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As U.S. companies pursue global expansion, many find that international sales and partnerships come with an overlooked challenge: collecting overdue invoices across borders. While the rewards of global commerce can be significant, so too are the risks – especially when payment isn’t received on time, or at all.

At STA International, we’ve supported commercial creditors since 1955, helping them recover outstanding debts both domestically and internationally. Our proven approach to international commercial debt collection ensures that your receivables remain protected – regardless of where your clients operate.

Below, we outline what U.S. businesses need to know when managing cross-border debt collection efforts and how to strengthen your global credit control strategy.

The Complexities of International Debt Collection

Unlike domestic collections, international recovery efforts are often slowed – or even blocked – by a maze of unfamiliar laws, financial regulations, and cultural dynamics. Here are a few of the most common hurdles:

1. Varying Legal Systems

Each country has its own framework for how debt is recognized and enforced. Some countries are creditor-friendly with straightforward litigation options, while others offer lengthy or unpredictable processes. If your agreement doesn’t clearly define the jurisdiction and governing law, enforcement can become difficult or impossible.

2. Language and Cultural Barriers

Debt collection is not just a legal issue—it’s a communication process. Local etiquette, tone, and timing matter. In many cultures, overly aggressive follow-ups may be considered disrespectful, while in others, assertiveness is expected. Language gaps can lead to misunderstandings or missed opportunities for resolution.

3. Time Zones, Currency, and Banking Differences

Even logistical factors complicate global debt recovery. Time zone delays slow communication. Foreign exchange fluctuations can reduce repayment value. And country-specific banking rules may require alternate payment methods or limit how money is transferred across borders.

What U.S. Companies Should Do to Improve International Recovery

Successful global debt recovery requires a strategic, localized approach. Here are some best practices:

1. Partner with an Experienced Global Agency

Working with a commercial collection agency, such as STA International, ensures access to local experts who understand regional law, business norms, and communication styles. Our global reach allows us to collect effectively in virtually any country, with full transparency and regulatory compliance.

2. Strengthen Your Credit and Contract Practices

When extending credit to foreign customers, it’s essential to:

• Perform country-specific credit checks
• Use professionally translated documents
• Include clear payment terms, dispute resolution methods, and governing law clauses in every agreement

These measures protect your position if collection or legal action becomes necessary.

3. Don’t Delay Action

The longer you wait, the lower your chances of recovery. Prompt, professional outreach—ideally within 30 days of the missed due date—demonstrates seriousness and prevents debtors from deprioritizing your invoice.

Why Choose STA International?

We’ve built our reputation on integrity, results, and compliance. Our international collection services include:

• Contingency-based collection (no recovery, no fee)
• In-country agents familiar with local collection laws
• B2B-focused strategies tailored to commercial debtors
• Real-time progress reporting and client portal access

We understand that maintaining customer relationships is often just as important as collecting the debt itself. Our team combines firm negotiation with respectful communication to protect your brand and preserve future business potential wherever possible.

Secure Your Global Receivables Strategy

Whether you’re expanding into new markets or managing overdue accounts abroad, STA International provides the resources and global infrastructure to collect efficiently and compliantly.

Request a free quote and learn how our international commercial collection services can help you recover more – faster – while protecting your global cash flow and strengthening your bottom line across borders.

June 15, 2025

Unpaid invoices can quietly undermine even the most successful businesses. For companies offering credit to other businesses, a structured, strategic approach to commercial debt collection is critical. Whether you manage accounts receivable in-house or outsource collections, these five best practices will help you improve recovery rates, reduce aging accounts, and preserve valuable business relationships.

1. Establish Clear Credit Policies Upfront

The foundation of effective commercial collections is set before payment is ever due. Create a clear, written credit policy that outlines your payment terms, accepted methods of payment, due dates, interest charges, and steps you’ll take in the event of non-payment.

Make sure these terms are:

• Included in every sales agreement, contract, and invoice
• Reviewed during client onboarding
• Signed or acknowledged by the client

Transparent credit policies reduce confusion, protect your business legally, and discourage late payments.

