OverviewSalaryAboutEducationWhere are the jobsEmploymentGenderRace/Origin
Overview
Locate and notify customers of delinquent accounts by mail, telephone, or personal visit to solicit payment. Duties include receiving payment and posting amount to customer's account, preparing statements to credit department if customer fails to respond, initiating repossession proceedings or service disconnection, and keeping records of collection and status of accounts.
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Responsibilities and activities
Bill and account collectors typically do the following:
- Find consumers and businesses who have overdue bills
- Track down consumers who have an out-of-date address by using the Internet, post office, credit bureaus, or neighbors—a process called “skip tracing”
- Inform debtors that they have an overdue bill and try to negotiate a payment
- Explain the terms of sale or contract with the debtor, when necessary
- Learn the reasons for the overdue bills, which can help with the negotiations
- Offer credit advice or refer a consumer to a debt counselor, when appropriate
Bill and account collectors generally contact debtors by phone, although sometimes they do so by mail. They use computer systems to update contact information and record past collection attempts with a particular debtor. Keeping these records can help collectors with future negotiations.
The main job of bill and account collectors is finding a solution that is acceptable to the debtor and maximizes payment to the creditor. Listening to the debtor and paying attention to his or her concerns can help the collector negotiate a solution.
After the collector and debtor agree on a repayment plan, the collector regularly checks to ensure that the debtor pays on time. If the debtor does not pay, the collector submits a statement to the creditor, who can take legal action. In extreme cases, this legal action may include taking back goods or disconnecting service.
Collectors must follow federal and state laws that govern debt collection. These laws require that collectors make sure they are talking with the debtor before announcing that the purpose of the call is to collect a debt. A collector also must give a statement, called “mini-Miranda,” which informs the account holder that they are speaking with a bill or debt collector.
Collectors usually have goals they are expected to meet. Typically, these include calls per hour and success rates.
Salary
Median salary: $38,100 annually
Half of those employed in this career earn between $31,790 and $47,380.
Context: Median Salary
How do salaries for this career compare to other jobs' salaries?
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Salary growth for bill and account collectors
Is this job likely to reward you for sticking with it through pay raises and promotions? The higher a job’s “experience quotient,” the more you are likely to get as you stay there.
Experience quotient percentile
Take a minute to look at how much you might expect your salary to increase with each five years' experience, as well as how the numbers working at each age change. Does this seem to be a job for the young or the old, or could it be a career offering steady salary growth for many years?
Salary distribution
Number employed
About Bill and Account Collectors
How do benefits for this career compare to other jobs? The availability of health care, especially employer provided health care, and pension plans can add significantly to the value of compensation you receive in a career. These charts compare how this career compares to other careers with regard to health care and pension plans.
Employee has health insurance
Employer is providing health insurance
Employer-provided pension plan is available
Worker concerns
Some jobs are more stressful than others, and some are just plain dangerous. The following list gives the percentages of bill and account collectors who report hazardous or difficult situations typically occurring at least once a week.
- Unpleasant or Angry People (93%)
- Time Pressure (61%)
- High Conflict Frequency (52%)
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Personality and skills
Can you see yourself in the ranks of Bill and Account Collectors? Here are the skills and traits that could lead to success.
Listening skills
Collectors must pay attention to what debtors say when trying to negotiate a repayment plan. Learning the particular situation of the debtors and how they fell into debt can help collectors suggest solutions.
Negotiating skills
The main aspects of a collector’s job are reconciling the differences between two parties (the debtor and the creditor) and offering a solution that is acceptable to both parties.
Speaking skills
Collectors must be able to speak to debtors to explain their options and ensure that they fully understand what is being said.
Injury and Illness
About 17 bill and account collectors become injured or ill for every 10,000 workers, making this job more dangerous than 52% of other careers. The most common specific illnesses or injuries are detailed following.
Carpal tunnel syndrome
All multiple traumatic injuries
Bruises and contusions
Education pathways to this career
Education attained by bill and account collectors
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), bill and account collectors typically hold a high school diploma or equivalent.
Sometimes the typical education identified by the BLS differs a bit from the reality of the how much education current workers actually have. The donut shows the education level held by people currently working as bill and account collectors as reported in responses to the American Community Survey.
