Office and Administrative Support · Holland code CES

Bill and Account Collectors

Locate and notify customers of delinquent accounts by mail, telephone, or personal visit to solicit payment. Duties include receiving payment and posting amount to customer's account, preparing statements to credit department if customer fails to respond, initiating repossession proceedings or service disconnection, and keeping records of collection and status of accounts.

Also called: Collector, Debt Collector, Patient Access Specialist, Patient Account Representative, Account Representative, Accounts Receivable Specialist (AR Specialist), Collection Agent, Collection Specialist.

O*NET 43-3011.00

At a glance

US median annual pay: $47,030; Middle half earn $39,010 to $56,740. BLS OEWS, May 2025.
Most common education: High School Diploma or the equivalent (such as a GED); 48% of workers surveyed by O*NET report this level.
Preparation needed: Job Zone 2 of 5; Some preparation. Zone 1 is little or none; zone 5 is graduate-level.
US employment outlook, 2024 to 2034: -10% · Decline; 166,900 jobs in 2024, projected 149,400. BLS Occupational Outlook Handbook, which groups this with similar roles as "Bill and account collectors".

What the work involves

The tasks workers in this occupation rate as most important, from the O*NET survey.

Record information about financial status of customers and status of collection efforts.
Locate and notify customers of delinquent accounts by mail, telephone, or personal visits to solicit payment.
Locate and monitor overdue accounts, using computers and a variety of automated systems.
Arrange for debt repayment or establish repayment schedules, based on customers' financial situations.
Advise customers of necessary actions and strategies for debt repayment.
Answer customer questions regarding problems with their accounts.
Persuade customers to pay amounts due on credit accounts, damage claims, or nonpayable checks, or to return merchandise.
Confer with customers by telephone or in person to determine reasons for overdue payments and to review the terms of sales, service, or credit contracts.

Skills and knowledge it leans on

Skills

Active Listening3.9 / 5
Speaking3.9 / 5
Writing3.3 / 5
Reading Comprehension3.1 / 5
Critical Thinking3.1 / 5
Monitoring3.0 / 5

Knowledge areas

English Language4.1 / 5
Customer and Personal Service3.8 / 5
Mathematics3.3 / 5
Economics and Accounting3.3 / 5
Law and Government3.3 / 5
Computers and Electronics3.1 / 5

Importance ratings on O*NET’s 1 to 5 scale. Higher means the occupation depends on it more.

Who tends to enjoy it

How strongly this occupation draws on each of the six Holland interest types, which is the same profile the career interests test compares you against.

Realistic18
Investigative0
Artistic0
Social38
Enterprising56
Conventional100

The same work abroad

Other countries classify jobs differently, so these are the closest matches through the international ISCO-08 standard, not exact equivalents.

European occupation titles (ESCO)

bankruptcy trustee · DE Insolvenzverwalter/Insolvenzverwalterin · FR mandataire judiciaire
collection manager · DE Wissenschaftlicher Sammlungsmanager/Wissenschaftliche Sammlungsmanagerin · FR gestionnaire de collections
credit adviser · DE Kreditberater/Kreditberaterin · FR conseiller crédits/conseillère crédits
credit analyst · DE Kreditprüfer/Kreditprüferin · FR analyste prêt bancaire
credit manager · DE Kreditmanager/Kreditmanagerin · FR responsable des crédits
court enforcement officer · DE Gerichtsvollzieher/Gerichtsvollzieherin · FR huissier/huissière

Closest UK occupation groups (SOC 2020)

Credit controllers (4121)29,000 employed
Chartered and certified accountants (2421)233,600 employed
Legal associate professionals (3520)57,300 employed

Employment is the UK Annual Population Survey for April 2025 to March 2026, all workers in the group, which can be broader than this one occupation.

Pay across Europe, for the whole group

Median annual earnings of all employees in “Technicians and associate professionals”. This is the broad ISCO group this occupation falls in, not the occupation itself, so treat it as context for the wage level, not as a salary for this job.

Median annual earnings, Technicians and associate professionals, by country
Country	Median pay
Belgium	€50,992
Austria	€46,986
Germany	€44,473
Netherlands	€42,448
Ireland	€41,613
Sweden	€41,155
Italy	€34,882
France	€34,816
Spain	€29,757
Portugal	€18,080
Poland	€12,108

Eurostat Structure of Earnings Survey, businesses with ten or more employees outside public administration, in euro and not adjusted for the cost of living. Reference years differ between sources: the US, Japan and Europe figures on this page come from different survey years, so compare them as rough levels, not to the euro or yen.

Exposure to AI

This occupation sits in the higher third of the 774 occupations scored, with an exposure score of +1.27. The scores are standardized across those occupations, so 0 is the average and a score of 1 is about one standard deviation above it.

Our note on reading it: the dataset links AI applications to the abilities that occupations require, so the score reflects overlap between the two. It is a comparison between occupations, not a forecast about jobs. It does not say whether exposure means tasks are replaced or workers get more done with the tools, and it says little about one employer or one role.

Source: Felten, E., Raj, M., & Seamans, R. (2021). Occupational, industry, and geographic exposure to artificial intelligence: A novel dataset and its potential uses. Strategic Management Journal, 42(12), 2195-2217. Matched to this page by 6-digit SOC code (43-3011).

Is it a fit for you?

Interest is one input, alongside ability, pay and what is hiring near you. The career interests test takes about thirteen minutes and ranks occupations by how closely their profile matches yours.

Take the career interests test