Collection Agency in Florida | Compliant & Effective

Q: How long do I have to collect a debt in Florida?

It depends on the debt: 5 years for written contracts, 4 years for oral agreements and open accounts, and 3 years for medical debt from a Chapter 395-licensed facility, running from the date of referral to collection rather than the date of service.

Q: Can you garnish a Florida debtor's wages?

Sometimes. If the debtor qualifies as head of family under Florida Statute 222.11 and claims the exemption, disposable earnings up to $750 per week are fully protected, and earnings above that are protected too unless waived in writing.

Q: Is there a different deadline for medical debt from a hospital versus a private practice?

Yes. Debt from a facility licensed under Chapter 395, such as hospitals and ambulatory surgical centers, runs on a 3-year clock starting at referral to collection. An independent, non-Chapter-395 practice's medical debt generally falls under the standard 5-year written-contract rule instead.

Florida debt collection moves fast—and your strategy has to move faster. From healthcare providers and professional firms in Miami and Fort Lauderdale to schools, universities, manufacturers, and growing businesses across Orlando, Tampa, Jacksonville, and statewide, overdue accounts can quickly strain cash flow. Florida’s Consumer Collection Practices Act (FCCPA) adds state-level rules on top of federal requirements, while wage-garnishment protections can limit traditional recovery options. Nexa helps businesses, medical providers, schools, and other organizations recover past-due accounts through compliant outreach, negotiation, and the right escalation strategy—with $15 fixed-fee collections where you keep 100% of recoveries or contingency service for tougher accounts.

Florida skyline representing statewide business and medical debt collection services

Florida’s 2026 Compliance Landscape: What Creditors Need to Know

Florida gives consumers more direct legal ammunition against creditors than most states, and a wage-garnishment exemption that can make a judgment worth far less than it looks on paper. Recovering revenue here tends to go better when the approach accounts for these specifics from the outset rather than treating Florida like any other state.

The FCCPA Applies to You, Not Just Your Collector

Florida’s Consumer Collection Practices Act (Fla. Stat. §§ 559.55–559.785) is broader than the federal FDCPA in one important way: it applies to original creditors directly, not only to third-party collection agencies. A late-night call or a misstatement about a debt can expose a business itself to a claim, not just whoever it hires to collect.

Statute of Limitations — It Depends on the Debt

Most written contracts carry a 5-year window to sue (Fla. Stat. § 95.11(2)(b)); oral agreements and open accounts carry 4 years (§ 95.11(3)(j)). Medical debt from a hospital, ambulatory surgical center, or hospital-licensed urgent care runs on a different, shorter clock — see the Medical & Healthcare section below.

The Head-of-Family Exemption: Florida’s Unusually Strong Wage Protection

Under Fla. Stat. § 222.11, a debtor who provides more than half the support for a child or other dependent can claim “head of family” status. If claimed, all disposable earnings up to $750/week are automatically exempt from garnishment, and earnings above that amount stay exempt too unless the debtor agreed in writing to waive the protection. A debtor who qualifies and claims it can be effectively judgment-proof on wages regardless of how large the judgment is.

Illustrative Example: When a Late-Night Call Becomes Its Own Problem

An after-hours communication may create FCCPA exposure depending on the timing, method, surrounding circumstances and statutory requirements. Available remedies can include actual damages, statutory damages of up to $1,000, costs and attorney’s fees.

Florida issue	Practical effect
FCCPA	May apply to original creditors as well as third-party collectors
Written contracts	Generally subject to a five-year limitation period
Certain unwritten obligations	Generally subject to a four-year period
Chapter 395 medical debt	Three years from referral to third-party collection
Head-of-family earnings	May receive broad wage-garnishment protection
Chapter 395 medical judgments	Additional vehicle and personal-property exemptions may apply
Construction liens	Strict notice, recording and enforcement deadlines may apply
Out-of-state debtors	Debtor-location licensing and legal rules may change

Medical & Healthcare Practices: Recovering Revenue With the Newer Rules in Mind

The 3-Year Clock That Starts at Referral, Not Treatment

For medical debt from a facility licensed under Chapter 395 — hospitals, ambulatory surgical centers, and hospital-licensed urgent care — Florida law (Fla. Stat. § 95.11(4), effective July 2024) gives creditors three years to sue, and that clock starts on the date the facility refers the account to a third-party collector, not the date of service. An independent physician or dental practice not licensed under Chapter 395 isn’t subject to this shorter window and instead falls under the general 5-year rule — a distinction worth getting right before assuming which deadline applies.

