Trucking and freight debt recovery requires navigating Bill of Lading (BOL) liability, short-pay disputes, cargo claim offsets, broker-shipper relationships, and the federal BMC-84 broker bond system. Nexa provides 50-state licensed, FDCPA-compliant freight collection starting at a $15 fixed fee per account, backed by SOC 2 data security, a dedicated account executive, and a 4.85/5 rating across 2,000+ reviews. Our soft Step 1 / Step 2 approach helps carriers and brokers recover unpaid freight charges while preserving load board ratings and industry reputation.
Quick Answer: A trucking collection agency recovers unpaid linehaul invoices, detention fees, and short-paid freight bills for carriers, brokers, and logistics firms. Nexa combines Carmack Amendment expertise with a diplomatic $15 fixed-demand service—allowing transportation companies to resolve disputed freight charges and recover 100% of their principal without risking load board ratings or broker-shipper relationships
Trucking Debt Recovery: Don’t Let Brokers Fuel Their Business with Your Cash Flow
In trucking, your “assets” are moving at 70 MPH, but your cash flow is often stuck in a broker’s “processing” pile. With diesel prices and insurance premiums at record highs, you cannot afford to be an interest-free bank for your shippers or brokers. Whether it’s a disputed detention fee or a “ghost” broker who stopped answering the phone, every unpaid mile is a direct hit to your survival.
Nexa provides a specialized, high-velocity recovery system that understands the 90-Day Bond Cliff. We don’t just “ask” for payment; we leverage the BMC-84 Broker Bond, and where necessary, direct shipper liability, to ensure your invoice gets paid.
Nexa provides reputation-safe approach, equipped with all 50-state collections license, offering free credit reporting, free litigious debtor check, free bankruptcy scrub, and zero onboarding fees. Secure – SOC 2 Type II & HIPAA compliant. Over 2,000 online reviews rate us 4.85 out of 5. Every account is assigned a dedicated account executive backed by a specialized support team.
Stop Being a Free Bank. Get Paid Now
The Trucking Reality: Numbers That Matter
- $75,000: The federal minimum broker bond (BMC-84) under FMCSA rules. If you aren’t the first carrier to file a claim, that money will be gone before you even get in line.
- 60 Days: The point at which the probability of recovering freight debt drops by roughly 40%.
- $15: What Nexa’s fixed-fee white-label demand costs per account. You keep 100% of the recovery.
What $50,000 in Uncollected Freight Actually Nets You
A simple, static example on a $50,000 past-due freight portfolio (50 accounts, $1,000 average, an 80% eventual recovery rate, $40,000 collected):
| Nexa ($15 Fixed-Fee) | Traditional 35% Contingency | |
|---|---|---|
| Amount recovered | $40,000 | $40,000 |
| Fee | $750 (50 accounts × $15) | $14,000 (35% of recovered) |
| You keep | $39,250 (98.1%) | $26,000 (65%) |
The math doesn’t change because Nexa is cheaper to operate, it changes because Step 1 is priced per account regardless of balance, not as a cut of your recovery. On fresher accounts, that’s the difference between a rounding error and a five-figure gap.
Freight & Logistics Operational Realities
Cargo Claim Short-Pays & Detention Disputes
A broker or shipper deducting an “alleged cargo damage” charge or disputing detention and layover fees is one of the most common short-pay tactics in the industry. We audit the disputed line item against your rate confirmation, BOL, and delivery documentation before pursuing the account, separating a legitimate claim from a stall tactic, and pursue the undisputed balance in the meantime rather than letting one disputed line freeze the whole invoice.
Broker vs. Shipper Liability: What the Law Actually Says
When a broker fails, or double-brokers a load and disappears, carriers often assume the shipper is untouchable because “we were only hired by the broker.” That’s generally not how the law treats it. The Supreme Court has held that the party listed as consignor on the bill of lading is originally liable for the carrier’s charges (Southern Pacific Transp. Co. v. Commercial Metals Co., 456 U.S. 336), and multiple federal circuits have reinforced that a shipper cannot insulate itself from that liability simply by using a broker (Oak Harbor Freight Lines v. Sears, Roebuck & Co., 9th Cir., 513 F.3d 949). This holds even if the shipper already paid the broker in full, a scenario courts call “double payment liability.”
The one real exception: if the shipper specifically invoked a “Section 7 Non-Recourse” clause on the bill of lading, releasing the carrier from any right to come back to the shipper for payment, that changes the analysis. Before pursuing a shipper, we check the actual BOL for that language, since it’s the single fact that determines whether this path is available at all.
Recourse Factoring & Fuel Advances
Defaulted recourse factoring accounts, where you’re on the hook to repay the factoring company if the debtor never pays, and unrecovered fuel advance balances are treated as what they are: your money, advanced against a load that fell through. We pursue these the same way we pursue any commercial receivable, with the factoring or advance agreement itself as the supporting documentation.
Load Board Rating Protection
A carrier or broker chasing payment aggressively risks a retaliatory negative rating on DAT, Truckstop, or Google, sometimes worse than the unpaid invoice itself in an industry that runs on reputation. Step 1 outreach is built to read as a professional, formal notice rather than a public confrontation, resolving most accounts before it ever becomes a rating dispute.
