How To Become A Collections Officer: What It Is and Career Path

What is a collections officer and how to become one

Updated January 8, 2025

3 min read

The average collections officer salary is $39,671. The most common degree is a bachelor's degree degree with an business major. It usually takes 6-12 months of experience to become a collections officer. Collections officers with a Certified Management Accountant (CMA) certification earn more money. Between 2018 and 2028, the career is expected to grow -8% and produce -17,500 job opportunities across the U.S.

ScoreCollections OfficerUS Average

Salary

3.1

Avg. Salary $39,671

Avg. Salary $59,228

Stability level

7.9

Growth rate -8%

Growth rate 0.3%

Diversity

6.0

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 0.49%

Asian 3.73%

Black or African American 13.62%

Hispanic or Latino 21.71%

Unknown 4.11%

White 56.34%

Gender

female 56.68%

male 43.32%

Age - 46

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 3.00%

Asian 7.00%

Black or African American 14.00%

Hispanic or Latino 19.00%

White 57.00%

Gender

female 47.00%

male 53.00%

Age - 46

Stress level

7.9

Stress level is high

7.1 - high

Complexity level

4.9

Complexity level is intermediate

7 - challenging

Work life balance

7.6

Work life balance is good

6.4 - fair

Key steps to become a collections officer

Explore collections officer education requirements

Most common collections officer degrees

Bachelor's

52.7 %

Associate

20.3 %

High School Diploma

11.9 %

Start to develop specific collections officer skills

Skills	Percentages
Customer Service	12.33%
Delinquent Loans	10.12%
Delinquent Accounts	9.24%
Credit Card Payments	6.39%
Payment Arrangements	6.24%

Complete relevant collections officer training and internships

Accountants spend an average of 1-3 months on post-employment, on-the-job training. New collections officers learn the skills and techniques required for their job and employer during this time. The chart below shows how long it takes to gain competency as a collections officer based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data and data from real collections officer resumes.

Research collections officer duties and responsibilities

Plan and conduct sensitive HUMINT collection operations with an emphasis on managing and debriefing confidential sources.
Investigate debt and maintain FDCPA guidelines.
Well verse in FTC and FDCPA regulations on debt collections.
Integrate experimental ISR technologies to maximize intelligence collection and reduce work load on analysts and high demand low density collection assets.

Get collections officer experience

Generally, it takes 6-12 months to become a collections officer. The most common roles before becoming a collections officer include customer service representative, administrative assistant team lead and teller.

Prepare your collections officer resume

When your background is strong enough, you can start writing your collections officer resume.

You can use Zippia's AI resume builder to make the resume writing process easier while also making sure that you include key information that hiring managers expect to see on a collections officer resume. You'll find resume tips and examples of skills, responsibilities, and summaries, all provided by Zippi, your career sidekick.

Choose from 10+ customizable collections officer resume templates

Build a professional collections officer resume in minutes. Browse through our resume examples to identify the best way to word your resume. Then choose from 10+ resume templates to create your collections officer resume.