Collections, customer service vs associate customer service representative

The differences between collectionss, customer service and associate customer service representatives can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. It typically takes 6-12 months to become both a collections, customer service and an associate customer service representative. Additionally, an associate customer service representative has an average salary of $35,215, which is higher than the $32,870 average annual salary of a collections, customer service.

The top three skills for a collections, customer service include strong customer service, customer service and payment arrangements. The most important skills for an associate customer service representative are patients, outbound calls, and customer inquiries.

Collections, customer service vs associate customer service representative overview

	Collections, Customer Service	Associate Customer Service Representative
Yearly salary	$32,870	$35,215
Hourly rate	$15.80	$16.93
Growth rate	-8%	-4%
Number of jobs	161,544	199,751
Job satisfaction	-	-
Most common degree	High School Diploma, 33%	Bachelor's Degree, 35%
Average age	46	40
Years of experience	12	12

What does a collections, customer service do?

A collections customer service or collections agent is the person who is in charge of collecting past-due bill payments. Collections agents establish a list of individuals who failed to make their payments. They organize the list based on the severity of their delinquency. It is their task to find the location of the customers through background checks, credit bureau information, and loan documents. Those who are interested in this job should develop skills in intuition, quick thinking, problem-solving, and communication.

What does an associate customer service representative do?

An associate customer service representative is responsible for providing high customer service by assisting customers on their inquiries and concerns, as well as resolving and escalating high-level complaints to the supervisor or tenured customer service representative. Associate customer service representatives also process orders and payments from the customers, replacing defective items, and issuing refunds as needed. They must have excellent communication and organizational skills, especially on handling data processing procedures to the database for reference to customer concerns.

Collections, customer service vs associate customer service representative salary

Collectionss, customer service and associate customer service representatives have different pay scales, as shown below.

	Collections, Customer Service	Associate Customer Service Representative
Average salary	$32,870	$35,215
Salary range	Between $27,000 And $39,000	Between $26,000 And $46,000
Highest paying City	Danvers, MA	Washington, DC
Highest paying state	Virginia	Massachusetts
Best paying company	University of California	Deutsche Bank
Best paying industry	Automotive	Finance

Differences between collections, customer service and associate customer service representative education

There are a few differences between a collections, customer service and an associate customer service representative in terms of educational background:

	Collections, Customer Service	Associate Customer Service Representative
Most common degree	High School Diploma, 33%	Bachelor's Degree, 35%
Most common major	Business	Business
Most common college	-	-

Collections, customer service vs associate customer service representative demographics

Here are the differences between collectionss, customer service' and associate customer service representatives' demographics:

	Collections, Customer Service	Associate Customer Service Representative
Average age	46	40
Gender ratio	Male, 29.3% Female, 70.7%	Male, 35.1% Female, 64.9%
Race ratio	Black or African American, 11.4% Unknown, 4.2% Hispanic or Latino, 20.3% Asian, 3.8% White, 59.8% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.5%	Black or African American, 12.2% Unknown, 5.5% Hispanic or Latino, 21.0% Asian, 6.4% White, 54.2% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.8%
LGBT Percentage	8%	7%

Differences between collections, customer service and associate customer service representative duties and responsibilities

Collections, customer service example responsibilities.

Monitor all assign accounts by reviewing the client's aging, manage all potential bad debit, DSO, aging.
Provide excellent verbal, written, oral communication skills, attend ongoing training of collections and FDCPA regulations and guidelines.
Provide excellent interpersonal, negotiation, and customer service skills via telephone.
Research accounts to verify credits and debits make are accurately post against supporting documents showing timely reflect within the FDCPA guidelines.
Prevent impending loss and increase profitability through negotiation and enforcement of schedule collection campaigns.
Submit additional information request by insurance companies such as medical records, primary/secondary insurance explanation of benefits (EOB).

Associate customer service representative example responsibilities.

Lead and train a group of 3+ CSRs at a time, are responsible for making change and maintaining the till.
Assist as a cashier handling money, checks, and credit card transactions on company's POS system.
Operate POS cash register, maintain thorough knowledge of store merchandise and responsible for cross selling JC Penney credit card.
Audit CSRs final work for errors in the data entry portion so that billing information to providers & veterans are accurate.
Mail updated information to patients and providers regarding benefit changes.
Perform computer record searches; verify merchandise warranty and relay information to internal leadership.

Collections, customer service vs associate customer service representative skills

Common collections, customer service skills

Strong Customer Service, 45%
Customer Service, 12%
Payment Arrangements, 5%
Credit Card Payments, 4%
Delinquent Accounts, 4%
Past Due Accounts, 3%

Common associate customer service representative skills

Patients, 16%
Outbound Calls, 14%
Customer Inquiries, 7%
Customer Complaints, 7%
Inbound Calls, 6%
Customer Service, 5%

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Office and Administrative Industry
Collections, Customer Service
Collections, Customer Service vs Associate Customer Service Representative

Updated January 8, 2025

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