An alternative to hiring a collections specialist
Overdue invoices chased by email on a schedule you approve, with a short list of the accounts that need you.
Instead of hiring a collections specialist, you can hand the follow-up to Dull: a done-for-you back-office service that works your aging list every week, sends reminder emails on the schedule and in the wording you approve, and tracks every reply and promise to pay, for a flat monthly fee, month to month, with a fixed quote on a 15-minute call. Most businesses are live in about a week.
Here’s what the role covers, what a hire costs, how the options compare, and the clear lines Dull doesn’t cross.
What a collections specialist actually does
- Work the aging list every day.
- Send reminders and statements.
- Call customers about late payments.
- Log promises to pay and follow up when they’re missed.
- Handle disputes and agree payment plans.
- Decide when to escalate to an agency or write off.
What hiring a collections specialist really costs
BLS tracks collections specialists as bill and account collectors (SOC 43-3011), about 159,000 US workers in May 2025. That group includes collection agency staff; Dull isn’t a collection agency. We chase your own overdue invoices, by email, before an account ever needs one.
| Cost | Source | |
|---|---|---|
| Median salary | $47,030 a year ($22.61 an hour) | BLS, May 2025, SOC 43-3011 |
| Average salary | $49,060 a year | BLS, May 2025 |
| Benefits and payroll taxes | about $20,200 a year | BLS employer costs, June 2026 |
| All-in cost of a median hire | about $67,200 a year, or $5,600 a month | Median salary ÷ 0.70 |
| Time to fill the seat | a median of 39 days, before training | SHRM, 2026 |
| Dull | Flat monthly fee, month to month, quoted on a 15-minute call | How Dull pricing works |
BLS reports that wages make up 70.0% of what private employers spend per worker, and benefits and legally required payroll taxes make up the other 30.0% (Employer Costs for Employee Compensation, June 2026). Dividing the median salary by 0.70 gives the all-in figure. It still leaves out job ads, recruiter fees, equipment, software seats and the hours you spend training, so the real cost of a hire is higher. Pay also varies by city: the BLS page has state and metro figures.
This isn’t a like-for-like comparison, and we won’t pretend it is. A full-time employee works about 2,080 hours a year and can pick up anything you hand them. Dull’s pilot covers one process, up to 300 standard records a month. If the seat is bigger than that, tell us on the call and we’ll tell you honestly whether we can cover it.
Your options compared
| Option | Monthly cost | Time to start | Who checks the work | Commitment | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hire an employee | about $5,600 all in | median 39 days to fill, then training | You | Employment | Steady full-time volume, or work that needs someone on site |
| Temp agency | about $5,880 to $6,470 | usually faster than hiring | You | Per assignment | Short gaps, like covering leave |
| Offshore virtual assistant | about $571 to $900 hired directly, before agency fees | days to weeks to find and train | You | Varies | Broad, changing tasks when you have time to manage |
| Outsourced bookkeeper | varies by firm and volume | varies | The bookkeeper | Usually monthly | Accurate books, reconciliations and month-end close |
| Dull | Flat monthly fee, quoted on a 15-minute call | about a week | A person reviews every exception; you get a Friday summary | Month to month | One repeatable process you want off your plate now |
Temp cost is the median hourly wage plus a typical agency markup of 50% to 65% (American Society of Employers), over 2,080 hours a year. The virtual assistant range is the middle half of full-time asking rates in a 2026 survey of 1,385 Filipino VA applicants (Outsource Accelerator).
- Hiring gets you a dedicated person who learns your business and can take on anything. You also carry the salary, benefits, recruiting, training, and the gap when they’re out or leave.
- A temp agency covers the seat fast with no recruiting on your side. You pay the markup, and you still train and check the work, sometimes again with each new temp.
- An offshore virtual assistant is the cheapest per month. You find, train and manage them, check the work yourself, and handle time zones and turnover.
- A bookkeeper keeps your books accurate and closes the month. Daily invoicing, entry and chasing are a different job, so ask whether they’re included and what they cost.
- Dull is a set price, live in about a week, with a person reviewing every exception and a weekly report. It covers defined, repeatable work, not everything a full-time employee would do.
What Dull handles and what it doesn’t
What we handle
- Reminder emails on a schedule you set, such as before the due date, on it, and at 7, 14 and 30 days late, in wording you approve.
- Statements sent to accounts with more than one open invoice.
- Replies logged against the account, and promises to pay tracked and followed up if they’re missed.
- A short weekly list of the accounts that need a call or a decision from you, with the history attached.
- A Friday summary: what came in, what’s still open and what’s waiting on you.
Customers pay you the way they do today, directly to you. We never take payments. Payment plans, settlements, write-offs and agency referrals are your decisions: we bring you the facts and the options, and you decide.
What we don’t do
- Paying bills, sending payments or moving money. You approve and pay.
- Payroll, tax filings or anything that needs a licence.
- Approval decisions, like credit limits, refunds, write-offs or payment plans. We prepare them; you decide.
- Medical or dental patient records (HIPAA) and card numbers. They aren’t part of the standard pilot: if your work involves them, tell us on the call and we’ll go through what’s needed before anything starts.
- Phone calls with your customers. The pilot works by email and in your systems.
How the switch works
- A 15-minute call. Tell us which seat is empty or which work is piling up. We’ll tell you straight whether we can take it on.
- We learn your rules. You give us a login with only the access the job needs, about 20 examples of finished work, your “always” and “never” rules, and one person who answers our questions.
- Shadow first. We run alongside your current process on real records, and you check our output against yours before we take anything over.
- Live in about a week. Then you get a summary every Friday: what got done, what’s waiting on you and anything blocked. It’s month to month, so if we stop being worth it, you cancel.
When hiring is the better choice
Hire if most of your collections happen on the phone, if accounts need negotiation every week, or if you’re collecting consumer debt that brings in collection laws. Those need a person on your team or a licensed agency.
Related
Covering more than one seat? See the alternative to hiring an accounts receivable clerk, the alternative to hiring a billing specialist, the alternative to hiring an administrative assistant, and what Dull costs. Doing it yourself first? Read how to hand off collections in a week.
Frequently asked questions
The median US bill and account collector earned $47,030 in May 2025, according to BLS. With benefits and payroll taxes that is about $67,200 a year, or $5,600 a month. Dull charges a flat monthly fee, month to month, usually well below the all-in cost of a full-time hire. You get a fixed quote on a 15-minute call.
No. We follow up on your own customers’ overdue invoices by email, on your behalf and under your rules, before an account ever needs an agency.
Not in the pilot. We send reminders by email and give you a short list of the accounts that need a call from you.
You approve the wording and the schedule before anything goes out, so the tone is yours. Customers who have already paid or replied are taken off the schedule.
You do. We bring you the account history and the options, and nothing is agreed without your decision.