SOC 43-3011.00

    Bill and Account Collectors

    Locate and notify customers of delinquent accounts by mail, telephone, or personal visit to solicit payment.

    Median pay
    $47,030
    Growth
    -10.4%
    Decline
    Openings a year
    11,200
    Typical education
    High school diploma

    Data verified Nov 2026 · CollegesRef 2026–27 edition

    Source: BLS 2025 wages · 2025–35 projections

    See the pathway

    Annual pay range

    Lowest 10% earn less than
    $34,400
    Median
    $47,030
    Highest 10% earn more than
    $65,580
    National wages for all workers in this occupation. BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025.

    158,830 people work in this occupation.

    In short

    Bill and account collectors find and contact customers with overdue accounts to secure payments. This career offers a median annual pay of $47,030, with opportunities to work under various job titles in the financial and administrative sectors.

    Written with AI from the BLS, O*NET and CareerOneStop data on this page. Every figure is checked against that data before it is published.

    What bill and account collectors do

    Job Zone 2: Some preparation

    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.

    Usually a high school diploma; some on-the-job training or experience.

    What the work is like

    People in this career spend their days locating customers with delinquent accounts and contacting them by phone, mail, or in person to request payment. They receive payments, update customer accounts, and record the status of collection efforts. If customers do not respond, collectors may start service disconnections or repossession proceedings and send reports to credit departments.

    To succeed in this role, workers must be skilled in active listening, speaking, persuasion, and negotiation. They need a strong understanding of customer service, economics, accounting, and basic laws. The work requires high stress tolerance, self-control, and perseverance when handling difficult conversations. Daily tasks involve working with computers, documenting information, solving problems, and resolving conflicts. This occupation strongly appeals to individuals with conventional interests who enjoy organized, detail-oriented office tasks.

    How to get there

    Entering this field typically requires a high school diploma. Most workers need some on-the-job training or previous experience to become fully proficient. While a college degree is not standard, students interested in this path often major in finance and financial management services.

    Depending on the location of employment, some states list a license for this work. This career is also known by several other titles, including accounts receivable specialist, bill collector, account representative, and billing representative.

    Pay and outlook explained

    The median annual pay for bill and account collectors is $47,030. The lowest 10% of earners make less than $34,400, while the highest 10% earn more than $65,580.

    There are 158,830 people employed in this field. Between 2025 and 2035, employment is projected to decline by -10.4%. Despite this projected decline in total jobs, about 11,200 openings are still expected to become available each year.

    Interest profile

    Realistic (R)
    18 / 100
    Investigative (I)
    0 / 100
    Artistic (A)
    0 / 100
    Social (S)
    38 / 100
    Enterprising (E)
    56 / 100
    Conventional (C) · strongest
    100 / 100
    How strongly each interest area describes the work, from O*NET (scores rescaled to 0–100). The interest code lists the strongest areas in order.

    Interest code CES. Compare it with yours

    What you'd do

    Working with Computers
    79
    Organizing, Planning, and Prioritizing Work
    74
    Documenting/Recording Information
    73
    Communicating with Supervisors, Peers, or Subordinates
    73
    Resolving Conflicts and Negotiating with Others
    67
    Getting Information
    66
    Establishing and Maintaining Interpersonal Relationships
    65
    Performing Administrative Activities
    62
    Making Decisions and Solving Problems
    61
    Identifying Objects, Actions, and Events
    58
    Work activities rated by importance for this occupation, O*NET (0–100).

    Skills and strengths

    Skills

    • Active Listening
    • Speaking
    • Persuasion
    • Social Perceptiveness
    • Writing
    • Critical Thinking
    • Reading Comprehension
    • Monitoring
    • Negotiation
    • Service Orientation

    Knowledge

    • English Language
    • Customer and Personal Service
    • Mathematics
    • Economics and Accounting
    • Law and Government
    • Computers and Electronics
    • Administration and Management
    • Administrative
    • Production and Processing
    • Education and Training

    Abilities

    • Oral Comprehension
    • Oral Expression
    • Speech Clarity
    • Speech Recognition
    • Written Comprehension
    • Written Expression
    • Near Vision
    • Category Flexibility
    • Problem Sensitivity
    • Selective Attention

    Work styles

    • Dependability
    • Attention to Detail
    • Self-Control
    • Integrity
    • Perseverance
    • Stress Tolerance
    • Social Orientation
    • Self-Confidence
    • Achievement Orientation
    • Initiative

    Also called

    Account Receivable Associate · Account Representative · Account Service Representative · Accounts Collector · Accounts Receivable Specialist (AR Specialist) · Bad Credit Collector · Bilingual Collections Specialist · Bill Collector · Billing Representative · Car Repossessor

    Career pathway

    From your interests to bill and account collectors

    Interests that fit the work, the career, majors that lead there and colleges whose graduates in those majors earn the most. Hover or focus a step to follow one path.

