HP Sears recovers commercial, business-to-business debt for companies across the Bay Area — with a concentration in the North Bay: Marin County, Sonoma County, and the Highway 101 corridor from Sausalito to Cloverdale. If another business owes you money on an invoice, a purchase order, a signed contract, or an open account, and the account has drifted past 60, 90, or 120 days, we take it from there. Placement is free, there are no upfront fees, and you pay only out of what we actually recover.
We are a commercial-only agency. That is not a marketing line — it changes what we do and how we do it. We are not calling consumers about credit cards or medical bills. We are calling a controller, an owner, or an accounts-payable manager at another business about an obligation their company took on, and we are doing it in a way that keeps your relationship with that customer intact whenever the relationship is worth keeping.
Request pricing for your Bay Area accounts or contact our team for a free, no-obligation review of your aging report.
Where We Collect in the Bay Area
Our Bay Area work is organized by county, because payment behavior, industry mix, and local business relationships differ sharply between them.
Marin County
Marin runs on professional services, construction and specialty trades, life sciences, healthcare practices, property management, and a dense population of small and mid-sized firms billing on net terms. We recover across San Rafael, Novato, Larkspur, Corte Madera, Mill Valley, Sausalito, Tiburon, San Anselmo, Fairfax, and Greenbrae.
Marin County Commercial Debt Collection Services
Sonoma County and Healdsburg
Sonoma County is wine, hospitality, food and beverage production, agriculture, and the construction and supplier base that serves all of it. Those industries carry long, seasonal, and sometimes crop-cycle payment terms, which is exactly where receivables get stuck. We recover across Healdsburg, Santa Rosa, Petaluma, Windsor, Sebastopol, Sonoma, Rohnert Park, Cotati, Cloverdale, and Geyserville.
Healdsburg & Sonoma County Commercial Debt Collection Services
Why Commercial-Only Matters to a Bay Area Business
Most collection agencies are built around consumer debt, and consumer debt is governed by a body of federal law that does not reach business-to-business obligations. The federal Fair Debt Collection Practices Act defines a “debt” as an obligation of a consumer incurred for personal, family, or household purposes (15 U.S.C. § 1692a(5)). A commercial obligation between two businesses sits outside that definition.
The practical consequence is not that anything goes — it is that a commercial agency can have a direct, substantive business conversation with the other company rather than working from a consumer script. Our collectors talk about the purchase order, the delivery, the change order, the signed terms, and what it will cost that business to keep the dispute open. That conversation recovers money faster, and it is the reason our contacts don’t damage your standing with a customer you may want back.
HP Sears holds itself to consumer-grade compliance standards regardless, because professionalism is what protects your name in a market as relationship-driven as the North Bay. See exactly how our process works, step by step.
Bay Area Industries We Recover For
- Wine, vineyards, and custom crush — grape purchase agreements, bulk wine contracts, barrel and glass suppliers, labeling and bottling services, and distributor receivables.
- Hospitality, restaurants, and food service suppliers — produce, protein, beverage, linen, and equipment vendors billing on standing accounts.
- Construction and specialty trades — general contractors, subs, and materials suppliers on both residential and commercial projects. Construction debt collection.
- Agriculture and ag-processing — growers, packers, haulers, and processors. Agriculture debt collection.
- Professional services — law firms, accounting practices, agencies, consultancies, and staffing firms with unpaid fee balances. Law firm collections.
- Healthcare and medical practices — commercial payer disputes, vendor balances, and practice-to-practice accounts. Medical practice collections.
- Property management and commercial landlords — unpaid rent, CAM charges, and holdover balances on commercial leases. Collections for landlords.
- Manufacturing, distribution, and life sciences — net-30 and net-60 invoices, tooling, and contract-manufacturing balances.
How Recovery Works
- Free placement. Send us the account. No upfront fee, no obligation, no minimum volume.
- Early intervention — the single highest-recovery stage, because the money is still there. Early intervention collections.
- Active recovery — structured, documented, multi-channel contact with the right decision-maker, plus skip tracing when a business has moved or gone quiet.
