The terminology in debt collection can obscure what's actually being offered. "Credit recovery services," "collection agencies," "debt management firms" — these labels overlap, diverge, and occasionally mean entirely different things depending on who's using them. For an overseas business trying to recover money from a Spanish client, cutting through the nomenclature to understand what you're actually buying is the first step toward making a good decision.
What Credit Recovery Services Actually Do
In B2B commercial debt recovery, "credit recovery services" typically refers to the full scope of activities aimed at recovering outstanding receivables: debtor investigation, amicable collection, pre-legal escalation, legal proceedings, and enforcement. Some providers also offer upstream credit management services — credit checks, risk assessment, and monitoring — to prevent bad debts before they occur.
For overseas creditors with Spanish debtors, the services that matter most are:
Debtor investigation. Checking the debtor's financial health through the Registro Mercantil (commercial registry), ASNEF and RAI debtor registries, and commercial credit reports (Informa D&B, Axesor). This assessment determines whether recovery is viable before resources are committed — an honest agency declines cases that aren't worth pursuing.
Amicable collection. Direct debtor contact through a Spain-based agent: phone calls in Spanish, formal demands via burofax, field visits to the debtor's premises. This phase resolves the majority of commercially viable debts and operates on no-win, no-fee terms.
Legal escalation. Attorney demands, monitorio filings, and full civil proceedings when amicable collection fails. This requires Spanish-qualified attorneys and the ability to file in Spanish courts — capability that distinguishes a full-service recovery provider from a basic collection agency.
Enforcement. Executing court judgments through bank account garnishment, asset seizure, and property charges. Enforcement effectiveness depends on identifying the debtor's assets, which requires local knowledge and investigative capability.
Collection Agency vs. Law Firm vs. Integrated Provider
Collection agencies handle amicable collection: phone calls, demands, field visits. Their strength is volume and efficiency in the amicable phase. Their limitation is that they can't file in court — when amicable efforts fail, they refer the case to an external law firm, which creates handoff delays and information loss.
Law firms handle legal proceedings: court filings, litigation, enforcement. Their strength is legal expertise. Their limitation is cost — lawyer rates for amicable phone calls and field visits are inefficient, which is why most firms don't offer amicable collection as a standalone service.
Integrated providers combine both: collection professionals for the amicable phase and in-house attorneys for legal escalation. The same team, the same case file, seamless transition. This is the optimal structure for commercial debt recovery because it eliminates the handoff that occurs when a separate agency and law firm try to coordinate.
What to Look For
The evaluation criteria are consistent regardless of what the provider calls itself: physical presence in Spain, B2B specialisation, integrated legal capability, transparent no-win, no-fee terms, and verifiable recovery statistics segmented by debt type and age.
What to ignore: self-assigned labels, global network claims, and technology features that don't translate to actual recovery effectiveness. The agent making phone calls and the attorney filing in court are what recover debts. Everything else is support infrastructure.
FAQ
Is there a difference between "credit recovery" and "debt collection"?
In commercial practice, the terms are largely interchangeable. Some providers use "credit recovery" to signal a broader service offering (including credit management and prevention) while "debt collection" implies reactive recovery of existing debts. The distinction is more marketing than substance — evaluate the actual services offered, not the label.
Should I engage a credit recovery service before the debt is overdue?
Upstream credit management services — credit checks, monitoring, risk assessment — are worth considering if you have significant and ongoing exposure to Spanish clients. For individual debts that are already overdue, engage recovery services as soon as the debt is 60+ days past due and your internal efforts have been unsuccessful.
Alan Perez
💥 World citizen / 🛵 Tourist, Senior Debt Collection Manager, Business Debt Claims Expert
