The fee is not the question. The first 48 hours is the answer.
You are shopping for a collection agency the way you shop for a vendor — comparing fee percentages, asking for references, reading the "about us" page. This is reasonable but insufficient. A 10% contingency fee from an agency that does nothing for four months is more expensive than a 20% fee from one that produces payment in three weeks.
The quality of a collection agency is not in its price. It is in its first 48 hours on your case, and in five things it either does or does not do.
It tells you the truth in the assessment
A good agency does not take every case. The first thing it does — before engagement, before any fee discussion — is assess whether the debt is collectible. Is the debtor entity still active? Are there visible assets? Is the jurisdiction enforceable? Has the statute of limitations expired?
If the answer to any of these is disqualifying, a good agency tells you before you sign anything. A bad agency takes the case, sends a few letters into a void, and reports back in six months that the debtor could not be reached.
The assessment should arrive in writing, within 48 hours, for free. If it does not, the agency is not assessing — it is onboarding.
It communicates in the debtor's language
An agency that sends an English demand letter to a company in Milan is not collecting. It is performing. The debtor may not read English. Their legal team certainly does not respond to foreign-language demands with urgency.
A good international agency contacts the debtor in their native language, referencing local commercial law — not as a courtesy but as leverage. A letter in Italian citing the decreto ingiuntivo procedure communicates something an English letter cannot: we know where you are and what your courts will do.
It knows the local legal procedure
Ask: "If the amicable phase fails, what is the legal route in this jurisdiction?" The answer should be specific. Not "we will pursue legal action." Specific: "We file for a Mahnverfahren in Germany, an injonction de payer in France, summary proceedings in the Netherlands." The procedure, the expected timeline, the approximate cost.
If the agency cannot name the procedure, it does not have local counsel in place. It will waste weeks finding one after the amicable phase fails — weeks the debtor uses to restructure, move assets, or simply wait.
It does not guarantee a result
Any agency that guarantees recovery is lying. Debt collection is not retail. Some debtors are insolvent. Some jurisdictions are slow. Some cases uncover disputes that change the nature of the claim. A professional agency describes probabilities, not certainties, and explains the variables that affect your specific case.
The contingency model (no win, no fee) already aligns incentives — the agency does not get paid unless you get paid. That alignment is the guarantee. A verbal promise of "100% success rate" is a sales tactic from an agency that either has not collected many debts or has not collected difficult ones.
It reports without being asked
You should not need to chase your collection agency for updates. A good agency provides status reports on a regular cadence — typically every two to four weeks — stating what was done, what the debtor's response was, and what happens next. No jargon, no padding, no "we are actively pursuing the matter."
If your current agency responds to status inquiries with vague reassurance and no specifics, you have the same problem with your agency that you had with your debtor.
Daniel Okonkwo
B2B Collections Specialist
