Why your current collection agency is great at collecting in your country but fails miserably when it comes to collecting internationally

Your domestic agency is probably excellent. They know your industry, they call your debtors during business hours, they've collected millions for companies like yours. And the moment one of your customers goes quiet in another country, they become a liability.

This isn't a knock on their effort. It's a statement about what domestic collection actually is—and what international collection demands.

A domestic playbook doesn't survive the border

Domestic collection is a dialer, a template letter, and a sheriff's office. The agency knows the local courts, the local AP culture, and the local way to apply pressure. Every piece of that playbook assumes the debtor is one time zone away and speaks the same business language.

Point that playbook at a debtor in Singapore, Germany, or the UAE and it falls apart: different laws, different languages, different payment cultures, and a debtor who knows the creditor's agency has never actually worked their country. The result is a form letter in English, three unanswered calls, and a recommendation to write the account off—delivered with a straight face and, sometimes, a 50% fee for the "international" attempt.

What they're really telling you

When an agency charges double for international accounts, they're not pricing the work. They're pricing their own inexperience. When they refuse the account outright, they're telling you the truth: they don't know how to collect it. Neither move is a comment on your receivable—it's a comment on their network.

International collection requires infrastructure that most agencies never build: local agents who know the jurisdiction, negotiators who speak the debtor's language and culture, an in-house lawyer who's worked in countries where judgments actually get enforced, and the willingness to chase an account across borders at the same contingency rate as a domestic one.

What we do differently

We run an international desk with local agents in 15+ countries—the UK, Canada, Australia, France, Poland, Turkey, the UAE, India, Singapore, China, Mexico, and more. Your debtor gets a call from someone in their time zone, in their language, who knows their payment culture. You get one point of contact and one consolidated report.

And the rate is the same as domestic: 25% under 12 months, 33% over, 40% on second placements—no recovery, no fee. We can afford that because the infrastructure exists. It's not a premium service; it's the standard service.

The test

Ask your current agency one question: "What's your international contingency rate, and who works the account in-country?" If the answer is 50% or a pause, you have your answer. Then send us the file—if we can't collect it, you've lost nothing. If we can, you've turned a presumed write-off into recovered revenue at a normal rate.

The debtor on the other side of the ocean is betting your agency can't reach them. Some agencies prove them right. We're in the business of proving them wrong.