Below is a snapshot of the largest U S-based (or U S-operating) collection firms in the two very different segments of the industry. “Biggest” is measured by latest-available 2024 full-year top-line revenue, or—when the company is private and doesn’t publish audited accounts—by widely-cited analyst/market-data estimates. All numbers are in US dollars unless noted.
1 | Consumer (B2C) Debt-Collection Specialists
| Rank | Agency (headquarters) | 2024 revenue | Scale / focus | Why they dominate |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Transworld Systems Inc. (TSI) – Lake Forest, IL | ≈ $5 billion (LeadIQ estimate, 10 000 employees) (LeadIQ) | Healthcare RCM, student-loan & consumer receivables | Grew through a string of acquisitions (ACT, Alltran, EOS Canada) and a tech-first model for first- and third-party servicing. |
| 2 | Encore Capital Group (Midland Credit Management) – San Diego, CA | $1.31 billion TTM revenue 2024 (Companies Market Cap) | Debt-purchasing/collection in US & 8 other countries | Largest publicly-listed debt buyer; invests heavily in analytics to price and collect charged-off credit-card portfolios. |
| 3 | PRA Group Inc. – Norfolk, VA | $1.11 billion 2024 revenue (+39 % YoY) (Companies Market Cap) | Global debt purchaser/collector | Strong US and European platforms; Q4 2024 cash collections +31 %. (PR Newswire) |
| 4 | GC Services – Houston, TX | $1.4 – 1.7 billion (Growjo range, ≈ 5 800 employees) (Growjo) | First- & third-party collections, customer-care BPO | One of the largest privately-held ARM/BPO players since 1957. |
| 5 | Radius Global Solutions – Edina, MN/Philadelphia, PA | ≈ $549 million (Growjo) | Healthcare, financial-services & utility collections | 4 000+ staff, omnichannel / AI-driven “RIVA” virtual agent. |
Quick takeaway: The consumer side is dominated by very large, often publicly traded debt buyers (Encore, PRA) and BPO hybrids (TSI, GC Services) that can fund bulk portfolio purchases or run massive first-party campaigns at scale.
2 | Commercial (B2B) Collection Specialists
| Rank | Agency (U S operating hub) | 2024 revenue* | Primary services | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Allianz Trade Collections (formerly Euler Hermes) – Owings Mills, MD | ≈ $2.8 billion group revenue 2023/24 (Zippia) | B2B collections arm of the world’s largest trade-credit insurer | Combines debt collection, credit insurance and bonding in 50+ countries; US team handles North-American claims. |
| 2 | Atradius Collections – Baltimore, MD | €2.5 billion (~ $2.7 B) group revenue 2024 (Atradius) | Global commercial collections + credit-insurance recovery | Integrated with Atradius credit-insurance; multilingual in-house collectors cover 96 % of world GDP. |
| 3 | Altus Receivables Management – New Orleans, LA | ≈ $63 million (Growjo) | Third-party & 1st-party B2B, global legal escalation | Branded “ARM Strong™” Salesforce platform; CLLA-, IACC-, CCA-certified. |
| 4 | Caine & Weiner – Sherman Oaks, CA | ≈ $88 million (Growjo) | Commercial & hybrid consumer collections; 100-yr-old firm | National network plus Mexico, UK, Hong Kong affiliates. |
| 5 | ABC-Amega – Buffalo, NY | ≈ $15 – 20 million (LeadIQ / Growjo range) (Growjo) | Third-party B2B collections, credit-group management | One of only a handful of agencies triple-certified by CLLA, IACC and CCA of A. |
*Group revenue shown for Allianz Trade and Atradius because their US collection arms are not separately reported; both run sizeable dedicated US teams.
Quick takeaway: Commercial collections are far more fragmented. Global credit-insurance giants (Allianz Trade/Euler Hermes, Atradius) dwarf US-only players, but midsize specialists such as Altus, Caine & Weiner and ABC-Amega compete on industry focus, certification and bespoke legal networks.
How to use this list
- Match specialization to your ledger.
If you’re chasing mostly consumer balances (medical, retail, fintech lending) the top five consumer firms above have the scale, skip-tracing data and compliance infrastructure you’ll need.
If your A/R is business-to-business—especially export or multinational—look first to Allianz Trade or Atradius for one-stop credit-insurance + collection, or to Altus/ABC-Amega for pure contingency services. - Check certification & compliance:
For commercial work, CLLA/IACC/CCA-certified agencies undergo trust-account audits and bonding requirements.
For consumer work, ensure the agency is licensed in every state you bill, follows Reg F (CFPB) rules, and is SOC 2 / ISO 27001 compliant. - Demand performance data. Even the “biggest” varies widely in liquidation rates by debt age/industry. Ask for:
- recovery percentages for portfolios similar to yours,
- average days-to-collect,
- complaint ratios,
- indemnification coverage.
- Negotiate fee tiers. Large agencies will flex on contingency rates or fixed-fee “pre-collect” pricing if the volume is meaningful.
Methodology & caveats
- Public-company figures come from SEC filings or press releases dated Feb 2025; private-company figures rely on market-intelligence aggregators (LeadIQ, Growjo) and may be ±10-15 %.
- Some consumer giants (e.g., Alorica, Afni, Convergent) also top $500 M in ARM revenue, but they blend collections with customer-care outsourcing and were excluded to keep the tables focused on pure‐play or majority-collection companies.
- Several former heavyweights (e.g., D&B RMS, NCO Group) have exited or been absorbed and no longer appear as stand-alone entities.
Use this as a directional guide and always request up-to-date audited numbers and client references before contracting.