Commercial collection agencies in the US charge 10 to 50 percent of the money they recover on overdue business invoices, or a flat $5 to $24 per account for a letter program that runs before contingency starts. Large, young claims sit at the bottom of that range and small or old ones at the top. On the same $67,000 of past-due invoices, the published rates below produce fees from about $450 to over $23,000, and the age of each invoice on the day you place it moves the bill more than the choice of agency does.
We read the websites of seventeen US collection agencies and collection law firms on October 19, 2026. Six publish a usable price, and we added one collection software vendor that shows up in the same searches. The other eleven, including most of the names that appear in every roundup, route you to a quote form, and for those we say so rather than repeat a percentage from a directory or a press release. Every figure in the tables is the agency's own number on that date.
Commercial collection agency fees by agency
The agencies that publish fall into two groups. Some price a percentage of what they collect, tiered by the size of the claim or by how old it is. Others sell a prepaid letter and call program per account, and move unpaid accounts into contingency afterward.
| Provider | Published price (checked 2026-10-19) | Billing unit | Minimums and extra fees |
|---|---|---|---|
| The Kaplan Group | Over $500,000 10%; $50,000 to $499,999 15%; $10,000 to $49,999 20%; $3,000 to $9,999 25%; debtor outside the USA 30% | % of amount collected, by claim size | First claim from a new client must be at least $10,000. Second effort through its in-house law firm at the same rates. No fee unless it collects |
| IC System, InstiCollect | 35% on recoveries from days 1 to 180, rising to 50% on day 181 | % of recovery, by age of placement | $75 setup fee, $50 minimum balance, no minimum number of accounts. The page does not say whether it is a business or consumer program |
| Rocket Receivables | Stage One fixed fee: $21.95 per account for 10 ($219.50), $17.95 for 25 ($448.75), $14.95 for 50 ($747.50), 100+ by phone. Stage Two contingency: 50% of the recovered amount | Prepaid per account, then % of recovery | No minimums or membership fees. Stage One is for accounts under 6 months old; Stage Two for accounts over 120 days |
| Commercial Collection Corp. of New York | Small Balance Service: no commission, flat fee $8.00 for a 5 letter series or $5.00 for 3 letters | Per account, US debtors | Accounts over $250 can be upgraded to standard contingency collection, rate not published. Attorney stage on contingency, not published |
| Summit A*R | Contingency 7.5% to 50%, depending on the age, type and balance of the account | % of recovery, range only | No quotas, no minimums, nothing upfront. The range comes from its own September 2026 article, not a rate card |
| Cedar Financial | Flat fee $23.95 per claim for 10 ($239.50), $16.95 for 50 ($847.50), $9.95 for 100 ($995.00) | Prepaid per claim | Flat fee is for consumer accounts only, under $10,000 and under a year old. Commercial claims go to contingency, rate not published, with a $750 activation fee to start directly in contingency |
| Tratta | $500 a month (Pro), $2,500 a month billed annually (Enterprise), $10,000 a month (Enterprise Plus) | Software subscription | Not an agency. It is software that collection agencies and in-house teams use, listed because it shows up in the same searches |
Eleven agencies publish no price on their own site: ABC-Amega, Transworld Systems (it describes "flexible contingent- and fixed-fee models"), Atradius Collections ("No win, No fee", quoted through its portal), Coface, Allianz Trade, Southwest Recovery Services, Altus Receivables Management (states a $0 setup fee and full contingency, no percentage), National Credit Systems, Gurstel (a law firm, contingency "negotiable"), and the Dun and Bradstreet and CMI collection brands, whose old domains no longer resolve to a collection site. The industry association most guides cite has lost its domain as well. That is useful to know before you book three sales calls: the big names will price your portfolio, but only after you show it to them.
How much does a collection agency cost?
