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The differences between senior collection specialists and collections specialists can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. It typically takes 6-12 months to become both a senior collection specialist and a collections specialist. Additionally, a senior collection specialist has an average salary of $45,150, which is higher than the $35,164 average annual salary of a collections specialist.
The top three skills for a senior collection specialist include portfolio, customer service and past due accounts. The most important skills for a collections specialist are customer service, patients, and customer accounts.
| Senior Collection Specialist | Collections Specialist | |
| Yearly salary | $45,150 | $35,164 |
| Hourly rate | $21.71 | $16.91 |
| Growth rate | -8% | -8% |
| Number of jobs | 31,192 | 40,277 |
| Job satisfaction | - | - |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 41% | Bachelor's Degree, 34% |
| Average age | 46 | 46 |
| Years of experience | 12 | 12 |
Senior collection specialists lead others by distributing and balancing workload, providing on-the-job training, and demonstrating proper work methods to employees. The specialists determine the most effective and economical means of collecting for each account, compose correspondence requiring knowledge procedure and practices in the collection, and apply standard due diligence practice to collect monies owed. They should have work leadership, know how to gather data, and analyze financial information for decision-making purposes. Also, they apply payments received to proper accounts and make necessary adjustments or corrections.
As their name entails, collections specialists collect payments for the outstanding accounts receivables. Collections specialists list the names of those who were unable to pay their overdue bills based on their delinquency severity. They locate the customers through loan documents, background checks, credit bureau information, and other databases or paperwork. These specialists are expected to be excellent in their negotiation and communication skills. They should also be trustworthy, reliable, and act professionally to be considered as good specialists.
Senior collection specialists and collections specialists have different pay scales, as shown below.
| Senior Collection Specialist | Collections Specialist | |
| Average salary | $45,150 | $35,164 |
| Salary range | Between $33,000 And $61,000 | Between $27,000 And $45,000 |
| Highest paying City | Hartford, CT | Boston, MA |
| Highest paying state | Connecticut | Connecticut |
| Best paying company | JPMorgan Chase & Co. | Kent Daniels & Associates |
| Best paying industry | Health Care | Finance |
There are a few differences between a senior collection specialist and a collections specialist in terms of educational background:
| Senior Collection Specialist | Collections Specialist | |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 41% | Bachelor's Degree, 34% |
| Most common major | Business | Business |
| Most common college | - | - |
Here are the differences between senior collection specialists' and collections specialists' demographics:
| Senior Collection Specialist | Collections Specialist | |
| Average age | 46 | 46 |
| Gender ratio | Male, 40.4% Female, 59.6% | Male, 30.5% Female, 69.5% |
| Race ratio | Black or African American, 12.3% Unknown, 4.0% Hispanic or Latino, 20.9% Asian, 3.5% White, 58.8% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.5% | Black or African American, 12.2% Unknown, 4.1% Hispanic or Latino, 18.5% Asian, 3.7% White, 61.0% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.5% |
| LGBT Percentage | 8% | 8% |