    1. Interests

    2. This career

      • Bill and Account Collectors$47,030 median pay

    3. Majors

    4. Colleges

    College Scorecard program outcomes

    Colleges with strong outcomes

    Programs that lead to this career, ranked by what their graduates earn four years after finishing. Earnings are for graduates who received federal aid.

    1. 1Washington University in St Louis WUSTL logo
      Washington University in St Louis WUSTL

      Saint Louis, MO · Finance and Financial Management Services · Bachelor's

      1 yr after
      $108,590
      4 yrs after
      $185,551
      Median debt
      $20,750
    2. 2University of Notre Dame-South Bend IN logo
      University of Notre Dame-South Bend IN

      Notre Dame, IN · Finance and Financial Management Services · Bachelor's

      1 yr after
      $141,543
      4 yrs after
      $160,313
      Median debt
      $19,500
    3. 3Georgetown University-DC logo
      Georgetown University-DC

      Washington, DC · Finance and Financial Management Services · Bachelor's

      1 yr after
      $126,622
      4 yrs after
      $152,744
      Median debt
      $13,088
    4. 4Boston College logo
      Boston College

      Chestnut Hill, MA · Finance and Financial Management Services · Bachelor's

      1 yr after
      $92,127
      4 yrs after
      $147,746
      Median debt
      $18,650
    5. 5Wake Forest University logo
      Wake Forest University

      Winston-Salem, NC · Finance and Financial Management Services · Bachelor's

      1 yr after
      $116,242
      4 yrs after
      $145,996
      Median debt
      $19,500
    6. 6American University logo
      American University

      Washington, DC · Finance and Financial Management Services · Bachelor's

      1 yr after
      $76,317
      4 yrs after
      $134,332
      Median debt
      $20,633
    7. 7Southern Methodist University SMU logo
      Southern Methodist University SMU

      Dallas, TX · Finance and Financial Management Services · Bachelor's

      1 yr after
      $93,440
      4 yrs after
      $133,852
      Median debt
      $17,250
    8. 8The University of Texas at Austin Main Campus logo
      The University of Texas at Austin Main Campus

      Austin, TX · Finance and Financial Management Services · Bachelor's

      1 yr after
      $81,536
      4 yrs after
      $132,075
      Median debt
      $18,975

    Source: U.S. Department of Education College Scorecard field-of-study data, 2025. Programs with few graduates are not listed.

    NCES CIP–SOC crosswalk

    Majors that lead here

    Related programs by four-digit CIP code. They are common routes in, not the only ones.

    CareerOneStop

    Certifications, licenses and pay by state

    What bill and account collectors may need beyond a degree, where a license is required, and what the work pays in each state.

    Training

    Programs of study that prepare people for this work.

    • Banking and Financial Support Services

    Find training near you on CareerOneStop

    Licenses by state

    18 states list a license for this work. Open your state for the license and the agency that issues it.

    Check license requirements on CareerOneStop

    Data from CareerOneStop, sponsored by the U.S. Department of Labor (Employment and Training Administration, with the Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development). Retrieved November 9, 2026.

    Your plan

    Build my pathway plan

    Courses, majors, colleges, scholarships and a timeline for this career, built from your profile.

    Related careers

    Careers with similar work, interests or skills.

    All careers

    Questions about bill and account collectors

    Written with AI from the BLS, O*NET and CareerOneStop data on this page. Every figure is checked against that data before it is published.

    What is the typical education required to become a bill and account collector?

    A high school diploma is the typical education needed to enter this career. Workers usually receive some on-the-job training or have prior experience to prepare for the role.

    How much do bill and account collectors earn?

    The median annual pay for these workers is $47,030. The lowest-paid 10% earn less than $34,400, and the highest-paid 10% earn more than $65,580.

    Are there many job openings expected in this field?

    Even though employment is projected to decline by -10.4% from 2025 to 2035, there are still projected to be 11,200 job openings each year.

    Sources and attribution

    Every figure on this page comes from these public datasets. Missing values are shown as not reported, never estimated.

    O*NET 31.0 Database by the U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration (USDOL/ETA). Used under the CC BY 4.0 license. CollegesRef has modified all or some of this information.

    Data from CareerOneStop, sponsored by the U.S. Department of Labor (Employment and Training Administration, with the Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development). Retrieved November 9, 2026.

    Page data updated November 5, 2026.