Shorter than you expect. Longer than you want.
You want a number. Here is one: 60% of international commercial debts that are collectible resolve within 90 days of assignment. The remaining 40% take longer — not because the process is slow, but because the debtor is creative.
The timeline is never about the agency. It is about three things the agency cannot control and one thing it can.
The amicable phase: 30 to 60 days
This is where most commercial debts end. A professional letter is sent. A phone call follows. The debtor's options are explained — not as threats, but as a procedural reality. Payment is made, or a payment plan is agreed, or the debtor raises a defence that changes the nature of the case.
Thirty to sixty days sounds long until you compare it to the twelve weeks you already spent sending emails that were not answered. The difference is not time. It is leverage. The creditor's email says "please pay." The agency's letter says "here is what happens next."
The legal phase: 3 to 12 months
When the amicable phase fails, the case enters the debtor's court system. And this is where geography becomes destiny.
Germany's Mahnverfahren — an automated payment order — produces an enforceable title in 4 to 6 weeks if the debtor does not contest. The Dutch kort geding (summary proceedings) can yield a judgment in days for straightforward claims. France's injonction de payer typically resolves in 2 to 4 months.
Italy's tribunale takes 3 to 4 months for a decreto ingiuntivo if the debt is well-documented and uncontested. Spain's monitorio runs 4 to 6 months. Brazil — the system every international creditor fears — averages 12 to 18 months and occasionally longer, depending on the state court and whether the debtor files the full catalogue of procedural objections Brazilian law allows.
The collection timeline is the court timeline. Your agency does not control the speed of the judiciary. What it controls is whether the paperwork is filed correctly the first time, in the right court, under the right procedure. Delays caused by procedural errors are the most expensive kind, because they are entirely avoidable.
What actually determines speed
The debtor's solvency. A solvent debtor who is delaying payment resolves faster than an insolvent debtor in formal proceedings. Cash exists; it just needs redirecting. An insolvency case enters a separate, slower process governed by creditor rankings and asset distributions.
Whether the debt is disputed. An undisputed debt can use fast-track procedures in most jurisdictions — payment orders, summary proceedings, default judgments. A disputed debt requires a full hearing, evidence, and sometimes expert witnesses. The same jurisdiction can take 6 weeks or 18 months depending on whether the debtor says "I can't pay" or "I don't owe this."
The debtor's cooperation. Some debtors negotiate. Some disappear. A debtor who engages — even to negotiate a discount — resolves in weeks. A debtor who needs to be traced, served through alternative means, and compelled to appear adds months to every step.
The creditor's documentation. A complete file — signed contract, purchase orders, delivery confirmations, invoice, correspondence — moves through every phase faster. Missing documentation gives the debtor grounds to object and gives the court grounds to delay. Your collection timeline begins with your filing cabinet.
The cost of waiting to start
Every month of delay before assignment adds approximately two weeks to the total collection timeline. Not because the process gets longer, but because the debtor gets further away. Assets are spent or moved. Entities are restructured. Key personnel leave. The trail that connects your invoice to someone who can authorise payment grows colder.
A debt assigned at 60 days overdue is a different case from the same debt assigned at 180 days. Same amount, same debtor, same jurisdiction — different probability, different timeline, different cost.
The clock does not pause while you decide.
Free case assessment. 48-hour written response. If the debt isn't worth pursuing, we'll say so.