2. Invoice Promptly and Accurately

Late or inaccurate invoicing causes delays and disputes. To improve B2B collections success, issue invoices immediately after delivering products or services and ensure the following elements are clearly included:

• Client name and PO number (if applicable)
• Itemized description of services or goods
• Invoice issue date and due date
• Payment instructions and late fee policy

Using automated invoicing systems can reduce manual errors and send scheduled payment reminders. The more professional and timely your invoice process, the more likely you are to get paid on time.

3. Follow a Consistent Debt Collection Process

A structured and documented commercial debt collection process sends a message that your company takes payment seriously. Without follow-up, even good clients may deprioritize your invoices.

Example collection schedule:

• 1–7 days past due: Friendly reminder with invoice attached
• 15–30 days: Phone follow-up or second notice
• 45–60 days: Written demand letter and credit hold
• 60–90+ days: Referral to a commercial collections agency

Always document communication attempts and keep detailed records. This protects your business if legal or third-party recovery is needed later.

4. Know When to Use a Commercial Collections Agency

If an account remains unpaid after 60–90 days, and your team has exhausted internal efforts, it’s time to escalate. A qualified commercial collection agency brings legal expertise, negotiation leverage, and third-party authority that often leads to faster results.

Partnering with an agency such as STA International means:

• B2B-focused debt collection services
• Ethical and professional communication
• Preservation of your company’s reputation
• Increased recovery rates with minimal disruption

Our team acts as an extension of your AR process to help you focus on growth – not overdue accounts.

5. Preserve Relationships While Collecting

Effective B2B debt collection requires balancing firmness with professionalism. Many businesses fall behind due to temporary financial difficulties—not bad intent.

Stay professional and solution-focused:

• Offer structured payment plans when appropriate
• Understand the client’s circumstances
• Keep communication courteous and objective

By treating debtors with respect, you improve your chances of payment and maintaining a long-term business relationship.

Partner with STA for Results-Driven Commercial Debt Recovery

At STA, we specialize in business-to-business debt collection that gets results—without compromising your brand. Our expert team helps businesses across industries recover past-due accounts quickly, compliantly, and professionally. Request a free quote and learn how our commercial collection services can help you recover more, faster—while protecting your bottom line.

 

June 14, 2025

Why Retain a Third-Party Debt Collection Agency For Your B2B Debt? Here Are 7 Critical Reasons To Consider. 

Cash flow management is one of the most critical aspects of running a business. It’s how you pay your staff on time, pay your vendors, stock up on inventory, and secure funds for expansion into new markets.

Following up on overdue payments from the organizations you do business with is the key to maintaining a healthy cash flow. Slow payers and debt defaulters can harm your business. Without the money you need to run your enterprise, it becomes impossible to stay afloat.

However, this can often require an endless series of phone calls and an infinite number of demand letters and emails to delinquent debtors. If your time or resources are limited or your efforts have proven futile so far, hiring a third-party debt collection agency could prove worthwhile for your enterprise.

While there are several benefits to retaining credit collection services for your organization, these are some of the most critical:

1. Legal Protection and Compliance

Countries and states have varying laws and regulations that govern debt collection and debt collection practices. The more time goes by, the more difficult it becomes to collect debts.

It’s best not to underestimate the lengths delinquent debtors would go to avoid settling their overdue accounts. A well-informed entity will not hesitate to file a civil suit against you and your company if your collection practices and actions go against what the law prescribes.  Debt collection agencies are well-versed in federal, state, and even international law as far as foreign debt collection matters are concerned.

Hiring a collection service to recover overdue accounts on behalf of your business protects you against any potential legal repercussions that may result from attempting to recover debt on a delinquent account on your own.

Additionally, a third-party debt collection agency ensures that your company complies with the provisions of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002. This Act was established to offer protection to investors, shareholders, and the general public from errors in accounting and fraudulent financial practices.

A debt collection agency can help your firm demonstrate that its internal controls, alongside the financial accounting framework it has in place, meet the requirements set out by the Act. It will not only prove your company’s due diligence but may also minimize any associated consultancy expenses.

2. Efficient and Effective Debt Recovery

A reputable debt collection agency has a wide array of tools and resources at its disposal to help businesses recover commercial debts. A company trying to recover delinquent debts on its own can accrue a massive amount of legal fees and other costs, not to mention the loss of time.

