Small Business Debt Collection Agency
No collection, no commission SME & small business debt recovery and credit control with STA International.
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.
STA recovers your small business debts effortlessly to give you:
Calculate your debt
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
Professional contact strategy
30 day review and next step advice
Weekly funds remittance
Legal escalation
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
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.
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.
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.
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.
24/7 Online Portal
''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.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.
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 invoicesSmall 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.