A collection agency costs nothing upfront on a contingency deal and takes 10 to 50 percent of each payment it recovers. Commercial claims above $50,000 can go as low as 10 to 15 percent, claims under $10,000 usually cost 25 percent or more, and accounts past six months often hit 50 percent. Prepaid letter programs cost $5 to $24 per account whether or not anyone pays.
Two terms decide whether that percentage is cheap. The first is what counts as "collected". Ask whether the fee applies to a payment the debtor sends straight to you after the account is placed, and whether it applies to returned goods or credits you issue to settle. The second is what happens at the legal stage. Kaplan states that its law firm works at the same contingency rate. Commercial Collection Corp. of New York and Transworld Systems say only that attorney work is on contingency, without a number, and court costs are a separate question to put in writing.
Four ways collection agencies bill you
The headline percentages are not comparable, because the agencies are pricing different things. Before you line up quotes, sort each one into its billing unit.
| Billing unit | Who uses it | What it rewards | Where it hurts |
|---|---|---|---|
| Contingency tiered by claim size | The Kaplan Group, Summit A*R (balance is one factor) | Large single claims, often 10 to 20 percent | Small invoices are priced at 25 percent or refused outright |
| Contingency tiered by age | IC System, Rocket Receivables, Summit A*R (age is another factor) | Placing early. IC System charges 35 percent up to day 180 | Every week you wait moves you toward the 50 percent tier |
| Flat fee per account | Rocket Receivables Stage One, CCC of New York Small Balance Service, Cedar Financial (consumer only) | Many small, young balances where a firm demand letter is enough | You pay for every account, including the ones that never pay |
| Software subscription | Tratta and AR automation tools | High volume of routine overdue invoices you want to keep in house | No one makes the hard calls for you; it does not replace an agency for disputed debt |
What does it cost to collect $67,000 of overdue B2B invoices?
Here is one realistic case, priced on each published rate. A US wholesale distributor has one customer owing $40,000 at 150 days past due, a second owing $12,000 at 100 days, and ten small accounts at about $1,500 each and 60 to 120 days, $15,000 in total. The table assumes the agency collects every dollar, which gives the maximum fee. Real recovery is lower, and on contingency the fee falls with it.
| Option | Fee if all $67,000 is collected | How we got there |
|---|---|---|
| Rocket Receivables Stage One on all 12 accounts | $448.75 upfront | 25 account pack at $17.95, since a 10 pack does not cover 12. Anything unpaid moves to Stage Two at 50 percent |
| CCC of New York letters on the 10 small accounts | $80, plus contingency on the two large claims | 10 x $8.00 for the 5 letter series; the large claims go to standard contingency at a rate it does not publish |
| Summit A*R | $5,025 to $33,500 | 7.5 to 50 percent on $67,000; the range is too wide to budget without a written quote |
| The Kaplan Group, two large claims only | $10,400 | 20 percent on $40,000 and $12,000. The $1,500 accounts sit below its $3,000 tier and its $10,000 first claim minimum |
| IC System InstiCollect, all 12 accounts | $23,525 | 35 percent on $67,000 because every account is under 181 days, plus the $75 setup fee |
| Rocket Receivables Stage Two on the $40,000 claim | $20,000 on that claim alone | 50 percent, because the account is past 120 days |
Three things stand out. First, the cheapest line is a letter program, and it is only cheap because most of the risk stays with you: if the $40,000 customer ignores five letters, you are back to choosing a contingency agency, now 30 days older. Second, the claim size rule removes a whole class of agency for small invoices. Kaplan's 20 percent is the lowest firm published rate here for the two large claims, but it will not take the ten small ones as a first placement. Third, timing is worth more than negotiation. The $40,000 claim placed at IC System on day 170 costs $14,000 at 35 percent. Placed on day 190 it costs $20,000 at 50 percent. Ten days of waiting is a $6,000 decision.
Is it worth using a collection agency for B2B debt?
It is worth it once your own reminders and calls have run their course and the account is old enough that the alternative is a write-off. Paying 20 to 35 percent on money you had largely reserved against is still a recovery. It is not worth it for invoices that simply were not chased, because you would pay a third of a balance the customer would likely have paid after one phone call.
