What qualifies as a commercial placement
A commercial placement is an obligation that arose from a business transaction — one company owing another for goods, services, credit, rent, or a contractual commitment. What makes a debt commercial is how it originated, not who you pursue for it.
This distinction has real consequences. Commercial obligations fall outside the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, which governs debts incurred for personal, family, or household purposes. A debt that began as a personal obligation remains a consumer debt permanently, even if the person who owes it later operates a business. We screen for this at placement, and we handle any consumer-origin obligation under full FDCPA requirements regardless of who the target is.
Obligations we accept
Unpaid invoices
Goods delivered or services rendered on open account with no payment.
Trade credit balances
Revolving supplier credit that has gone past terms.
Equipment and vehicle leases
Defaulted commercial lease obligations, with or without a deficiency after repossession.
Commercial rent arrears
Past-due rent, CAM charges, and holdover balances on commercial tenancies.
Breach of contract
Liquidated balances arising from a written commercial agreement.
Promissory notes
Defaulted business notes, including those secured by a personal guaranty.
How a commercial file moves
- 01
File review and validation
We confirm the obligation is commercial in origin, verify the balance against your documentation, and check the claim against the applicable statute of limitations before any contact is made.
- 02
Debtor and entity verification
We confirm the debtor entity still exists, identify its registered agent and current officers, and check whether it has dissolved, merged, or continued operating under a successor name.
- 03
Written demand
A formal written demand goes to the debtor's current address of record and to any personal guarantor, stating the balance, its origin, and the documentation supporting it.
- 04
Telephone contact and negotiation
Direct contact with the party who can authorize payment. Most commercial files resolve here — through payment in full, a structured arrangement, or a negotiated settlement within your authority.
- 05
Recommendation
If the debtor will not resolve voluntarily, we report what we found and recommend either legal referral or closure. We will tell you when a file is not worth pursuing.
Contingency
Commercial placements are handled on contingency. We are paid a percentage of what we actually recover, so a file that recovers nothing costs you nothing in fees.
Rates vary with balance size, account age, documentation quality, and volume. Current schedule: [RATE PENDING].
Court costs and filing fees on files referred to counsel are separate from contingency and are addressed in the placement agreement before any referral is made.
What we need to open a file
- Invoices or the written contract
- Statement of account showing the balance
- Payment history and any credits applied
- Prior collection correspondence
- Personal guaranty, if one was signed
- Purchase orders or delivery confirmations, where applicable
Have an unpaid commercial balance?
Tell us the amount, the age, and what documentation you hold.