Vulnerable

Last Update: 6/19/2026

AI Resilience Score for Bill & Account Collectors:

20.3%

Median Score

Meaningful human contribution

Low

Long-term employer demand

Med

Sustained economic opportunity

Low

Our confidence in this score:
High

Contributing sources

Methodology and Scoring Rationale

To score how resilient bill and account collection work is to AI, we ask one question in three parts:

First, how much of the job still needs a human, read from four AI-exposure sources: our own AI Resilience Model, Anthropic's Observed Exposure, Microsoft's AI Applicability, and Will Robots Take My Job. We call this dimension Meaningful Human Contribution (MHC) and weight it at 40%.

Next, whether employers will keep hiring for this job over the long term. This dimension, which we call Long-term Employer Demand (LTE), is calculated from BLS data and weighted at 30%.

Last, whether pay and mobility will hold up. We use wage bill and adaptive capacity data from independent researchers (Althoff & Reichardt, 2026; Manning & Aguirre, 2026). We call this dimension Sustained Economic Opportunity (SEO) and weight it at 30%.

For bill and account collectors, all seven sources had data and agreed closely: AI Resilience Model, Anthropic, Microsoft, and Will Robots Take My Job all rated AI exposure as high, meaning AI can handle most of the routine contact and tracking work. Modest hiring demand could not offset low pay and limited mobility, landing this role as "Vulnerable."

AI Resilience Report forBill and Account Collectors

$46,040 median salary13,700 annual openingsSOC Code: 43-3011.00

Bill and Account Collectors are much less resilient to AI impacts than most occupations, according to our analysis of 7 sources.

Bill and Account Collectors are labeled "Vulnerable" because the most common parts of the job, like logging records, sending reminders, and making first-touch calls, are exactly the kinds of routine tasks that AI handles quickly and cheaply. Adoption of AI tools among collection agencies jumped from 73% to 93% in just one year, and economists at Goldman Sachs have specifically called out this role as one where AI can take over most core tasks.

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This role is vulnerable

Bill and Account Collectors are labeled "Vulnerable" because the most common parts of the job, like logging records, sending reminders, and making first-touch calls, are exactly the kinds of routine tasks that AI handles quickly and cheaply. Adoption of AI tools among collection agencies jumped from 73% to 93% in just one year, and economists at Goldman Sachs have specifically called out this role as one where AI can take over most core tasks.

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Analysis of Current AI Resilience

Bill & Account Collectors

Updated Quarterly

Analysis
Suggested Actions
State of Automation

How is AI changing Bill & Account Collectors jobs?

If you're worried about a future in collections work, here's the honest picture: AI is already reshaping this job — but not erasing the human element entirely. According to a recent industry survey shared by ACA International, AI and machine learning adoption among collection agencies jumped from 73% in 2024 to 93% in 2025 [1], with only 7% of companies reporting no plans to deploy these tools. The routine, administrative parts of the role — updating records, logging contact attempts, sorting correspondence — are the easiest pieces for software to take over.

New AI agents like the one TransUnion launched in March 2026 to accelerate financial analytics workflows [2] can pull credit data, draft customer summaries, and flag accounts in seconds. Goldman Sachs economists, in research summarized by Fortune, specifically named "bill collectors" as a high-substitution-risk occupation where AI can handle most core tasks [3]. On the augmentation side, voice AI and chatbots now handle first-touch reminder calls, while human collectors focus on harder conversations — negotiating payment plans, showing empathy, and persuading reluctant customers.

Those judgment-heavy tasks (with automation scores closer to 42–55%) are still where people add real value.

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AI Adoption

How fast is AI adoption growing for Bill & Account Collectors?

Adoption is moving fast because the economics are powerful. Collection volumes are at record highs, with TransUnion data showing agencies turning to AI to keep up [1], and broader Federal Reserve research finds that one-third of GenAI workers now use the tools daily [4]. Commercial tools are widely available and cheap compared to call-center wages.