Advanced collection methods such as skip-tracing, asset location, credit history analysis, and public record searches speed up domestic and international debt recovery processes tremendously. Most businesses do not have access to the tools necessary to pursue these methods, making it impossible for them to recover delinquent debt quickly and cost-effectively independently.

3. Litigation and Tax Documentation

A US debt collector pursuing domestic or overseas debt collection keeps a detailed record of every interaction they have with delinquent debtors. This is extremely helpful in cases where the ultimate recourse is to file a lawsuit against the debtor for the unpaid debt.

Alternatively, suppose you decide to write off the outstanding amount as bad debt and are looking to claim it as a tax deduction for your business. In that case, the IRS needs to see supporting documentation to that effect. The documentation provided by a commercial collection agency would show that your company exhausted all the available avenues before it decided to write it off and claim it as a deduction.

4. Accounts Receivable Management Services

A third-party debt collection agency can provide your company with domestic and international receivables management services. Slow payers and unpaid invoices can have a devastating impact on your business’s cash flow. By outsourcing your accounts receivable management, your in-house accounting team doesn’t need to spend valuable time and resources chasing after pending invoices.

5. Financial Advice and Support

Debt collections agencies specialize in credit management. Given that this is their area of expertise, it puts them in a unique position to give you invaluable information and advice that could strengthen your firm’s financial position.

They can give you tips on managing and ramping up your cash flow and valuable strategies for getting your business out of debt. They can even give you practical advice on screening prospective commercial clients to identify slow payers or those facing liquidity issues.

6. Undivided Focus

Business owners frequently have several priorities they’re juggling at any given time.

On the other hand, a debt recovery agency has just one fundamental objective: to collect unpaid debts. This gives them all the time necessary to dedicate their energy and resources to debt recovery – a luxury that most businesses don’t have.

This undivided focus is what ultimately allows debt collection agencies to get rapid collection activity results. Any past due accounts your business has will get the full, unlimited attention of the collection agency, freeing you up to focus on running your business without distraction.

7. Leave It to the Experts

In an ideal world, your business would receive immediate payment for any products sold or services rendered. Unfortunately, the business world is anything but ideal. Granted, clients who settle their accounts on time do exist. However, if you’ve been in business long enough, you know that not all clients are reliable.

Retaining a third-party debt collection agency gives you more control over the critical aspects of running your business and helps manage that ever-growing pile of pending invoices. Not only does it minimize the legal risks to your company, but it also makes for an efficient and effective recovery process.

Bottom line: leave it to the experts to chase the debt so you can focus on pursuing growth.

Did you find this information helpful? If so, be sure to check out our blog to learn how to choose a collection agency.

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August 29, 2021

Thinking About Hiring a Debt Collection Agency For Your B2B Debt? Here Are 10 Critical Factors To Consider.

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May 23, 2021

Regardless of size, revenue, or industry, most organizations have one unfortunate commonality: the need to enforce payment of debt. When this occurs, many businesses choose to retain the services of a collection agency to assist with the process. But sometimes collection efforts require legal assistance – which means the need for debt collection litigation.

At STA International, we extend every possible effort to obtain payment on a debt before recommending that we forward the debt to an independent law firm. In the United States, lawsuits generally should be filed in a court where the debtor is located, so the court has jurisdiction over the debtor. STA has relationships with hundreds of US law firms located in every major metropolitan area; all are members of the prestigious Commercial Law League of America.

Authorization and contingency rate

STA will obtain authorization from our client before sending a debt to an outside law firm. At this point, the creditor’s contingency rate (as a percentage of collected funds) will usually increase to allow for both a potential contingency rate for the law firm and a reduced contingency rate for STA. This legal contingency rate applies upon forwarding to the local attorney.

Following authorization from the creditor, we will send all backup documents (invoice, statement of account, etc.) and a forwarding letter to the law firm, along with a summary of our history with the debtor.

Determination of financial viability and payment demand

The law firm will make efforts to determine the debtor’s financial viability and research the corporate identity and status of the debtor. They will make a demand upon the debtor for payment of the debt. If the debtor is unresponsive to their demands, the law firm will provide its recommendation concerning the potential filing of a lawsuit and the costs required to do so.

