Collections Representative Jobs in Los Angeles, CA
Most collections work in Los Angeles runs through hospital billing offices, where Cedars-Sinai, UCLA Health and Keck Medicine of USC post collector roles at roughly $25 to $41 an hour. Here are the current openings, followed by who is hiring, what it pays and how to break in.
Current collections representative Openings in Los Angeles, CA
Listings marked External are sponsored openings provided by the Jobs2Careers network.
Collections Representative Work in Los Angeles
In Los Angeles, collections is mostly a healthcare job. The big academic and nonprofit hospital systems keep their own patient accounting teams, and those teams chase insurance claims as much as patient balances: commercial payers, Medi-Cal, Medicare and HMO contracts, each with its own rules. That work sits in the patient financial services team at Cedars-Sinai, whose main campus anchors Beverly Grove, in Keck Medicine of USC's patient accounting group and its centralized billing office in Alhambra, and in City of Hope's business services office in Irwindale, out in the San Gabriel Valley along the 210.
The other steady source is consumer lending. Credit unions such as Gain Federal Credit Union, from its corporate office in Burbank, run their own asset recovery staff to work delinquent auto and personal loans. With more than half of city residents speaking a language other than English at home, bilingual Spanish is a real edge on the phones in both settings.
Top Los Angeles Employers Hiring Collections Representatives
These employers have posted collections roles in the Los Angeles area on their own career sites:
- UCLA Health - the hospital billing office hires commercial and Medi-Cal collections representatives plus senior customer service collectors who take high-volume patient billing calls.
- Cedars-Sinai - patient financial services hires Revenue Cycle Specialists in commercial collections and Fin Care Specialists who make collection calls to patients and insurers.
- Keck Medicine of USC - posts collectors for its centralized billing office in Alhambra and runs an accounts receivable collections team in patient accounting.
- City of Hope - the cancer center's Irwindale business services office hires collectors to work large past-due patient and third-party balances.
- Gain Federal Credit Union - the Burbank credit union hires asset recovery support representatives to handle delinquent accounts, titles and payments.
Collections Representative Salaries in Los Angeles
- Entry level: about $24 to $27 per hour for collectors with a year or so of billing or collections experience.
- Experienced: roughly $27 to $35 per hour for hospital collectors who work commercial and Medi-Cal claims.
- Senior: $35 to $50 per hour at the top of senior hospital collections ranges.
These are estimates built from posted ranges at local employers and federal wage data, which puts the metro median for bill and account collectors near $27.62 an hour. Hospital postings here run higher than the credit union range, and pay rises with payer knowledge, Epic experience, bilingual skills and a track record of hitting daily account targets.
How to Become a Collections Representative in Los Angeles
Most postings ask for a high school diploma or GED and one to three years of billing, customer service or collections experience, so many people move in from a patient access, front desk or call center job. For hospital work, medical terminology and insurance billing knowledge matter most. LAUSD's Los Angeles Technology Center on West Washington Boulevard offers a tuition-free, 450-hour Medical Office Administration program covering insurance and billing, ICD-10 and CPT coding. California does not license individual collectors. The Department of Financial Protection and Innovation licenses collection agencies under the Debt Collection Licensing Act, and employees working for a licensed or exempt employer do not need their own license.
What the Job Involves
Collections representatives work a queue of past-due accounts. They call patients, borrowers and insurance companies, verify identity, explain balances, set up payment plans, post payments and adjustments, file appeals on denied claims, and document every contact in the billing system. Following federal and California collection laws on what can be said and when is part of every call.
Skills Employers Look For
- Phone skills and patience with upset callers
- Knowledge of commercial, Medi-Cal, Medicare and HMO billing
- Reading explanations of benefits and payer contracts
- Epic or another billing system, plus Excel
- Knowledge of debt collection and privacy rules
- Bilingual Spanish or another threshold language
- Meeting daily account and cash targets
Career Path and Advancement
In Los Angeles the usual ladder starts at collector or revenue cycle specialist level one and moves to level two and three, then to senior collector, team lead and collections supervisor. Keck and Cedars-Sinai both post lead and supervisor roles in their revenue cycle groups, and experienced collectors often branch into billing, coding, denials management or revenue cycle analysis.
Related Careers in Los Angeles
If collections work interests you, these related Los Angeles roles are close matches:
Frequently Asked Questions
Do you need a license to work in collections in Los Angeles?
No. California licenses collection agencies through the Department of Financial Protection and Innovation, not individual employees. Hospitals and credit unions that collect their own accounts train you on the rules, and you are expected to follow federal and California debt collection laws on every call.
How much do collections representatives make in Los Angeles?
Posted ranges at Los Angeles hospitals run from about $25 to $41 an hour for most collector roles, with senior hospital collectors reaching about $50. Federal wage data puts the metro median for bill and account collectors near $27.62 an hour.
Is hospital collections different from debt collection?
Yes. Hospital collectors spend much of the day on insurance claims, working denials, appeals and payer follow-up, and call patients about their share. Consumer lending collectors at credit unions focus on late loan payments, repossessions and payment arrangements.
Do I need experience to get hired?
Most Los Angeles postings ask for at least one year of billing, collections or customer service experience, and hospital senior roles ask for three to five. A front desk, patient access or call center job is a common way to build that first year.
Does speaking Spanish help in collections jobs in Los Angeles?
Yes. More than half of city residents speak a language other than English at home, so bilingual collectors can handle more of the queue.
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