- Late-stage escalation for accounts that resist resolution. Late-stage collections.
- Settlement, payment plan, or a litigation recommendation — never filed without your authorization.
What It Costs
We work on contingency: a percentage of what we recover, and nothing if we recover nothing. Rates depend on the age and size of the account and the volume you place, because both change the real odds of recovery. How contingency-based collections work · Estimate your fee.
The variable that matters most is not the rate — it is how long you waited. Recovery odds fall steadily with the age of the invoice, which is why placing at 90 days rather than 180 typically matters more to your net recovery than any fee difference. What to do if a client doesn’t pay you.
California Rules That Shape a Bay Area Recovery
- Four years on a written contract. California Code of Civil Procedure § 337 gives four years to bring an action on a written contract, a book account, or an account stated. Oral agreements get two years under § 339.
- Interest after breach. Under Civil Code § 3289, a contract’s own lawful stipulated rate keeps running after breach. If a contract entered into after January 1, 1986 sets no rate, the obligation bears 10% per year after breach.
- Ag and wine have extra tools. California’s producer’s lien (Food and Agricultural Code §§ 55631–55653) gives a producer who sells a farm product to a processor a lien on that product and on its processed or manufactured forms, to the extent of the agreed price. Practitioners widely note its practical limits when a processor is in real financial distress, which is why growers often also take a UCC security interest and contract for interest and fees.
- Construction has deadlines that do not wait. Mechanics lien and stop-notice windows are short and are shortened further by a recorded notice of completion. If your claim may be lien-secured, treat that clock as the priority.
This page is general information about commercial collections, not legal advice. Limitation periods, lien rights, and available remedies turn on the specific facts of your account and your contract. Consult qualified California counsel before relying on any deadline.
Frequently Asked Questions
Do you collect consumer debt in the Bay Area?
No. HP Sears recovers commercial, business-to-business debt only — unpaid invoices, overdue accounts receivable, open accounts, and contract balances owed by one business to another. We do not take consumer accounts.
How long does a Bay Area commercial collection take?
Accounts that are going to resolve quickly usually move within 30 to 60 days of placement, because most B2B non-payment is a cash-flow or process problem rather than a refusal to pay. Disputed accounts, businesses that have gone dark, and accounts requiring skip tracing or late-stage escalation take longer. The strongest predictor of both speed and outcome is the age of the invoice when you place it.
What does it cost, and do I pay anything upfront?
Nothing upfront. We work on a contingency percentage of what we actually recover, set by the age and size of the account and the volume placed. If we collect nothing, you owe nothing.
Will using a collection agency cost me the customer?
Not if the relationship is worth keeping and the account is handled properly. Most delinquent commercial customers are still viable customers with a cash-flow problem. Our contacts are firm, factual, and documented rather than adversarial, and we will tell you when we think an account should be handled as a relationship to preserve rather than a balance to press.
Is there a minimum invoice size or a minimum number of accounts?
No minimum account count. Very small balances are sometimes better handled with a structured internal demand process than with a contingency placement, and we will say so rather than take an account we do not think is worth your fee. For larger placements and full aging reports, rates improve with volume.
Which Bay Area counties and cities do you cover?
Our Bay Area concentration is the North Bay — all of Marin County and all of Sonoma County, including San Rafael, Novato, Mill Valley, Larkspur, Sausalito, Healdsburg, Santa Rosa, Petaluma, Windsor, Sebastopol, Sonoma, and Cloverdale. We also serve commercial creditors elsewhere in the greater Bay Area and statewide; if your debtor is a California business, we can pursue the account.
My customer is in the Bay Area but my company isn’t. Can you still help?
Yes, and this is common. What determines whether we can work an account is where the debtor business is, not where you are. We regularly recover California receivables for out-of-state creditors.
Recover Your Bay Area Receivables
One stalled account in San Rafael or an entire aging report across the North Bay past 90 days — either way, the fastest path to knowing what is actually collectible is a free review. Request pricing or contact HP Sears.