Extra Asset Protections That Apply to Hospital-Related Medical Debt

Fla. Stat. § 222.26 adds protections specific to Chapter 395 facility debt: an extra $10,000 exemption on a debtor’s vehicle and an extra $10,000 personal-property exemption (for debtors who aren’t already using a homestead exemption), on top of Florida’s constitutional homestead protection. In practical terms, a hospital-related judgment against a Florida resident may have fewer collectible assets behind it than the same judgment would in most other states.

Illustrative Example: The Tampa Practice Reassessing Its Timeline

Picture a Tampa-area outpatient surgical center that, before mid-2024, was tracking aging accounts against the general 5-year rule. After the Chapter 395 change, some of those same accounts are actually running on the 3-year clock from the referral date — meaning a portion of what looked like a comfortable runway was already shorter than assumed. Reassessing which accounts fall under which rule is often the first useful step before placing anything for collection.

B2B, Hospitality & Commercial Accounts in Florida

Screening for Collectible Assets Before Litigation

Given the head-of-family exemption and Florida’s strong homestead protections, a judgment against an individual debtor doesn’t always translate into a collectible one. Screening for wages, non-exempt assets, and dependent status before committing to litigation tends to save more in legal fees than it costs.

When the Debtor Leaves the State (or the Country)

Florida’s tourism and event economy means a meaningful share of unpaid invoices trace back to someone who has already returned to another state or country by the time the bill comes due. Locating that person — through skip tracing and, where relevant, international partners — is often what determines whether the invoice gets collected at all.

Construction & Chapter 713: Working Within Florida’s Lien Deadlines

Florida’s Construction Lien Law (Chapter 713) runs on its own strict timeline — a Notice to Owner within 45 days of first furnishing labor or materials, a lien recorded within 90 days of last furnishing them, and foreclosure generally within a year of recording. Missing any one of these deadlines can mean losing lien rights entirely, which makes early, accurate tracking more valuable here than in most other states.

Why Florida Businesses Work With Nexa

FCCPA-Careful Communication Practices

Every notice and demand is built with Florida’s broader FCCPA scope in mind — since it applies to original creditors directly, the same care that protects a collection agency needs to protect the business behind it too.

Zero Onboarding Fees & Pre-Suit Screening Included

There are no setup costs or hidden monthly fees to place an account, and pre-suit litigation and bankruptcy screening — including a look at likely head-of-family and homestead exposure — is included rather than billed separately.

Reputation-Conscious Recovery Across Florida’s Regional Markets

Whether the debtor is a Naples senior-living resident’s family, an Orlando event client, or a Miami commercial tenant, recovery is handled with an eye toward the practice or business’s standing in that community, not just the balance owed.

Florida Success Stories

The scenarios below are illustrative composites drawn from the kinds of situations that come up repeatedly across Florida receivables, not verified individual case results, but they reflect the actual mechanics of how each type of recovery tends to get resolved.

The Miami Surgical Center Reassessing Its Aging Accounts

Problem: A Miami-area surgical center carried a large volume of aging patient balances, with some accounts still being tracked against the general 5-year rule after the 2024 Chapter 395 change had already shortened the applicable window for many of them.

Approach: Nexa reviewed which accounts fell under the 3-year Chapter 395 rule versus the general 5-year rule, prioritized the ones closer to expiring, and shifted communication toward a documentation-first, patient-first process.

Outcome: A meaningful share of the prioritized balances was resolved within a few months, and the practice had a clearer picture of which remaining accounts were still within their window.

The Orlando Event Invoice That Followed the Client Home

Problem: An Orlando hospitality group was owed $55,000 by a corporate event planner who returned to California without settling the final invoice.

Approach: Skip tracing located the planner’s new business address and confirmed the venture had active funding before any legal spend was committed.

Outcome: The balance was resolved through a documented demand backed by the original contract and event records, without litigation.

The Naples Senior Living Facility and a Family Dispute Over an Estate Balance

Problem: A Naples assisted-living facility was owed a balance from a resident’s estate after the resident passed away, with the family slow to respond and wary of aggressive collection tactics given the circumstances.

Approach: Nexa worked directly with the estate’s representative, using probate-appropriate documentation and a measured, low-pressure communication style rather than standard collection outreach.

Outcome: The balance was resolved through the probate process without the facility’s relationship with the family or its local reputation being put at risk.

Industries We Serve in Florida

Florida’s economy runs on tourism in Orlando and Miami, healthcare systems across every major metro, and the country’s largest concentration of retirees, and the recovery approach that works for a Tampa hospital doesn’t work for a Naples assisted-living facility or an Orlando event venue.

Medical & Hospitals

Practices and facilities navigating the newer Chapter 395 rules need recovery that accounts for which accounts fall under the 3-year window versus the general 5-year rule, handled with HIPAA-aligned care throughout.