The Nexa “Freight-First” 4-Step Ladder
Step 1: The “Bond Warning” (Fixed Fee, ~$15/account). Best for accounts 30–45 days past due. Professional notices signal formal intent to file against the broker’s bond. The broker pays you directly, and you keep 100%.
Steps 2–4: Full Mediation & Bond Filing (Contingency). If they stay silent, we initiate the BMC-84 claim and handle the documentation, rate confirmations, BOLs, PODs. No Recovery = No Fee.
Why Carriers and Brokers Choose Nexa
- Lien & Bond Expertise: We navigate the FMCSA SAFER system to identify the exact surety company holding the broker’s bond, and file before the $75,000 cap is exhausted by someone else’s claim.
- Accessorial Recovery: We don’t just chase the base rate. We pursue detention, layover, and lumper fees that brokers routinely “forget.”
- Fraud Detection: We identify double-brokering scams early, helping you target the actual shipper, the beneficial owner of the freight, to secure payment legally where the bond alone isn’t enough.
- Carmack Amendment Awareness: Cargo loss and damage claims fall under the federal Carmack Amendment (49 U.S.C. § 14706), a different framework than an ordinary freight-charge dispute. Our team distinguishes a genuine Carmack cargo claim from a short-pay tactic dressed up as one before treating either as legitimate.
- Dedicated Support: A dedicated account executive, backed by a specialized support team, not a rotating call center.
In-House Legal Action vs. Aggressive Collections vs. Nexa’s Fixed Fee
| Factor | In-House Legal Action | Aggressive/Generic Collections | Nexa’s $15 Fixed Fee |
|---|---|---|---|
| Upfront cost | Attorney fees, filing costs, often thousands before any recovery | Often 35-50% contingency regardless of account age | $15 flat fee, you keep 100% of what’s recovered |
| Load board & credit rating risk | Low if quiet, high if it becomes public | High, aggressive tactics risk retaliatory DAT/Truckstop ratings | Low, reads as a professional formal notice |
| Legal & freight contract compliance | Depends on in-house familiarity with Carmack, BOL law, and bond claims | Varies, generic scripts may miss freight-specific mechanisms entirely | Built around BMC-84 bond claims, Section 7 BOL review, and Carmack distinctions from day one |
| Account management | Whoever’s handling it internally, often inconsistently | Often a standard call center | Dedicated account executive backed by a specialized team |
Recent Freight Recoveries
- Oglethorpe Transport: Recovered $22,000 in short-paid invoices from a regional broker disputing delivery times.
- Mid-Sized Fleet (Reefer): Secured $84,000 from a broker’s bond 14 days before the broker filed for bankruptcy.
- Owner-Operator: Recovered $3,200 in unpaid detention and fuel surcharges the shipper had previously denied.
RMR & Early Termination Buyout Recovery Estimator
Frequently Asked Questions
Can you collect directly from the shipper if the freight broker goes out of business?
Often, yes. Courts have consistently held that the shipper named as consignor on the bill of lading remains liable to pay the carrier directly if the broker fails to pay, even if the shipper already paid the broker in full. The main exception is a “Section 7 Non-Recourse” clause specifically invoked on the BOL releasing the carrier from pursuing the shipper; we check for that language before treating this as a viable path.
How do you handle freight invoices short-paid due to alleged cargo damage?
We audit the disputed charge against your rate confirmation, bill of lading, and delivery documentation before treating the dispute as legitimate, since a “cargo damage” deduction raised only after the invoice is due looks very different from a documented claim raised at delivery. Genuine cargo claims fall under the federal Carmack Amendment, a different legal framework than an ordinary short-pay, and we pursue the undisputed balance separately rather than letting one contested line freeze the whole invoice.
How does Nexa protect my fleet’s reputation on load boards like DAT or Truckstop?
Step 1 outreach is built to read as a formal, professional notice rather than a public confrontation, specifically to avoid triggering a retaliatory negative rating. Most accounts resolve at this stage without the dispute ever becoming visible to the broader freight community.
Is Nexa licensed to collect if our freight routes cross state lines?
Yes. We’re licensed to collect in all 50 states, which matters specifically for interstate freight, where the carrier, broker, and shipper are frequently in three different states and a single-state agency simply can’t follow the account.
Do I get a dedicated point of contact, or deal with an automated system?
A dedicated account executive, backed by a specialized support team, familiar with freight-specific mechanics, BMC-84 bond claims, BOL liability, accessorial disputes, rather than treating your account like a generic invoice.
Can you collect if I don’t have a signed POD?
Yes. While a proof of delivery is the strongest evidence, GPS logs, gate receipts, and email chains can build a secondary proof of delivery for mediation purposes.
What if the broker’s bond is already maxed out?
We pivot to pursuing the shipper directly, following the same liability analysis above, checking the BOL for Section 7 language before proceeding, and to the broker’s other assets where the bond alone doesn’t cover the balance.
Decision Tree