Court costs and suit fees

The filing of a lawsuit requires fees to the law firm. These fees have two components. The first component is court costs – this covers the expenses needed for the court to accept the lawsuit and includes process server fees and the cost of entering a judgment. The amount varies depending upon the State and County as well as the amount of the debt. Generally speaking, costs tend to be lower in rural areas and lower debt amounts, with major metro areas and higher debt amounts equating to higher court costs. Court costs usually range from $400 to $750.

The second component is a “suit fee,” which is an additional charge, over and above contingent collection commissions. A suit fee of 10% of the amount collected is the US industry standard for legal actions involving collections. The suit fee is often fully contingent as a percentage of collected funds. Unless the debt is for a considerable amount and allows for a negotiated reduction with the law firm, the typical total contingency rate to be paid by a client will be 35% (25% legal contingency fees rate plus 10% contingent suit fee).

Though not typical, a law firm will sometimes request a non-contingent suit fee, which is upfront compensation to the law firm for their work to prepare and prosecute the lawsuit. Any non-contingent suit fee is considered an advance on the contingent suit fee. If (for example) a law firm requires a $500 non-contingent suit fee, it will not receive its 10% suit fee on the first $5,000 collected.

What’s included – and what isn’t

For the fees referenced above, the law firm is agreeing to file and prosecute a lawsuit. They are not, however, agreeing to defend a counterclaim by the debtor, if such a counterclaim is brought.  Should a debtor file a counterclaim to the case, the law firm has the right, according to Commercial Law League of America guidelines, to charge hourly rates in defense of the counterclaim. For this reason, STA is careful to avoid disputed litigation and cautious to point out the potential for additional costs to a client if litigation on a disputed balance is commenced.

Process of suit

Once a lawsuit is filed, the debtor must be served with the lawsuit. Depending upon the court, the debtor has about 35 days following service to file an Answer to the lawsuit. At this point, the case can proceed in several directions.

1. The debtor, itself or through its lawyer, could offer a resolution, and the parties could negotiate a settlement and/or payment plan prior to pretrial conferences, mediations, or trial. All settlements are subject to the creditor’s agreement, and the creditor has the final say on whether to settle the matter or to continue the litigation.
2. The debtor could file an Answer, which is a response to the lawsuit’s factual allegations and legal claims. Next come discovery, mediation, and pretrial conferences that attorneys for both sides must attend. Although rare, it is always possible that a client will be required to appear at a pretrial conference or deposition. Clients – especially those who are International and/or have long travel times – need to be aware of this possibility.
3. The debtor does NOT answer the complaint, and the law firm then applies to the court for a default judgment.

Post-judgment

If a judgment is taken against a noncooperative debtor, the case moves to the judgment enforcement stage. At this stage, the law firm will contact the debtor or their attorney to attempt voluntary collection of the judgment amount or negotiate a payment plan. However, most often, a debtor with a judgment entered against them will not cooperate in paying. In such cases, the law firm may suggest that the creditor expend additional funds for judgment enforcement proceedings.

This most commonly includes:

• Costs for a bank search and levy on any bank accounts found
• A wage garnishment on a known employer (if the judgment debtor is an individual)
• A demand for an examination where the judgment debtor must appear for questioning (along with their books and records)
• Sending a sheriff to the debtor’s premises to make a demand for payment.

Judgment enforcement proceedings can be pricey, and STA International will guide the client to make expenditures wisely at every stage of the litigation process, considering the amount in question and the likelihood of success.

STA International – no ownership or profit-sharing relationship with any law firm

It is important to note that we do not charge any fees for our work on legal files (other than potential contingency fees on collections), and all monies paid by clients are 100% remitted to the independent law firm. STA has no ownership or profit-sharing relationship with any law firm, and we are thus unbiased and committed to connecting our clients to the most effective collection law firms throughout the country.

For questions regarding STA International and the legal process for collections, please do not hesitate to contact me at [email protected] or 516-478-4078.

For assistance with a commercial debt, reach out to me directly, or reach out here.

May 22, 2021