✓ No Collection, No Commission

Small Business Debt Collection Agency

No collection, no commission SME & small business debt recovery and credit control with STA International.

Overview Reporting Pricing International Debt Recovery

Being owed money as a small business or SME is even more of a pressing issue than if you’re a big business owner. With less cash flow and reserves to rely on, receiving money on time can be the difference between being able to pay the bills or not.

That’s why having a good small business debt collection agency on your side is so important; we understand the needs of your business and always work in your best interest to recover your funds as quickly and efficiently as possible. With the interest we collect from the debtor, it means in many cases we can offer our small business debt recovery completely cost-neutral to you.

We let our over 65 years of experience speak for themselves – with an in-house tracing department, average recovery time of 3-4 weeks, weekly BACS remittances, 24/7 transparent online reporting and accreditations with governing bodies, you can trust we’ll go above and beyond other debt collection companies for small businesses.

Let your cash flow.

STA recovers your debts effortlessly to give you:

✓ No Collection, No Commission

No upfront costs or hidden fees
You only pay when we recover your money
GDPR compliant & ethical approach
Average recovery in 3-4 weeks

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Step 1 of 5: Your Company Location

Where is your company based?

United Kingdom

Outside of the UK

Where is the debtor company based?

United Kingdom

Outside of the UK

How much are you owed?

Outstanding debt amount (£)

When was payment due?

Your recovery quote

Outstanding amount:-

Late payment interest:-

Our success fee (—):-

Total we'll chase:-

If we recover the full amount, you receive:

Start Your Recovery

Your Full Name*

Company Name*

Business Email*

Phone Number*

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ISO & FCA accredited

✓

GDPR Compliant

How our Small Business Debt Collection Works

The process for commercial debt collection differs for every small business or SME, which is why we understand your specific situation before starting. Once we do, we get started with our collection process, carefully developed over our six decades of experience.

Place your debts & debtor checks

The first step is to submit your debts. You can do this via our ‘Your Debts Online’ (YDO) portal. This can be completed through a form, or uploaded in bulk via CSV/Excel. Our team of professionals then gets to work – first doing initial checks of your debtors to assess their financial strength, and then developing a collaborative (not combative) approach to maximise recovery rates.

Professional contact strategy

The next step our experienced collectors take is to contact your debtors. We reach out with a clear message, informed by the details of your case; reminding them of their obligation and working to secure payment in full (including statutory interest and Late Payment Act charges). Our collectors are trained to stop or query non-payment explanations at this stage.

30 day review and next step advice

Our team will continue to negotiate with the debtors, updating the YDO portal with updates on progress and notes from your collector along the way. We handle all concerns and queries throughout; only reverting to you if necessary. In cases where payment remains outstanding, we’ll activate a 30-day review with you where we can discuss potential further action, including the possibility of a legal debt recovery route.

Weekly funds remittance

In small business debt recovery cases where we secure payments, your funds will be remitted to you via BACS on a weekly basis. You can use your personal online portal to track this, where you’ll also be able to find downloadable reports, invoices, statements and more.

Legal escalation

In some cases, pre-legal attempts to recover your small business debt may not be possible. In situations where collection isn’t possible, our in-house law firm STA Legal can seamlessly handle all further action necessary. This could include a Letter Before Action (LBA), filing a court claim, securing a County Court Judgement, all the way to supporting enforcement of recovery.

Small Business Credit Control

We can also handle credit control for small businesses, creating custom solutions on a case-by-case basis to ensure we meet your exact needs. Using outsourced credit control is often a more cost effective, scalable way to handle your accounts receivable. We can take care of everything from confirming receipt of invoices, credit application processing, continual monitoring and more.

Our small business credit control services operate on a fixed monthly fee, starting at just £500 per month, to make sure it’s accessible to businesses and SMEs of all sizes – perfect for the short, medium or long term.

Get paid today, contact STA

Get in touch today to see how we can help recover your overdue invoices

Get a Quote

Proven Success

We take the same personal approach whether we’re handling debt recovery for small business accounts, SMEs or FTSE100 companies. There’s a reason we’re a leading debt collection agency for small business owners in the UK; with £20m recovered in debts over the last 12 months, you can trust us to collect your owed money in the most efficient way possible – without hurting your business relationships in the process.

We only had one case available and STA treated this with a level of service I would expect if I was a major customer. I would recommend their services whatever value of debt you are dealing with.

