As of November 2026, TSI's secondary placement service takes accounts another agency has worked and returned unpaid. TSI re-scores them with CollectX, re-scrubs them for bankruptcy, death and military status and skip-traces them again before any contact. It sends its own validation notice, works inside your settlement limits and reports results beside your other agencies on matched accounts.
Results vary by portfolio, including account age, balance and type, and by client program.
Set by you, from the results above
Got a letter or call from TSI about your own account? Go to the Consumer Support Hub or make a payment.
What a tired placement costs you
Recoveries on a placement usually come early. After that, accounts sit. The agency has little reason to send them back, since a stray payment still earns a fee, and you keep paying contingency on money that may have come in anyway.
Meanwhile customers move and change numbers, and the notes that say "wrong number" stay in someone else's system.
Then there's the comparison problem. Your agencies report differently, and none got the same accounts at the same time. The one with the easier inventory looks better, and the contract renews on a number that doesn't mean much.
Secondary work also costs more per dollar. A 2019 HFMA article for hospitals (updated 2022) says secondary vendors typically charge higher fees because they take on debt that has "languished uncollected for a year or more." That higher fee only pays off if the second agency does something the first one didn't.
What's included
A fresh look at every account
CollectX re-scores each account on arrival, so collectors start with the ones most likely to pay. Bankruptcy, deceased and military-status scrubs run overnight before any work, then again through the life of the account.
Skip tracing built for old debt
Aged accounts need new addresses and numbers more than anything. TSI traces them through commercial skip-tracing and credit bureau sources, and monitoring flags new contact data as it appears.
The first agency's history, used
When you send it, the earlier agency's notes, dead numbers, disputes and opt-outs load before first contact. Collectors don't repeat what already failed, and customers don't have to explain twice.
A new voice on new channels
TSI sends its own validation notice, then reaches customers by text, email and a pay page where they can set up a plan or accept a settlement you've pre-approved, plus calls and letters.
Champion-challenger, if you want it
Split like accounts between TSI and another agency on the same day. Monthly reports show each agency's results side by side, and you move next month's share to whoever is winning.
Recall on your terms
You can recall accounts under your contract's terms. Collection stops on notice, and every closed or returned account carries a reason code a supervisor has reviewed.
How it runs
Set the rules
You decide which accounts go secondary or tertiary, how long each placement runs, the settlement range collectors can offer, recall terms and pricing for each placement order.
Send the accounts and their history
Place accounts by SFTP or API on the schedule you pick, with the prior agency's activity if you have it. TSI reconciles the inventory with you before work starts.
Scrub, score and trace
Overnight, before anyone calls, accounts are scrubbed, scored and traced. Accounts in bankruptcy or with a confirmed death are pulled out and handled under TSI's deceased and bankruptcy account process.
Notify and work
The validation notice goes out with the customer's dispute rights. Collectors work accounts in scored order, set up plans and take payments inside your limits.
Restart or return
Accounts that aren't paying by day 180 go through the process again with new credit data and a new trace. Accounts that still can't be resolved come back to you with the reason.
Where it fits with the other stages
Secondary placement starts when your third-party collections agency returns accounts, or when you recall them. Tertiary placement is a third agency after that, usually on older, smaller balances.
After secondary, the options narrow. Accounts where the balance, the documents and the statute of limitations support it can go to legal recovery, with your approval on each suit. For the rest, the sell-or-place calculator compares a debt sale with another placement.
Running many agencies and law firms at once is a software job: DebtNext agency oversight sets placement rules and scores them all.
What you see
A client portal shows every account's activity and audit trail. Scheduled reports show liquidation by placement month and placement order, right-party contacts, plans, disputes, complaints, recalls and close-and-return reasons.
A champion-challenger split shows each agency's results on like accounts placed the same day. Comparing agencies on different inventory tells you more about the inventory than the agency.
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 is a secondary placement in collections?
A secondary placement is when a creditor sends an account to a second collection agency after the first agency has worked it and returned it unpaid, or after the creditor recalls it.
What is the difference between secondary and tertiary collection placements?
Order. A tertiary placement goes to a third agency after the secondary one, with older, harder-to-reach accounts and usually a higher fee.
What happens to accounts my primary collection agency returns unpaid?
You can write them off and stop, sell them, sue on the ones that qualify or place them with a second agency. With TSI, they're re-scored, scrubbed and traced again, then worked under a new validation notice inside your settlement limits.
How do I compare two collection agencies on the same accounts?
Split like accounts between them on the same day, by balance, age and type, then compare cash collected and liquidation by placement month, alongside complaints and disputes. The agency net-back calculator turns those results into what each agency leaves you after fees.
Can TSI take accounts that are several years old?
Yes, including accounts older than 5 years. The statute of limitations in the customer's state controls what TSI can say about legal action, and TSI doesn't threaten suit on a time-barred debt.
How are secondary placements priced?
TSI quotes each placement order separately, by balance range and age, on contingency or a fixed fee per account.
Find out what your returned accounts are still worth
Bring one returned-account segment. The Recovery Performance Diagnostic measures what your current agencies net you on it and lays out a matched-account split you can run next quarter.
Got a letter or call from TSI about your own account? Go to the Consumer Support Hub or make a payment.
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