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Senior collection specialist vs debt collector

The differences between senior collection specialists and debt collectors 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 debt collector. Additionally, a senior collection specialist has an average salary of $45,150, which is higher than the $33,865 average annual salary of a debt collector.

The top three skills for a senior collection specialist include portfolio, customer service and past due accounts. The most important skills for a debt collector are customer service, outbound calls, and payment arrangements.

Senior collection specialist vs debt collector overview

Senior Collection SpecialistDebt Collector
Yearly salary$45,150$33,865
Hourly rate$21.71$16.28
Growth rate-8%-8%
Number of jobs31,19223,385
Job satisfaction--
Most common degreeBachelor's Degree, 41%High School Diploma, 34%
Average age4646
Years of experience1212

What does a senior collection specialist do?

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.

What does a debt collector do?

Debt collectors are also known as collection agencies and are responsible for recovering past due debts. Most of them are hired by companies to collect debt either for a fee or a percentage of the total amount recovered. Also, some debt collectors buy delinquent debts at a discount and seek to collect the debt's full amount. They have many strategies to collect debts, including calling debtor's phones, sending letters, and even visiting them at their home. However, if debtors fail to pay their due, debt collectors can either update the debtor's credit report or sue them over debt. Once sued and debtors ignore court hearings and lose by default, results could either be garnishment on debtor'debtors' wages or levies on their bank.

Senior collection specialist vs debt collector salary

Senior collection specialists and debt collectors have different pay scales, as shown below.

Senior Collection SpecialistDebt Collector
Average salary$45,150$33,865
Salary rangeBetween $33,000 And $61,000Between $26,000 And $43,000
Highest paying CityHartford, CTSan Francisco, CA
Highest paying stateConnecticutCalifornia
Best paying companyJPMorgan Chase & Co.Mayor Ethan Berkowitz
Best paying industryHealth CareConstruction

Differences between senior collection specialist and debt collector education

There are a few differences between a senior collection specialist and a debt collector in terms of educational background:

Senior Collection SpecialistDebt Collector
Most common degreeBachelor's Degree, 41%High School Diploma, 34%
Most common majorBusinessBusiness
Most common college--

Senior collection specialist vs debt collector demographics

Here are the differences between senior collection specialists' and debt collectors' demographics:

Senior Collection SpecialistDebt Collector
Average age4646
Gender ratioMale, 40.4% Female, 59.6%Male, 30.7% Female, 69.3%
Race ratioBlack 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, 4.0% Hispanic or Latino, 20.0% Asian, 3.4% White, 59.9% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.5%
LGBT Percentage8%8%

Differences between senior collection specialist and debt collector duties and responsibilities

Senior collection specialist example responsibilities.

  • Manage re-billings for third party accounts including: commercial carriers, manage care, PPO, POS and HMO organizations.
  • Work comp, MV cases, Medicare, Medicaid and commercial insurances.
  • Follow Medicare guidelines, posses knowledge of ICD and CPT coding, medical and reimbursement terminology, third party billing
  • Cross train fellow agents in store support and online product matrix, and train incoming agents in software and FDCPA guidelines.
  • Participate in the Medicaid conversion project.
  • Verify correct consumer provide disclosure to ensure compliance with FDCPA regulations.
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Debt collector example responsibilities.

  • Prevent impeding loss and increasing profitability through negotiation and enforcement of schedule collection campaigns, consistently achieving high success standards.
  • Work with FHA, obama programs at the time.
  • Educate customers on ways to get medical assistance such as Medicaid, Medicare etc.
  • Prevent foreclosure by putting people on repayment plans, submitting requests for modifications, or deed in lieu.
  • File Medicaid, Medicare and commercial claims consisting of PPO discounts, nurse practitioner discounts, humanitarian discounts, etc.
  • Maintain security and confidentiality of company and client information, following FDCPA regulations.
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Senior collection specialist vs debt collector skills

Common senior collection specialist skills
  • Portfolio, 9%
  • Customer Service, 8%
  • Past Due Accounts, 8%
  • Delinquent Accounts, 6%
  • Customer Accounts, 6%
  • Payment Arrangements, 5%
Common debt collector skills
  • Customer Service, 9%
  • Outbound Calls, 9%
  • Payment Arrangements, 8%
  • Delinquent Accounts, 8%
  • Credit Card Payments, 6%
  • FDCPA, 5%

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