Commercial Collection Agencies of America collects and tracks the placement of commercial accounts with its member agencies by their clientele. Each agency member submits a report of its account placement on a quarterly basis. In aggregate, the report offers the number of accounts placed and the dollar value of said accounts. The submission of the reports is one of the requirements for an agency to maintain its Certificate of Accreditation and Compliance.

Why does Commercial Collection Agencies of America require this information? The Association’s mission includes being a premier industry resource to credit grantors. The aggregate report is a vehicle which offers an overview of placements so practitioners may have a scope into collection activity across the discipline. Feedback reveals that this information is used in a multitude of ways: from furnishing

C-level executives with reports to making a necessary case with the sales department for action….and everything in between.

Additionally, this data collection supplies our member agencies with a barometer - a wider lens into how like peers in the industry are faring.

Three indices are reviewed and compared by quarter and then compared to past years:

• The number of accounts placed for collection
• The dollar amount of accounts placed for collection
• The resulting average-sized account

It has been stated time and time again that 2020 created a “new normal”. Perhaps. Perhaps not. While all aspects of our day-to-day life, especially our work lives drastically changed like a tsunami, in the world of commercial collections, the waves were calmer.

The association studied each quarter of 2020 and made notations of historical statistics where applicable. It should be noted that since membership has changed, adjustments have been made to previous reports to reflect said additions and deletions of members to give an accurate comparison. Further, when historical numbers are quoted, only current members’ historical numbers are utilized when analyzing placements. Our analysis historically shows that any change over eight percent (8%) is considered significant.

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