What does a collections manager do?
A collections manager is an individual who manages a staff of collectors whose job is to contact companies and individuals for the late payments on the products and services they have received. Collections managers oversee a company's process of retrieving money owed to them by assigning collectors to collect the money. They are required to handle customer complaints and must negotiate with customers about payment arrangements to ensure they are being paid. They also provide reports on the collection department's progress, statistics, and data analysis.
Collections manager responsibilities
Here are examples of responsibilities from real collections manager resumes:
- Achieve 182 FTE save, and annual net saving of $2.8MM
- Manage Medicaid accounts in effort to receive payment from them.
- Manage self pay and Medicaid pending collections throughout the southeast region.
- Organize the managed care effort to ensure that patients are not accept from incorrect PPO's and HMO's.
- Create and implement new quantitative process to achieve corporate DSO targets that determines monthly cash collection targets by business unit.
- Achieve historical low of six percent in A/R over 30 days past due and reduction of DSO to 53 days.
- Train USFK personnel on programs used to help aid in SIGINT, IMMINT and HUMINT collection.
- Fuse multiple intelligence sources including IMINT, SIGINT, HUMINT, and COMINT to create time sensitive mission products
- Terminate collection agencies for non-performance and non-compliance with FDCPA licensing and bonding requirements.
- Migrate purchased companies into business unit models while under the scrutiny of CMS.
- Ensure compliance with SOX requirements by reviewing and approving the finalization of invoices.
- Resolve debt with client with quickest resolution to fast payment to eliminate future NSF.
- Credential all health plans including HMO's PPO's and private healthcare insurance programs.
- Review and addressed any concerns when applicable base on results of collection KPI reports.
- Process over 200 NSF cases per day, accurate and timely collection for all cases.
Collections manager skills and personality traits
We calculated that 15% of Collections Managers are proficient in Customer Service, Collection Management, and Portfolio. They’re also known for soft skills such as Analytical skills, Communication skills, and Detail oriented.
We break down the percentage of Collections Managers that have these skills listed on their resume here:
- Customer Service, 15%
Conduct phone monitoring of customer service representative and provide constructive feedback based on observations on accuracy, courtesy, and efficiency.
- Collection Management, 9%
Conducted multiple targeted missions on established objectives and provided quality review, analysis, mentoring and collection management for remote teams.
- Portfolio, 7%
Established and implemented a balanced commission structure for collection staff ensuring optimal performance in revenue collected and delinquency rate of portfolio.
- FDCPA, 5%
Terminated collection agencies for non-performance and non-compliance with FDCPA licensing and bonding requirements.
- Delinquent Accounts, 4%
Increased collections rate and supported revenue goal attainment by employing rigorous and detailed collections methodologies to secure payment on delinquent accounts.
- Credit Card, 4%
Documented and maintained accurate and pertinent information on accounts and processed daily cash and credit card transactions.
Most collections managers use their skills in "customer service," "collection management," and "portfolio" to do their jobs. You can find more detail on essential collections manager responsibilities here:
Analytical skills. The most essential soft skill for a collections manager to carry out their responsibilities is analytical skills. This skill is important for the role because "to assist executives in making decisions, financial managers need to evaluate data and information that affects their organization." Additionally, a collections manager resume shows how their duties depend on analytical skills: "prepared, analyzed and implemented reimbursement studies resulting in consistent collection rates for commercial, medicare, medicaid and self-pay a/r. "
Communication skills. Another essential skill to perform collections manager duties is communication skills. Collections managers responsibilities require that "financial managers must be able to explain and justify complex financial transactions." Collections managers also use communication skills in their role according to a real resume snippet: "establish and maintain consistent communications and payment arrangements with defendants. "
Detail oriented. collections managers are also known for detail oriented, which are critical to their duties. You can see how this skill relates to collections manager responsibilities, because "in preparing and analyzing reports, such as balance sheets and income statements, financial managers must be precise and attentive to their work in order to avoid errors." A collections manager resume example shows how detail oriented is used in the workplace: "manage collection calls and/or correspondence in a fast paced goal oriented collections department. "
Math skills. collections manager responsibilities often require "math skills." The duties that rely on this skill are shown by the fact that "financial managers need strong skills in certain branches of mathematics, including algebra." This resume example shows what collections managers do with math skills on a typical day: "developed excel spreadsheet to capture all statistics regarding isr allocation and collection. "
Organizational skills. Another crucial skill for a collections manager to carry out their responsibilities is "organizational skills." A big part of what collections managers relies on this skill, since "because financial managers deal with a range of information and documents, they must have structures in place to be effective in their work." How this skill relates to collections manager duties can be seen in an example from a collections manager resume snippet: "managed and collected on past due and over limit credit card accounts to help meet organizational goals. "
The three companies that hire the most collections managers are:
- Prescient Edge13 collections managers jobs
- Peraton12 collections managers jobs
- Deloitte11 collections managers jobs
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Compare different collections managers
Collections manager vs. Finance manager
A finance manager is responsible for monitoring the financial system of a company. Their tasks include handling their organization's financial status, generating cost estimates and budget goals, identifying business opportunities to increase revenues and profitability, improving financial strategies, reducing costs, analyzing account statements, processing invoice as needed, analyzing market trends, searching potential partnerships, and presenting reports. A finance manager must have excellent analytical skills and knowledge of the accounting and financial industry. They are responsible for providing the best recommendations for the organization's growth.