But there are real brakes: strict laws like the FDCPA and CFPB Regulation F mean every automated call must be auditable, and McKinsey's 2026 AI Trust survey shows governance and risk-mitigation still lag adoption [5]. Consumers are also wary of AI bots discussing sensitive debts. Thomson Reuters' 2026 report notes adoption has "hit critical mass" but companies are now wrestling with the tougher business questions [6] of accuracy and trust.

The takeaway: entry-level collector roles will shrink, but workers who build skills in negotiation, compliance oversight, and supervising AI systems will stay in demand — and those skills are very learnable.

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Will AI replace Bill & Account Collectors?

Will AI replace Bill & Account Collectors?

Yes. We do think that eventually AI will replace much of this work as it's done today, but the skills you build here can carry you into roles that are harder to automate.

Our 20.3% AI Resilience Score reflects real risk. AI adoption among collection agencies jumped from 73% to 93% in just one year [1], and Goldman Sachs economists have specifically named bill collectors as a high-substitution-risk occupation [3]. The routine parts of the job, updating records, logging calls, sorting accounts, are already being handed off to software. Entry-level roles will shrink.

What stays human, at least for now, is the harder stuff: negotiating payment plans with someone in genuine financial distress, reading a situation with empathy, making judgment calls that a bot would fumble. Strict laws like the FDCPA also mean every automated interaction has to be auditable, which keeps compliance-minded humans in the loop [5].

The honest career advice here is to treat this job as a starting point, not a destination. The negotiation, de-escalation, and compliance skills you develop transfer well into financial counseling, customer success, and operations roles. Workers who learn to supervise and audit AI systems will be especially valuable [6]. The job is changing fast, but the skills are yours to keep.

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Latest AI news for Bill & Account Collectors

The rise of AI in debt collection is transforming the landscape for Bill and Account Collectors. Articles highlight that AI agents are making millions of calls monthly, taking over roles traditionally held by humans, which suggests a shift in job functions. For example, "AI debt collectors chase Americans over paid bills" shows how automation is becoming commonplace, while "AI Is Taking Over the Most Cursed Job in the World" emphasizes the industry's move towards AI solutions. This means future collectors should focus on developing skills that complement AI, ensuring resilience in their careers.

More Career Info

Career: Bill and Account Collectors

They help businesses get paid by contacting customers who owe money and arranging payment plans to settle overdue bills.

Employment & Wage Data

Median Wage

$46,040

Jobs (2024)

166,900

Growth (2024-34)

-10.5%

Annual Openings

13,700

Education

High school diploma or equivalent

Experience

None

Source: Bureau of Labor Statistics, Employment Projections 2024-2034

Task-Level AI Resilience Scores

AI-generated estimates of task resilience over the next 3 years

1

62% ResilienceSupplemental

Notify credit departments, order merchandise repossession or service disconnection, and turn over account records to attorneys when customers fail to respond to collection attempts.

2

58% ResilienceCore Task

Persuade customers to pay amounts due on credit accounts, damage claims, or nonpayable checks, or to return merchandise.

3

52% ResilienceCore Task

Confer with customers by telephone or in person to determine reasons for overdue payments and to review the terms of sales, service, or credit contracts.

4

45% ResilienceCore Task

Advise customers of necessary actions and strategies for debt repayment.

5

40% ResilienceCore Task

Answer customer questions regarding problems with their accounts.

6

35% ResilienceCore Task

Trace delinquent customers to new addresses by inquiring at post offices, telephone companies, credit bureaus, or through the questioning of neighbors.

7

32% ResilienceSupplemental

Receive payments and post amounts paid to customer accounts.

Tasks are ranked by their AI resilience, with the most resilient tasks shown first. Core tasks are essential functions of this occupation, while supplemental tasks provide additional context.

The AI Resilience Report is a project from CareerVillage.org®, a registered 501(c)(3) nonprofit.

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The AI Resilience Report is governed by CareerVillage.org’s Privacy Policy and Terms of Service. This site is not affiliated with Anthropic, Microsoft, or any other data provider and doesn't necessarily represent their viewpoints. This site is being actively updated, and may sometimes contain errors or require improvement in wording or data. To report an error or request a change, please contact air@careervillage.org.