Details: Education and training recommended for bill and account collectors
Most bill and account collectors are required to have a high school diploma, although some employers prefer applicants who have taken some college courses. Communications, accounting, and basic computer courses are examples of classes that are helpful for entering this occupation.
Education level of Bill and Account Collectors
Only 18% of bill and account collectors have a bachelor's degree or higher.
Education attained by bill and account collectors
None
High School
Some College
Associate's Degree
Bachelor's Degree
Master's Degree
Professional Degree
Doctorate
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Programs recommended by the Department of Education
The Department of Education recommends the following college degree programs as preparation for this career. You can click the program row to learn more about the program and explore a list of schools that offer the program.
Number of degrees awarded in 2018
Education
Education level of awarded degrees
Assoc./Cert.
Bachelor's
Graduate
Gender
Gender of graduates
Men
Women
Race/Origin
Race/origin of graduates
White
Minority
International
Where are the jobs
State-by-state employment numbers
Some careers tend to be centered in specific parts of the country. For example, most jobs in fashion are in New York or California. Let's see if your dream job is easy to find in your dream location! We have a few choices for viewing the data that can help you get a full employment picture.
Select a state to see local area details
Number of Bill and Account Collectors per 1,000 workers (ACS)
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Job density versus job count
Which states hire the most bill and account collectors? We wonder if that's a fair question since states come in all sizes, so instead let's start with the question of which states have the highest density of people working as bill and account collectors. You can choose to view the number of jobs per state if you prefer.
Salaries by state
Let's get a feel for where bill and account collectors earn the highest salaries. There are several choices for which data we consider and how we view that data, and each can lead to different conclusions, so please read on...
Median salary versus state ratio
We use two methods to compare salaries across states:
- In-state comparisons: the ratio of median (middle) salaries for bill and account collectors compared to the median salary for all people working in each state, or
- Median salary: the unaltered median salaries for bill and account collectors.
The darkest shading corresponds to states in which bill and account collectors earn the highest salary when compared to other jobs in the state. We think this figure might be a better indicator than the actual salary for your buying power as a state resident.
Select a state to see local area details
Location-adjusted median salary for Bill and Account Collectors (ACS)
Employment
8% of Bill and account collectors are working part time.
We’ve found that some jobs have a huge number of part-time workers, and typically that is because they are unable to find full-time work or the job itself can’t provide full-time hours. With 8% part-time workers, this occupation has a lower percentage of part-time workers than 64% of careers.
Employer types
This donut shares the break-down of workers by employer type, giving us a picture of what employers most typically hire for this career.
Employers of undefined (ACS)
Private for-profit
Private not-for-profit
Local government
State government
Federal government
Self-employed incorporated
Self-employed not incorporated
Working without pay
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Distribution: Salaries of bill and account collectors by type of employer
Here are the salary distributions based on employer type.
Gender
Bill and account collectors and gender
With 70% women, this occupation has a higher percentage of women than 81% of careers.
Gender of Bill and account collectors
Men (30%)
Women (70%)
Distribution: salaries by gender
Does gender greatly influence your salary in this career? The closer the bars are, the less discrepancy there is.
We only include salary data when the survey error is less than 20%, so you may see only partial information for some categories.
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Context: Women in the workforce
How does this career compare to other careers with regard to the percentage of women in the career.
Context: Salary inequity
The median salary for all full-time male workers in the
US exceeds the full-time median salary for women
by 19%.
The situation is a little better for bill and account collectors, with the
median salary for men 9%
higher than the median salary for women.
Race/Origin
Race and origin of Bill and account collectors
This donut shows the distribution of race and origin among those employed as Bill and account collectors.
Race/origin of bill and account collectors
White (65% )
Black (23% )
Other (5% )
Multiracial (3% )
Asian (2% )
Hispanic (2% )
American Indian (1% )
Pacific Islander (0% )
Distribution: salaries by race/origin
Some careers might have a pay disparity based on race or origin, the closer the below bars are the less of a discrepancy is present.
We only include salary data when the survey error is less than 20%, so you may see only partial information for some categories.
