Illinois treats a past-due medical bill and a past-due commercial invoice quite differently once you get past the surface. Same state, same licensing board, but different statutes, different interest rates once you win a judgment, and different tools available to collect. If you’re trying to recover money in Illinois — whether it’s a patient balance, a tuition account, or a manufacturer’s unpaid invoice — the rules that actually apply depend on which side of that line your debt falls on.
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At a Glance: Consumer vs. Commercial Debt in Illinois
| Consumer Debt | Commercial (B2B) Debt | |
|---|---|---|
| Governing law | FDCPA + Illinois Collection Agency Act’s consumer provisions + Consumer Fraud Act | General contract law, UCC, Collection Agency Act’s licensing rules |
| Agency license required (225 ILCS 425) | Yes | Yes |
| Statute of limitations, written contract | 10 years (735 ILCS 5/13-206) | 10 years (735 ILCS 5/13-206) |
| Judgment interest rate | 5% if ≤ $25,000 (735 ILCS 5/2-1303) | 9% (735 ILCS 5/2-1303) |
| Wage garnishment available | Yes, capped at 15% of gross wages | No — businesses don’t have “wages” to garnish |
1. One License, Two Debtor Types — And That Wasn’t Always True
Illinois requires collection agencies to hold a license from the Department of Financial and Professional Regulation (IDFPR) under the Collection Agency Act (225 ILCS 425), which calls for a $25,000 surety bond, a $750 application fee, and a dedicated trust account to hold client funds. What’s less well known is that the Act’s definition of “debtor” wasn’t always this broad. Earlier versions of the statute defined a debtor as “a natural person” owing a consumer debt — meaning the Act, read literally, was written around consumer collection. That definition has since been broadened to cover a “consumer or commercial debt” owed by any person, closing what had been a gap that could arguably let a purely business-to-business collection agency operate without a license. Today, an agency working Illinois commercial accounts needs the same IDFPR license as one working consumer accounts.
There’s also a narrower carve-out worth knowing: an out-of-state agency whose only contact with Illinois debtors is remote (phone, mail, email) from an office in another state can skip Illinois licensure — but only if it’s licensed in its home state, and that state extends the same courtesy back to Illinois-licensed agencies. It’s a reciprocity provision, not a blanket exemption, so it’s worth confirming both sides of that arrangement before assuming it applies.
2. How Long You Actually Have to Sue
For debt backed by a written contract — most credit agreements, signed service contracts, and commercial invoices with terms — Illinois allows 10 years to file suit under 735 ILCS 5/13-206, one of the longer written-contract windows in the country. Debt without a written agreement, including most open accounts and (per Illinois case law) typical credit card balances, generally falls under the shorter 5-year limit in 735 ILCS 5/13-205. The clock generally starts from default or the last payment, whichever is later.
3. What a Judgment Is Actually Worth Over Time
Illinois judgments accrue interest at 9% per year under 735 ILCS 5/2-1303 — noticeably higher than many states. There’s an exception: a consumer debt judgment of $25,000 or less, entered after January 1, 2020, draws interest at only 5% under the state’s Consumer Fairness Act. (Judgments against a unit of local government accrue at 6%.) A commercial judgment against a business doesn’t qualify for that reduced rate — it stays at 9%.
Judgment duration follows a similar split. Historically, a non-consumer (commercial) judgment can be revived periodically and enforced for up to 20 years, extending total enforceability well beyond that through revival proceedings. Consumer debt judgments entered since 2020 face a tighter 10-year revival window, and a further legislative change effective January 1, 2026 tightened consumer judgment revival again. Given how recently that changed, it’s worth confirming the current specifics directly against 735 ILCS 5/2-1602 rather than relying on older summaries — this is an area that’s moved more than once in the last few years.
4. Consumer Collections: More Guardrails Than Just the FDCPA
Beyond the federal FDCPA, the Illinois Collection Agency Act layers on its own consumer-specific rules — including debt-validation notice requirements that largely mirror the federal ones — for any party other than the original creditor pursuing a consumer account. Illinois courts have also held that a party who purchases and sues on charged-off consumer debt must itself be a licensed collection agency (see LVNV Funding, LLC v. Trice), which matters if debt purchasing is part of the collection strategy.
