What does a collector do?
Collectors are responsible for monitoring and providing immediate actions for client accounts with overdue payments. Collectors must be able to contact clients through phone or e-mail. A collector's duty also includes negotiating on payment procedures and offering repayment plans and alternative payment solutions to free the debt. Collectors need to document any agreements made to the client, updating and verifying contact information, resolving account discrepancies and client complaints, and report escalated concerns to the management.
Collector responsibilities
Here are examples of responsibilities from real collector resumes:
- Manage patient focuse reports, collection modules, provider/facility A/R, collections, patient discharge letters.
- Monitor all assign accounts by reviewing the client's aging, manage all potential bad debit, DSO, aging.
- Prevent impeding loss and increasing profitability through negotiation and enforcement of schedule collection campaigns, consistently achieving high success standards.
- Provide customer service via telephone and correspondence for patients and authorize representatives regarding outstanding patient accounts in accordance with facility protocol.
- Verify and run eligibility on the following insurance, Medi-Cal, Medi-Cal HMO, Medicare, Medicare HMO.
- Provide excellent customer service while following HIPPA confidentiality laws.
- Collect and document delinquent accounts in accordance with departmental and FDCPA guidelines.
- Collect and resolve outstanding deficiencies for clients; include skip-tracing, payment arrangements, and settlement negotiation of outstanding personal accounts.
- Practice laws mandate by HIPPA and company regulations.
- Assess denials, pursue appeals or close claims when appropriate.
- Analyze EOB's to make sure insurances paid the correct amount.
- Research and find correct payment for Medi-Cal & Medicare and resubmitted claims.
- Run monthly A/R and review spreadsheets focusing firstly on high dollar and over 120 days.
- Clean up A/R drastically by back billing Medi-Cal claims and appealing of several PPO claims.
- Complete medical coding and billing for inpatient and outpatient services, including all CPT and ICD9 codes.
Collector skills and personality traits
We calculated that 14% of Collectors are proficient in Patients, Customer Service, and Payment Arrangements. They’re also known for soft skills such as Communication skills, Empathy, and Good judgment.
We break down the percentage of Collectors that have these skills listed on their resume here:
- Patients, 14%
Motivated patients to prioritize payment of delinquent accounts * Consistently exceeded monthly goals * Maintained top collector status
- Customer Service, 10%
Owned team productivity metrics and implemented strategic changes, led a team of customer service representatives to increase service center profitability.
- Payment Arrangements, 10%
Negotiate payment arrangements on past due accounts while leveraging auto-dial system to initiate customer contact and determine reason for delinquency.
- Excellent Interpersonal, 9%
Position requires excellent interpersonal, customer service skill, computer proficiency.
- Delinquent Accounts, 8%
Provided exceptional collection support includes, counseling customers on delinquent accounts to bring resolution to unpaid accounts following company policies.
- Student Loans, 5%
Contacted clients already in payment programs for defaulted federal student loans and assisted them with necessary documentation and related paperwork.
"patients," "customer service," and "payment arrangements" are among the most common skills that collectors use at work. You can find even more collector responsibilities below, including:
Listening skills. While "listening skills" is last on this skills list, don't underestimate its importance to collector responsibilities. Much of what a collector does relies on this skill, seeing as "collectors must pay attention to what debtors say when trying to negotiate a repayment plan." Here is a resume example of how this skill is used in the everyday duties of collectors: "communicate and negotiate payment arrangements with cardholders by using active listening skills to determine reason for delinquency. "
The three companies that hire the most collectors are:
- Quest Diagnostics58 collectors jobs
- Army National Guard34 collectors jobs
- National Guard32 collectors jobs
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Collector vs. Account representative
Account representatives are employees who manage client accounts and act as the main contact of the clients they are handling. They maintain existing accounts by updating client details regularly. They also check up on clients to see if they are still satisfied with the products or services of the company. They also create new accounts by welcoming new clients and assisting them in their needs. Account representatives manage client inquiries and process client requests. They also address complaints and ensure that any challenges are mitigated and that clients remain with the company.
While similarities exist, there are also some differences between collectors and account representative. For instance, collector responsibilities require skills such as "excellent interpersonal," "student loans," "outbound collection calls," and "overdue accounts." Whereas a account representative is skilled in "data entry," "customer satisfaction," "cpt," and "medical terminology." This is part of what separates the two careers.
Account representatives tend to make the most money working in the finance industry, where they earn an average salary of $38,433. In contrast, collectors make the biggest average salary, $35,207, in the finance industry.The education levels that account representatives earn slightly differ from collectors. In particular, account representatives are 1.5% more likely to graduate with a Master's Degree than a collector. Additionally, they're 0.0% less likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.Collector vs. Recovery specialist
A recovery specialist has various responsibilities depending on their line of work or industry. In a business setting, a recovery specialist is in-charge of devising plans and strategies to protect a company or brand's networks, systems, data, hardware, and software. They primarily function to prevent damages or losses by implementing precautionary and corrective measures. Furthermore, a recovery specialist needs to coordinate with co-workers and team members, report to a manager or supervisor, and adhere to its policies and standards.
In addition to the difference in salary, there are some other key differences worth noting. For example, collector responsibilities are more likely to require skills like "excellent interpersonal," "outbound collection calls," "patient accounts," and "process payments." Meanwhile, a recovery specialist has duties that require skills in areas such as "mental health," "substance abuse," "rehabilitation," and "customer satisfaction." These differences highlight just how different the day-to-day in each role looks.
Average education levels between the two professions vary. Recovery specialists tend to reach similar levels of education than collectors. In fact, they're 3.9% more likely to graduate with a Master's Degree and 0.0% more likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.Collector vs. Loan services representative
A loan service representative is responsible for communicating and interacting with clients and serves as a back-up or reliever in a company. They are the first person that the client must go through if they want to apply for a loan. Loan representatives monitor and ensure that all data and information is properly documented using a loan processing system. Also, they are the ones who inspect and verify if a company is complying with the transaction rules as well as the loan procedures and regulations.
The required skills of the two careers differ considerably. For example, collectors are more likely to have skills like "patients," "excellent interpersonal," "past due accounts," and "debt repayment." But a loan services representative is more likely to have skills like "loan payments," "escrow accounts," "mortgage loans," and "ach."
Loan services representatives make a very good living in the finance industry with an average annual salary of $53,142. On the other hand, collectors are paid the highest salary in the finance industry, with average annual pay of $35,207.When it comes to education, loan services representatives tend to earn similar degree levels compared to collectors. In fact, they're 1.1% more likely to earn a Master's Degree, and 0.1% more likely to graduate with a Doctoral Degree.Collector vs. Recovery agent
Even though a few skill sets overlap between collectors and recovery agents, there are some differences that are important to note. For one, a collector might have more use for skills like "patients," "customer service," "excellent interpersonal," and "outbound collection calls." Meanwhile, some responsibilities of recovery agents require skills like "debt collection," "tow truck," "financial institutions," and "credit card. "
Recovery agents enjoy the best pay in the energy industry, with an average salary of $45,507. For comparison, collectors earn the highest salary in the finance industry.recovery agents reach similar levels of education compared to collectors, in general. The difference is that they're 0.8% more likely to earn a Master's Degree, and 0.4% more likely to graduate with a Doctoral Degree.Types of collector
Updated January 8, 2025