Lisa Wheal

I would recommend their services

I have used the services of STA International for a number of outstanding accounts and they have always collected the payments. Their approach is very professional and they keep you informed throughout the process. If there are any problems they liaise with you and negotiate with the debtor on your behalf. A first rate service that I would recommend to anyone.

David

First rate professional service

I have found STA extremely professional and supportive in supporting us with our business needs. They have easy to communicate features via their portal and their collection rates are great. Whilst debt collection is never a nice thing to have to address, they make this as stress free of a process as possible.

Aaron R

Professional and supportive

This is our first experience of using a debt recovery agency. We were pleasantly surprised by how simple and effective STA made the whole process, saving an enormous amount of time and energy for our Finance Manager to redirect to more productive activities. Thank you.

Tom R

Simple and effective

24/7 Online Portal

We don’t treat small business debt recovery cases any differently to our biggest. You’ll have 24/7 access to our YDO online portal, helping you to stay up to date with everything that’s going on in your case. Our YDO portal is an industry leading solution that saves time and gives you full transparency from your dedicated point of contact and specialist collector. It’s easy to place new debts, track progress on existing debts, respond to requests for your instruction and access statements and reports.

See our Your Debts Online User Guide for more information

''Companies owe money, but people pay bills.''

We take a very different approach than some other debt collection agencies for small businesses. Preserving business relationships, customer goodwill and gentle education through working with your debtors results in a much higher rate of recovery than aggressive strategies. Not only that, but we’ve proven that it helps to protect your reputation and educates your clients to pay on time in the future.

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Pricing & Member Benefits

Our ‘no collection, no commission’ approach means that our small business debt collection is cost-neutral for you in most cases. Read more information about our commission structure below.

No Collection, No Commission

10%

For multiple debts, and single debts over £50,000, a lower rate of commission applies

We automatically add our commission charge to your debtor’s invoice(s), along with interest. When your debtor pays the costs and interest, we remit it in full and invoice you for our commission, leaving you with your principal sum and the interest. Conversely, if your debtor fails to pay the costs and interest, we invoice you for our commission.

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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.

Learn More

Get paid today, contact STA

Get in touch today to see how we can help recover your overdue invoices

Get started

Small Business Debt Recovery FAQs

If you still have questions about our debt collection for small businesses, we might have answered your query in our frequently asked questions below. If not, don’t hesitate to get in touch with our team of friendly experts!

Small businesses can recover debt by checking and ensuring important information on invoices is correct, sending regular reminders to debtors and maintaining open communication with them. If this is unsuccessful, using one of the many debt collection companies for small businesses can often help to return higher rates of recovery. Some collection agencies, such as STA International, can also help you explore legal escalation routes.

Small business debt recovery can be summed up by the process of recovering payment owed to a company, the majority of which are owed by other businesses. This typically involves pre-legal methods including communication and education, but can also include legal escalation and recovering statutory interest and compensation on top of the original amount.

Many companies choose to use a small business debt collection agency in order to save time and maximise recovery through professional processes.

Yes, there are some cases where bad small business debts can’t be recovered. This could include if a debt has been statute-barred (usually six years from the date the payment became due), in some cases of insolvency, and other factors.

However, we recommend that you get in touch with us if you have debts like these – there are circumstances which could mean these funds are still recoverable, just more difficult to do so. In any case, the sooner you contact us, the higher the chances of recovery are.

For single debts, our minimum value is £500. However, for multiple debts, we’re able to help you with lower value debts when placed in bulk.

“No collection, no commission” means you don’t have to pay anything until we’ve collected the debt owed to you. For small business collections, our standard commission is 10%, and for international debts it’s 15%. This can also be discounted for much larger 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 in the majority of cases, the commission fee is shifted onto your debtor – making our small business debt collection cost-neutral for you, effectively free in many cases.

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)

On average, we will recover your debts in 3-4 weeks. It’s important to remember that debt recovery for small business cases is highly individual, so it could take less or more time than average.

If payment remains outstanding, we activate a 30 day review and you’ll receive advice from your point of contact and specialist collector with advice tailored specifically to your case and industry.

Ready to Recover Your Small Business Debts?

The sooner you start the small business debt collection process, the better the chances for recovery. Either get a hassle-free online quote or get in touch with our friendly professionals to see how we can help.

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