As of November 2026, TSI's first-party collections service works your past-due accounts before charge-off, in your name. A dedicated TSI team calls, writes, texts and emails on your scripts, sets up payment plans inside your rules and routes payments to you. Accounts that don't cure move to third-party collection on a schedule you set.
Results vary by portfolio, including account age, balance and type, and by client program.
Got a letter or call from TSI about your own account? Go to the Consumer Support Hub or make a payment.
What waiting costs you
Your own team is probably working early delinquencies in between everything else. Billing questions, disputes, the new-account queue. The 30-day accounts get a reminder. The 60-day accounts get whatever time is left.
That gap is expensive, and it's the main reason creditors weigh keeping collections in-house or outsourcing them. A customer who is 45 days late and gets a real conversation can often be put back on track. The same customer at charge-off is a write-off, a third-party placement and a fee on every dollar that comes back.
The rules got tighter for creditors too. New York City's SHIELD rule reaches original creditors once collection procedures start, from Jan 1, 2027 (NYC Department of Consumer and Worker Protection, Aug 4, 2026). If your in-house team can't count contacts by account and channel today, that's a problem with a date on it. Our SHIELD rule brief sets out what changes.
What's included
A team that sounds like you
TSI collectors work your accounts under your brand, your scripts and your customer-treatment rules. Your customers hear your company's name on every call and letter.
Contact across channels
Calls, letters, texts and email, sequenced by account score and your own contact rules. TSI tracks consent and opt-outs by channel.
Payment plans inside your limits
Collectors offer the plans and arrangements you approve, and nothing outside them. Settlements happen only with your permission.
Self-service payment
Customers can pay through a self-service portal, a 24/7 phone line or digital wallets. Where your contract sets it, payments go straight to you.
Training on your rules
New collectors complete about 80 hours of training before live calls, then learn your program's procedures. You can run your own train-the-trainer sessions.
Call quality you can audit
Compliance scores collector calls on 28 attributes, and supervisors coach from the results.
How it runs
Set the rules
You and TSI agree the account criteria, scripts, letter templates, payment-plan limits, contact hours and the day an account leaves first-party work. Delivery location, onshore or offshore, is written into the contract.
Connect the data
Placement, payment and update files move by secure file transfer or API. TSI reconciles its inventory against your system on the schedule you choose.
Start contact fast
Accounts are scored and loaded on arrival, and contact attempts typically start within 48 hours of placement. Call frequency follows the Regulation F call limits, the TCPA and your own rules.
Work the plan
Collectors talk through the balance, confirm the right party, and set up a plan or a payment. Notes from every contact flow back to your system.
Return or hand off
Accounts that cure go back to you as current. Accounts that reach your charge-off point move to third-party collection, with their history attached.
Where it fits with the other stages
First-party work sits between your billing reminders and charge-off. Many creditors start with demand letters and early reminders, add calling in first-party, and then place what's left with third-party collections.
The handoff matters most. When the same provider runs both stages, the account history, disputes and consent records move with the account, so your customer doesn't start over. You can also split the stages between providers, and TSI reports each stage separately so you can compare.
Legal recovery comes later still, only on accounts you approve.
What you see
You get a client portal with account activity, collector notes, payments and inventory, plus scheduled reports by file or email. Typical reports include cure rate by placement month, right-party contact, payment-plan performance, disputes and complaints, and a reconciliation of TSI's inventory against yours.
Ask for a stair-step view by placement month. It's the cleanest way to see whether first-party work is curing accounts or only pushing charge-off back a month.
General information, current as of November 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 company behind the work
Questions buyers ask
What's the difference between first-party and third-party collections?
In first-party work, TSI contacts customers in your name, usually before charge-off. In third-party work, TSI contacts them in its own name as a collection agency, usually after charge-off, and federal collection law applies.
Do payments come to us or to TSI?
Your contract sets it. Many first-party programs send payments straight to the creditor, and TSI's records update from your payment file.
Can TSI use our phone numbers, letterhead and email domain?
Your brand, scripts and letter templates are set during setup. The channels and sending details are agreed per program with your compliance and IT teams.
When should an account move from first-party to third-party?
At the point your credit policy sets, often at or near charge-off. Agree the day before launch so both stages report against the same line.
Does TSI subcontract the calling?
TSI's own employees do the collecting. Where they sit is written into your contract.
See what first-party work would cure in your portfolio
The Recovery Performance Diagnostic looks at one portfolio or segment, sets your baseline and designs a measured carve-out you can run beside your current team.
Got a letter or call from TSI about your own account? Go to the Consumer Support Hub or make a payment.
Let's Connect
Tell us about your accounts
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Paying a bill or have a question about your account? Go to the Consumer Support Hub.