Commercial UK debt recovery
No collection, no commission commercial debt collection with STA International.
Providing you with transparent 24/7 online reporting, an average recovery time of 3-4 weeks and weekly BACS remittance, you can trust us with your commercial debt recovery – no matter the size of the debt.
Offering you end-to-end support with our own in-house tracing department, law firm (STA Legal) and over 65 years of experience in collecting outstanding money, accreditations with governing bodies and an international network of affiliated partners, we’re the perfect full-service solution for credit control and debt recovery in the UK and abroad.
STA recovers your UK commercial debts effortlessly to give you:
Calculate your debt
How our Corporate Debt Collection Works
Collecting commercial or corporate debt is highly individual, which is why we combine our own highly refined process (developed over our six decades of experience), with your specific situation.
Place your debts & debtor checks
Professional contact strategy
30 day review and next step advice
Weekly funds remittance
Legal escalation
Get paid today, contact STA
Get in touch today to see how we can help recover your overdue invoices
Proven Results
We’re proud to be one of the leading commercial debt recovery companies in the UK for domestic and international collections. Our commercial clients range from FTSE100 companies to SMEs across a wide range of industries, for whom we’ve proudly recovered £20m in debts over the last 12 months.Keeping you in the loop


''Companies owe money, but people pay bills.''
We take this ethos to heart with our commercial debt recovery. Unlike companies who take an aggressive approach, we know there’s far more value in working with your debtors – preserving customer goodwill and gentle education is proven to not only protect your reputation, but also improve recovery rates and educate your clients to pay on time in the future.Pricing & Member Benefits
Member benefits
We are proud to partner a growing number of credit insurance underwriters who have appointed STA to offer their policyholders worldwide debt collection services.
Check to see if you’re eligible to our preferential rates of commission.
Get paid today, contact STA
Get in touch today to see how we can help recover your overdue invoicesCommercial Debt Collection FAQs
Commercial debt recovery is the process through which we attempt to recover payment from companies that owe you money. This can contain many different steps and strategies, but typically involves communication with the debtor, negotiating repayment, and if required, escalating to legal routes such as issuing a Letter Before Action, filing court claims and more.
It means you pay nothing until we actually recover the debt you’re owed. For UK commercial debts, our standard commission is 10%, and for international debts it’s 15%. These rates can be discounted for repeat usage or large debts.
However, we add statutory interest (base rate + 8%) and a fixed fee of £40, £70, or £100 depending on the invoice size under the Late Payment of Commercial Debts Act. This means that the commission fee is shifted onto the debtor – making the corporate debt collection cost neutral for you.
Every case is different, but our commercial debt collection process recovers your debts in 3-4 weeks on average. We also carry out a 30 day review in cases where payment remains outstanding, where you’ll receive clear communication on all the steps carried out so far.
You’ll also receive personalised advice from your dedicated point of contact and specialist collector as to the best next steps, tailored to you and your industry.
Business relationships are important, which is why we always start with an amicable, communication-led approach to corporate debt collection. If that fails, we may suggest escalating to our in-house law firm STA Legal. They can issue a Letter Before Action (LBA) to which the debtor has 14 days to respond, and can escalate all the way to requesting a County Court Judgment (CCJ) to which debtors have 28 days to pay.
However, these aren’t actions we take lightly. We’ll always do a thorough review of your case, take into account our communications with the debtor, and discuss the options available with you before taking any action.
In England, Wales & Northern Ireland, the limitation period for most types of commercial debts is six years from the date the payment became due (5 years in Scotland). However, this time limit is typically reset if you receive acknowledgement of the debt or receive a partial payment against the balance. This can sometimes vary depending on the specific circumstances.
This doesn’t always mean you can’t try and recover the debt if that time period has expired; it just means that there are some types of action you can no longer take. It’s always ideal to start the process as soon as possible to maximise recovery.
These terms show we’re independently regulated and accredited by multiple industry standard bodies:
FCA authorised – we follow strict rules on fairness and transparency. (Proof of FCA authorisation)
ISO 27001 & 9001 – we’re certified in international standards for data security and quality management. (Proof of ISO 27001 & 9001 certification)
CSA – we’re a member of the Credit Services Association, the sole UK national trade body for debt collection. (Proof of CSA membership since 1995)
ECA – we’re the only UK member of the European Collectors Association, giving us reach in 150+ countries (Proof of ECA membership)
Yes – our minimum value for single debts is £500. For multiple debts, we’re able to offer recovery for lower value debts when placed in bulk.
Absolutely! As well as UK commercial debt collection, we also specialise in international debt recovery worldwide. We’ve collected debts from 154 countries in the last year, with 83% of all international debts being recovered from our UK office – saving you from extra costs associated with using local agents.
If absolutely required, we can also instruct carefully vetted overseas partners if a local agent is necessary to help recover your international debts.