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.
Most important skills
- Active Listening
- Speaking
- Social Perceptiveness
- Persuasion
- Writing
- Reading Comprehension
- Critical Thinking
- Monitoring
Key knowledge
- English Language
- Customer and Personal Service
- Mathematics
- Economics and Accounting
- Law and Government
- Computers and Electronics
- Administration and Management
- Administrative
What the work involves
- Receive payments and post amounts paid to customer accounts.
- Locate and monitor overdue accounts, using computers and a variety of automated systems.
- 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.
- 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.
- Advise customers of necessary actions and strategies for debt repayment.
- Persuade customers to pay amounts due on credit accounts, damage claims, or nonpayable checks, or to return merchandise.
- Sort and file correspondence and perform miscellaneous clerical duties, such as answering correspondence and writing reports.
Strongest interest areas (O*NET): Conventional, Enterprising, Social.
Qualifications and licensing
- Most common education
- High School Diploma or the equivalent (such as a GED) (48.2% of respondents)
- Related experience
- Over 6 months, up to and including 1 year (42.5%)
- On-the-job training
- Over 1 month, up to and including 3 months (61.2%)
- Preparation level
- O*NET job zone 2: Job Zone 1-2: Very Little to Some Preparation Needed
- Licensing
- Not yet verified. Check your state licensing board.
Check before planning
- Licensing for Bill and Account Collectors is not yet verified for any state: check the state licensing board before planning.
Limits
- Distributions show what current workers or occupational experts report, not legal minimums.
- Requirements vary by employer and state; time to qualify is not estimated.
Source: O*NET 31.0 Database (USDOL/ETA, CC BY 4.0); BLS Employment Projections · dataset 2026.10.8 · method e3-qualification-1.0.0
Work environment
How the typical conditions of this occupation compare with 911 occupations in O*NET (very low = the lowest fifth).
Levels are relative. Most occupations involve a lot of contact with people, for example, so “very low” can still mean regular contact; the last column shows what workers actually reported.
| Condition | Level | Compared with other occupations | Most common answer (O*NET survey) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Contact with others | Very high | Higher on contact with others than 93% of occupations compared | 94% of surveyed respondents chose “Constant contact with others” |
| Dealing with the public | High | Higher on dealing with the public than 72% of occupations compared | 67% of surveyed respondents chose “Extremely important” |
| Teamwork | Very low | Lower on teamwork than 90% of occupations compared | 58% of surveyed respondents chose “Extremely important” |
| Freedom to make decisions | Very low | Lower on freedom to make decisions than 94% of occupations compared | 48% of surveyed respondents chose “Some freedom” |
| Time pressure | Moderate | Higher on time pressure than 52% of occupations compared | — |
| Conflict situations | Very high | Higher on conflict situations than 87% of occupations compared | 40% of surveyed respondents chose “Every day” |
| Dealing with unpleasant or angry people | Very high | Higher on dealing with unpleasant or angry people than 99% of occupations compared | 78% of surveyed respondents chose “Every day” |
| Consequence of error | Moderate | Higher on consequence of error than 56% of occupations compared | 41% of surveyed respondents chose “Serious” |
Work-pressure profile
- Time pressure: moderate
- Conflict situations: very high
- Dealing with unpleasant or angry people: very high
- Consequence of error: moderate
Each part is shown on its own. There is no combined stress score, and conditions vary by employer and role.
Full answer distributions
Contact with others
- No contact with others: 0%
- Occasional contact with others: 0%
- Contact with others about half the time: 3.61%
- Contact with others most of the time: 2.38%
- Constant contact with others: 94.01%
n = 26, Incumbent 08/2018
Dealing with the public
- Not important at all: 18.06%
- Fairly important: 5.38%
- Important: 4.83%
- Very important: 4.71%
- Extremely important: 67.01%
n = 26, Incumbent 08/2018
Teamwork
- Not important at all: 31.42%
- Fairly important: 3.56%
- Important: 5.9%
- Very important: 1.56%
- Extremely important: 57.55%
n = 26, Incumbent 08/2018
Freedom to make decisions
- No freedom: suppressed by O*NET (low precision)
- Very little freedom: 6.09%
- Limited freedom: 20.79%
- Some freedom: 47.7%
- A lot of freedom: 8.31%
n = 26, Incumbent 08/2018
Time pressure
- Never: 0%
- Once a year or more but not every month: 21.44%
- Once a month or more but not every week: 17.87%
- Once a week or more but not every day: 10.1%
- Every day: suppressed by O*NET (low precision)
n = 26, Incumbent 08/2018
Conflict situations
- Never: 4.74%
- Once a year or more but not every month: 25.68%
- Once a month or more but not every week: 17.53%
- Once a week or more but not every day: 12.3%
- Every day: 39.75%
n = 26, Incumbent 08/2018
Dealing with unpleasant or angry people
- Never: 3.49%
- Once a year or more but not every month: 0.36%
- Once a month or more but not every week: 3.46%
- Once a week or more but not every day: 14.76%
- Every day: 77.93%
n = 26, Incumbent 08/2018
Consequence of error
- Not serious at all: 10.79%
- Fairly serious: 19.81%
- Serious: 40.63%
- Very serious: 6.14%
- Extremely serious: 22.64%
n = 26, Incumbent 08/2018
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O*NET-SOC 43-3011.00 · SOC 43-3011 (exact, high confidence) · dataset 2026.10.8