Senior Living & Assisted Care

Florida’s large retiree population means recovery here often involves families and estates rather than the resident directly, calling for a measured, dignity-first approach rather than standard collection tactics.

Tourism & Hospitality

Resorts, hotels, and event venues deal with out-of-state and international clients who can be harder to reach once they’ve left Florida, making skip tracing especially relevant.

B2B & Commercial

Recovering invoices for Florida’s trade, logistics, and corporate service firms while accounting for the FCCPA’s broader scope and the state’s asset-protection landscape.

Construction & Trades

Contractors and suppliers working within Chapter 713’s lien deadlines, where early account placement often matters more than it would in a state with looser lien timelines.

Professional Services

Legal, accounting, and consulting firms recovering unpaid retainers and invoices with an approach built around long-term client relationships, not just the balance owed.

Education (Colleges & K-12)

Tuition, housing, and bursar-account recovery for colleges and universities, and enrollment-fee and material-cost recovery for private and charter K-12 schools, both handled with an eye toward preserving the student or family relationship.

Trust, Security & Compliance

FDCPA & FCCPA Alignment

Every account is worked in alignment with both the federal Fair Debt Collection Practices Act and Florida’s broader FCCPA, since Florida law extends consumer protections to original creditors as well as collectors.

HIPAA & BAA Coverage for Medical and Dental Accounts

Patient billing records carry protected health information regardless of whether the debt falls under the 3-year Chapter 395 rule or the general 5-year rule. Nexa maintains HIPAA-aligned handling procedures for medical and dental accounts and executes a Business Associate Agreement (BAA) with practices that require one.

SOC 2 Type II & PCI-DSS Data Security

Data handling is SOC 2 Type II certified — meaning security and privacy controls have been independently audited, not self-reported — and payment processing runs at PCI-DSS Level 1, a high tier of card data encryption.

Secure Client Portal for Documentation & Case Tracking

Patient ledgers, invoices, contracts, and correspondence are exactly the kind of sensitive documentation that shouldn’t live in an email thread. A secure client portal lets you upload that documentation, track account status, and monitor recovery progress without exposing patient or client data to unnecessary risk.

Transparent Pricing for Florida Accounts

Fixed-Fee Recovery ($15/account)

Best suited to early-stage receivables where a firm, professional first contact is often enough to resolve the balance. Debtors pay 100% directly to you — there are no commissions taken from what’s recovered.

Contingency Service (40%)

Built for older, disputed, or harder-to-reach accounts that need sustained investigation, skip tracing, and negotiation. No Recovery, No Fee — payment is owed only when the account is successfully collected.

Nexa Collections fixed-fee and contingency pricing for Florida business and medical debt collection

See the full breakdown on the collection agency fee schedule page.

Frequently Asked Questions

Does the FCCPA really apply to us directly, not just to a collection agency?

Yes. Unlike the federal FDCPA, Florida’s Consumer Collection Practices Act applies to original creditors as well as third-party collectors, so a business’s own billing communications can create liability, not just a collector’s.

How long do I have to collect a debt in Florida?

It depends on the debt: 5 years for written contracts (Fla. Stat. § 95.11(2)(b)), 4 years for oral agreements and open accounts (§ 95.11(3)(j)), and 3 years for medical debt from a Chapter 395-licensed facility, running from the date of referral to collection rather than the date of service.

Can you garnish a Florida debtor’s wages?

Sometimes. If the debtor qualifies as “head of family” under Fla. Stat. § 222.11 and claims the exemption, disposable earnings up to $750/week are fully protected, and earnings above that are protected too unless waived in writing. Debtors who don’t qualify are protected only under the standard federal garnishment limits.

Is there a different deadline for medical debt from a hospital versus a private practice?

Yes. Debt from a facility licensed under Chapter 395 — hospitals, ambulatory surgical centers, hospital-licensed urgent care — runs on a 3-year clock starting at referral to collection. An independent, non-Chapter-395 practice’s medical debt generally falls under the standard 5-year written-contract rule instead.

What happens if the debtor has left Florida?

Skip tracing extends across all 50 states, and international partnerships can help when a debtor — particularly a tourism or event client — has left the country entirely, though outcomes vary by case.

Is our patient billing data handled under HIPAA?

Yes. Medical and dental accounts are processed under HIPAA-aligned procedures, with a Business Associate Agreement executed where the engagement requires one.

Restart Your Florida Cash Flow

Florida’s rules give consumers more direct leverage than most states, and a judgment doesn’t always translate into collectible wages once the head-of-family exemption is in play. Working within these boundaries from the start tends to go better than finding out about them after a complaint arrives.

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