Debt collectors, or bill and account collectors’ job is to try to collect payment on bills that are overdue. Most bill collectors are employed by third party collection agencies. The creditor, or the company or business that is owed the debt, will often hire outside of the company; especially if their accounts receivable department is small.

Other collection agents work directly for the original creditors; these collectors are called in house collectors. Usually these are finance-based companies like credit card and mortgage companies, health care providers or utility companies.

No matter what entity they work for, the goals of debt collectors are the same. First, they’re called upon to locate people or businesses that are in debt, and let them know that they are delinquent. Usually this will be over the phone, but sometimes they send letters.

When people in debt (debtors) move without leaving a forwarding address, debt collectors may check with telephone companies, credit bureaus, the post office and former neighbors to get the new address. This practice is known as “skip tracing.” They’ll use computer systems to automatically track when people or companies change their addresses or contact information on any of their open accounts.

Once the collection agents find the people that owe them money they let them know about the overdue accounts and ask for payment. If it’s necessary they’ll go over the terms of sale, or credit contracts. A good bill collector is a sneaky one. They’ll probably use their listening skills to try to figure out the cause of the delinquency.

Typically, they will have the power to offer a repayment plan or some other help to make it easier for people to pay off their debt. At times they are able to find solutions to the financial problem. They might even offer useful advice or refer debtors to debt counselors.

Mallory Megan is employed by a debt collection agency. Also she writes stories on business, finance, consumer spending and collection agencies.