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Switching agenciesThe risk in a switch is the gap: payments in flight, disputes that don't travel and accounts nobody works for six weeks. Plan the handover like a project, with dates.
Switch collection agencies by sending new placements to the new agency on a set date while the old one works its inventory to term. Recall only what the contract lets you take back without a full fee. Demand a complete data file with disputes, cease requests and payment plans, and expect validation to restart under Regulation F.
TSI (Transworld Systems Inc.) publishes it. TSI provides Accounts Receivable Management (ARM), Healthcare Revenue Cycle Management (RCM), CXBPO and Loan Servicing (via UAS). DebtNext, a TSI company, makes recovery management software for creditors. Some options this page describes compete with services TSI sells. Each figure names its publisher and date so you can check it yourself.
Three gaps do the damage.
The coverage gap. Accounts get recalled before the new agency has loaded them, and nobody calls anyone for weeks. Those weeks are the ones you never get back on aged debt.
The data gap. A dispute, a cease-communication request or a bankruptcy notice stays in the old agency's system. The new agency contacts the customer as if it never happened, and the complaint lands on you.
The money gap. Customers keep paying the old agency after recall, or a payment plan breaks because nobody told the customer where to pay. Then a fee dispute starts on top.
| Item | Run-off | Full recall |
|---|---|---|
| How it works | New placements go to the new agency from a set date; the old agency keeps its inventory to term | All open accounts move to the new agency on one date |
| Recovery risk | Low; nothing goes unworked | Higher; accounts sit idle during transfer |
| Fees | Old agency keeps earning on its inventory | Check recall fees; some contracts bill the full fee on withdrawn accounts |
| Best when | The old agency is performing acceptably and you want a clean comparison | Conduct, data security or licensing problems mean you need out now |
| Customer experience | No change for existing accounts | Customers hear a new name and get a new validation notice |
Run-off is the default for most switches. It also gives you months of both agencies working similar accounts, which is a free comparison. A full recall makes sense when the reason for leaving is a compliance or security problem.
Find the notice period, recall terms, fees on recalled accounts and on direct payments, and data return and deletion clauses. What to ask about your data at contract end lists the questions.
Specify what the old agency returns for every account: balance and itemization, payments and payment plans, contact history, disputes and their status, cease requests, attorney and bankruptcy notices, deceased flags, channel consent and credit reporting status.
Send a sample file. The new agency should acknowledge every account, run its own scrubs and report rejects with reasons. Fix mapping problems while there's still time.
New accounts go to the new agency. If you're recalling inventory, do it in batches the new agency can load and start within days.
Track payments still arriving at the old agency, broken plans and complaints daily. Reconcile both agencies' inventories against yours each week.
Compare net-back by placement month. Confirm the old agency has updated or deleted its credit reporting on recalled accounts, and get written confirmation of data return or deletion.
A newly placed agency is a new debt collector to the customer. It provides its own validation information in or within 5 days of its first communication, and a fresh 30-day validation period runs from receipt (12 CFR 1006.34).
It also can't report the account to the credit bureaus before it has communicated with the customer about the debt (12 CFR 1006.30(a)). Ask the old agency to update or delete its tradeline on recalled accounts, so customers don't show two collection entries for one debt.
So expect a short dip in the new agency's first-month curve, and judge it on months 2 to 6.
Results vary by portfolio, including account age, balance and type, and by client program.
TSI receives files by secure file transfer or API, acknowledges every account and reconciles its inventory with yours. Validation notices, scoring and first skip tracing start within 24 hours of placement. Dispute, cease and consent records you send are loaded as holds before any contact. How an account moves from placement to close shows each check.
Usually yes, under your contract's recall terms. Read them first: some contracts bill the full contingency fee on withdrawn accounts, and most need written notice. What collection agencies charge covers recall and direct-payment fees.
It can for a month or two if accounts sit idle or data goes missing. A run-off with new placements going to the new agency avoids most of that, and a split lets you see whether the switch worked.
They should move with the account, with terms intact. Tell customers in writing where to pay from the switch date, and have the old agency forward any late payments.
Plan on about 90 days from notice to close-out for a run-off. Most of the work sits in the contract review and the data file, which you can start before you give notice.
General information, current as of Nov 5, 2026. It isn't legal advice. Rules change and differ by state, so check the sources linked here and talk to your own counsel before you act on it.
The Recovery Performance Diagnostic sets baseline economics on one portfolio or segment and designs a carve-out TSI works beside your current agency, so the switch decision rests on your own curves.