The test is in your AR aging report. Split last quarter's overdue invoices into two piles: accounts nobody chased and accounts that were chased and still did not pay. The first pile is a process problem, and a reminder sequence or software that keeps chasing for a flat monthly fee costs far less than any contingency rate. Tools like software that keeps chasing overdue invoices for a flat fee sit in that gap. The second pile is what an agency is for, and the sooner you place it, the lower the age tier it lands in.
What percentage does a collection agency take?
On commercial debt, the published percentages run from 10 percent for claims over $500,000 to 50 percent for small or old accounts. Of the agencies that print a rate, Kaplan charges 20 percent on a $10,000 to $49,999 claim, IC System 35 percent up to 180 days, and Rocket Receivables and IC System both 50 percent on older accounts. Summit A*R gives a 7.5 to 50 percent range.
Consumer debt is priced on a different basis and sits under different rules, so do not compare a consumer agency's rate card with a commercial quote. Cedar Financial is the clearest example in our table: its flat fee program is limited to consumer accounts, and commercial claims go to a contingency service it does not price publicly.
Does the FDCPA apply to business debts?
No. The Fair Debt Collection Practices Act covers consumer debts, and the CFPB's Regulation F defines a debt as an obligation of a consumer arising from a transaction "primarily for personal, family, or household purposes" (12 CFR 1006.2(h)). Commercial collection runs under state licensing laws and your contract with the customer instead.
That has a practical consequence for cost. Some states let a commercial creditor pass collection costs to the debtor if the original contract says so. Washington, for example, allows an agency to collect costs on a commercial claim when a written agreement authorizes them, as long as the total does not exceed 35 percent of the original claim. If your terms and conditions have no collection cost clause, add one to the next version of your master service agreement, because it only works on contracts signed after it exists.
Collection agency, AR outsourcing or keeping it in house
An agency, an outsourced AR team and your own billing staff solve different stages of the same problem. A team that is behind on routine follow-up needs capacity, which is what an outsourced AR provider sells on a retainer or per invoice; we priced those models in our guide to accounts receivable outsourcing cost. A team whose reminders work but come too late needs a cleaner reminder schedule, and the line between that and formal collections is covered in dunning vs collections. Only debt that has already resisted both belongs with an agency, and that is the smallest of the three piles in most companies.
Keep one rule from the worked example in mind when you set the handoff date. An age-based agency charges you for your own delay, so a written trigger such as "every account still unpaid at 90 days after two calls goes to placement" is worth more than any discount you can negotiate on the rate.
What to ask before you place a claim
- The rate by balance and by age, in writing. Ask which tier each of your accounts falls into on the placement date, and whether the tier is fixed at placement or moves as the account ages.
- What counts as collected. Direct payments to you after placement, credits, returned goods and partial settlements. Each one should have a stated fee or no fee.
- The legal stage. Whether suit is at the same rate, who advances court costs and filing fees, and whether you approve each suit in advance.
- Setup and minimums. IC System's $75, Cedar's $750 contingency activation, Kaplan's $10,000 first claim minimum. Each one changes which agency is cheapest for a small portfolio.
- Withdrawal. What it costs to pull an account back, for example when the customer comes back to buy again and you want to settle directly.
- Remittance timing. How often the agency sends you what it collected, net of its fee, and with what report attached.
The short version
Commercial collection agency fees run from 10 to 50 percent of what is recovered, or $5 to $24 per account for a prepaid letter program. Six of seventeen US agencies we checked publish a price. Kaplan's tiers by claim size are the lowest published rates for large claims but exclude small first claims. IC System and Rocket Receivables price by age, so the day you place an account decides whether you pay 35 or 50 percent. Before you sign, get the tier for each account in writing, ask what counts as collected, and set a fixed placement date so your own delay does not set the fee.