotiation, and there is often room to have a discussion, especially if you’re coming to them with large scale or long term collection needs. The companies listed below are just two of the many economic debt collection firms you have to choose from.
A.R.M. Solutions: Rather than working on a contingency basis, A.R.M. Solutions charges a flat fee, however, their high success rates (42%) coupled with their low fees make them an inexpensive option worth considering. Their fees end up costing less than 6% of your targeted collections, with no bonuses or commissions ever added to your up-front costs.
Direct Recovery: Direct Recovery is a traditional contingency fee debt collection agency, who is completely transparent about the costs their clients will encounter. On standard accounts that are less than 60 days overdue from the last invoice, they only charge a 15% commission, slightly more affordable than the industry standard.
Other nationally based collection agencies with low priced debt recovery fees include:
- American Medical Collection Agency
- Continental Collection Agency
- Allied Financial Collection
- GC Services Collection Agency
- Pasi Collection Agency
- Aargon Collection Agency
Nothing to Lose with Debt Collection
When a debt has been outstanding long enough that you are considering collections, ask yourself, “what have you got to lose?” The answer is usually nothing. Even when paying a flat fee as described above, the success rate of a high-quality company means that at the end of the day, money is going back into your company despite the fees paid to the collection agency. Every firm has to deal with accounts that they are unable to collect on, but with an affordable debt collection firm on your side, you can mitigate the losses your company incurs as a result.