Boston, February 17, 2021– The third-party debt collection industry serves creditors and billers that have delinquent or defaulted accounts in the financial services, healthcare, telecommunications, or other industries. As such, these companies must develop tailored strategies and effectively communicate with consumers to ensure they collect as many of these obligations as possible. This year, the debt collection industry had to pivot to remote work environments and adapt to rapid regulatory changes, the shifting expectations of their financial institution clients, and consumers’ volatile financial conditions.

This report documents these companies’ top-of-mind challenges, the tools used and the outcomes achieved over the last year, and the overall composition of the industry. This research is sponsored by TransUnion and is informed by a quantitative survey of 209 third-party debt collection professionals in the U.S. conducted in Q3 2020. It is supplemented by 13 interviews of thought leaders in the third-party collections industry during Q2 and Q3 2020.

This 50-page Impact Report contains 45 figures and three tables. Clients of Aite Group’s Retail Banking & Payments service can download this report, the corresponding charts, and the Executive Impact Deck.