Credit Collection Business Guide

Welcome to the business guide for credit collection (recupero crediti) in Italy. This guide explains the complete lifecycle of debt recovery — from the moment a creditor decides to outsource collection, through negotiation, legal action, and final resolution.

This guide is written for business users who want to understand how credit collection works. No technical or software development knowledge is required.

What Is Credit Collection?

When a bank, financial institution, or utility company has customers who stop paying their debts, these unpaid amounts become non-performing loans (crediti deteriorati). Rather than pursuing recovery themselves, creditors typically hire specialized collection agencies to recover these debts on their behalf.

The creditor (Mandante) assigns a portfolio of unpaid debts to the collection agency. Each individual debt becomes a collection case (Pratica), which is then assigned to a collection agent (Esattore) who contacts the debtor, negotiates payment, and works toward resolution.

The process can involve friendly negotiation, formal payment plans, legal proceedings, and — as a last resort — forced seizure of the debtor’s assets.

The Complete Lifecycle

flowchart LR
    A[Deal Origination] --> B[Portfolio Onboarding]
    B --> C[Case Creation]
    C --> D[Amicable Recovery]
    D --> E{Resolved?}
    E -->|Yes| F[Payment Processing]
    E -->|No| G[Legal Proceedings]
    G --> H{Judgment?}
    H -->|Yes| I[Enforcement]
    H -->|Insolvency| J[Insolvency Proceedings]
    I --> K[Case Closure]
    F --> K
    J --> K

Guide Contents

Page	What You Will Learn
Glossary	Italian domain terms with English explanations
Deal Origination	How credits reach the collection agency — three paths
Portfolio Onboarding	Data import, validation, and case preparation
Case Lifecycle	The collection case from creation to closure
Roles and Agents	Who does what in the collection process
Amicable Recovery	Phone contact, negotiation, and settlements
Payment Processing	How payments are tracked, verified, and remitted
Commission Calculation	How agents and the agency earn commissions
Legal Proceedings	From formal notice to court judgment
Enforcement	Asset seizure when debtors refuse to pay
Insolvency	When debtors enter formal insolvency proceedings
Case Closure	Resolution types and data retention
Compliance	Regulatory requirements, privacy, and statute of limitations

Key Terms

Italian terminology is the standard vocabulary in credit collection. Throughout this guide, Italian terms appear in parentheses after their English equivalent — for example, “collection case (Pratica)” or “collection agent (Esattore).”

For a complete reference, see the Glossary.