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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 | Debt Collector | |
| Yearly salary | $45,150 | $33,865 |
| Hourly rate | $21.71 | $16.28 |
| Growth rate | -8% | -8% |
| Number of jobs | 31,192 | 23,385 |
| Job satisfaction | - | - |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 41% | High School Diploma, 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.
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 specialists and debt collectors have different pay scales, as shown below.
| Senior Collection Specialist | Debt Collector | |
| Average salary | $45,150 | $33,865 |
| Salary range | Between $33,000 And $61,000 | Between $26,000 And $43,000 |
| Highest paying City | Hartford, CT | San Francisco, CA |
| Highest paying state | Connecticut | California |
| Best paying company | JPMorgan Chase & Co. | Mayor Ethan Berkowitz |
| Best paying industry | Health Care | Construction |
There are a few differences between a senior collection specialist and a debt collector in terms of educational background:
| Senior Collection Specialist | Debt Collector | |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 41% | High School Diploma, 34% |
| Most common major | Business | Business |
| Most common college | - | - |
Here are the differences between senior collection specialists' and debt collectors' demographics:
| Senior Collection Specialist | Debt Collector | |
| Average age | 46 | 46 |
| Gender ratio | Male, 40.4% Female, 59.6% | Male, 30.7% Female, 69.3% |
| 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, 4.0% Hispanic or Latino, 20.0% Asian, 3.4% White, 59.9% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.5% |
| LGBT Percentage | 8% | 8% |