There are some key differences in the responsibilities of each position. For example, collections manager responsibilities require skills like "collection management," "portfolio," "fdcpa," and "delinquent accounts." Meanwhile a typical finance manager has skills in areas such as "financial analysis," "cpa," "hyperion," and "financial models." This difference in skills reveals the differences in what each career does.
Finance managers earn the highest salaries when working in the finance industry, with an average yearly salary of $118,926. On the other hand, collections managers are paid more in the health care industry with an average salary of $60,577.The education levels that finance managers earn slightly differ from collections managers. In particular, finance managers are 10.6% more likely to graduate with a Master's Degree than a collections manager. Additionally, they're 0.0% less likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.Collections manager vs. Tax manager
A Tax Manager is responsible for managing tax reporting and compliance within an organization. They provide innovative tax planning and prepare state and federal tax returns for companies.
In addition to the difference in salary, there are some other key differences worth noting. For example, collections manager responsibilities are more likely to require skills like "customer service," "collection management," "portfolio," and "fdcpa." Meanwhile, a tax manager has duties that require skills in areas such as "cpa," "client relationships," "tax planning," and "tax compliance." These differences highlight just how different the day-to-day in each role looks.
Tax managers earn a higher average salary than collections managers. But tax managers earn the highest pay in the finance industry, with an average salary of $96,231. Additionally, collections managers earn the highest salaries in the health care with average pay of $60,577 annually.Average education levels between the two professions vary. Tax managers tend to reach higher levels of education than collections managers. In fact, they're 15.5% more likely to graduate with a Master's Degree and 0.0% more likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.Collections manager vs. Finance center manager
The duties of a finance center manager depend on one's place or industry of employment. Typically, they are responsible for overseeing the operations of a financial center, ensuring everything is running smoothly. They are also responsible for performing clerical tasks such as producing progress reports and presentations, managing schedules, setting goals and deadlines, processing documents, and maintaining data and records of all financial activities. Furthermore, as a manager, it is essential to lead and encourage the team, all while implementing the company's policies and regulations.
The required skills of the two careers differ considerably. For example, collections managers are more likely to have skills like "collection management," "portfolio," "fdcpa," and "delinquent accounts." But a finance center manager is more likely to have skills like "exceptional client," "financial services," "regulatory policies," and "operational procedures."
Finance center managers typically earn similar educational levels compared to collections managers. Specifically, they're 2.2% more likely to graduate with a Master's Degree, and 0.3% more likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.Collections manager vs. Manager
Managers are responsible for a specific department, function, or employee group. They oversee their assigned departments and all the employees under the department. Managers are responsible that the department they are handling is functioning well. They set the department goals and the steps they must take to achieve the goals. They are also in charge of assessing the performance of their departments and their employees. Additionally, managers are responsible for interviewing prospective candidates for department vacancies and assessing their fit to the needs of the department. Managers also set the general working environment in the department, and they are expected to ensure that their employees remain motivated.
Even though a few skill sets overlap between collections managers and managers, there are some differences that are important to note. For one, a collections manager might have more use for skills like "collection management," "portfolio," "fdcpa," and "delinquent accounts." Meanwhile, some responsibilities of managers require skills like "payroll," "food safety," "financial statements," and "management. "
The finance industry tends to pay the highest salaries for managers, with average annual pay of $71,781. Comparatively, the highest collections manager annual salary comes from the health care industry.managers reach similar levels of education compared to collections managers, in general. The difference is that they're 0.5% more likely to earn a Master's Degree, and 0.2% more likely to graduate with a Doctoral Degree.Types of collections manager
Updated January 8, 2025