Wage garnishment against an individual debtor is capped at the lesser of 15% of gross wages or the amount by which disposable earnings exceed 45 times the applicable minimum wage (735 ILCS 5/12-803) — meaningfully more protective of the debtor than the 25%-of-disposable-earnings ceiling used federally and in many other states. That’s a useful number to set realistic expectations with hospital, university, and other clients whose debtors are individuals: even with a judgment in hand, Illinois limits how much of a paycheck can actually be reached each pay period.
The Consumer Fraud and Deceptive Business Practices Act (815 ILCS 505) adds a separate private right of action, mainly built for individual consumers but not exclusively theirs — Illinois courts have allowed a business plaintiff to bring a claim under it in narrower circumstances where the challenged conduct also implicates the Act’s underlying consumer-protection concerns. It’s a nuance, not a general commercial remedy, so it’s not something to lean on as a primary collection tool.
5. Commercial Collections: A Different Set of Tools
Since a business doesn’t draw “wages,” collecting from a commercial debtor after judgment relies on different mechanisms: bank account levies, judgment liens against real property, and citations to discover assets that force disclosure of what the debtor owns. The Uniform Commercial Code, as adopted in Illinois, also governs the sale of goods and the assignment of commercial claims — relevant if a receivable is being assigned or factored as part of the recovery strategy. And as noted above, the same IDFPR licensing requirement applies whether the agency pursuing that judgment works consumer or commercial accounts.
Fee Structures for Illinois Accounts
Illinois clients can typically choose from a fixed-fee demand service, contingency collections, or referral to legal collection once other options are exhausted — with contingency pricing generally scaled to the size and age of the account rather than a single flat rate. See the full fee schedule for current tiers.
For Commercial Accounts:(B2B)
For Consumer Accounts (B2C)
What Illinois Clients Are Saying
Medical Practice, Chicago — “As a small medical practice in Chicago, we were drowning in overdue patient bills. CA-USA turned things around. They handled everything professionally, got us paid quickly, and always kept us in the loop.”
Manufacturing Company, Peoria — “We had a tough commercial debt situation in Peoria, and CA-USA delivered where other agencies failed. Their persistence and knowledge of Illinois law made the difference.”
Frequently Asked Questions
1. What is the statute of limitations on debt in Illinois?
Ten years for debt backed by a written contract (735 ILCS 5/13-206), and five years for debt without a written agreement, including most open accounts and typical credit card balances (735 ILCS 5/13-205). Illinois’s 10-year written-contract window is longer than what most states allow.
2. Does a collection agency need an Illinois license to collect commercial (B2B) debt, or just consumer debt?
Yes, commercial debt is included too. The Illinois Collection Agency Act’s definition of “debtor” now explicitly covers consumer or commercial debt, so an agency working purely business-to-business accounts in Illinois needs the same IDFPR license as one working consumer accounts.
3. What interest rate applies to a judgment in Illinois?
Nine percent per year on most judgments, including commercial ones (735 ILCS 5/2-1303). A narrower exception applies: consumer debt judgments of $25,000 or less, entered since January 1, 2020, accrue at 5% instead, and judgments against a unit of local government accrue at 6%.
4. Can wages be garnished in Illinois to collect a business debt?
No. Wage garnishment applies to an individual’s earnings, not to a business entity. Collecting a judgment against a business in Illinois typically relies on bank account levies, judgment liens, or a citation to discover assets instead.
5. How long does an Illinois judgment last before it needs to be revived?
It depends on the debt type, and this is an area that changed again as of January 1, 2026. Non-consumer (commercial) judgments have historically followed a longer revival timeline than consumer debt judgments, which were capped at a 10-year revival window starting in 2020 and tightened further by more recent legislation. Given the pace of change here, it’s worth checking the current text of 735 ILCS 5/2-1602 for the exact timeline that applies to a specific judgment’s entry date.
6. Does an out-of-state collection agency need an Illinois license to collect from an Illinois debtor?
Generally yes, with one narrow exception: an agency collecting purely through interstate communication (phone, mail, email) from an office outside Illinois can skip Illinois licensure if it’s licensed in its home state and that state offers the same reciprocal privilege to Illinois-licensed agencies.
7. Can a business use Illinois’s Consumer Fraud Act against another business?
Rarely, and only in narrow circumstances. The Consumer Fraud and Deceptive Business Practices Act (815 ILCS 505) is built primarily around individual consumers, but Illinois courts have allowed business plaintiffs to bring claims where the conduct at issue also implicates the Act’s broader consumer-protection purpose. It isn’t a general-purpose commercial litigation tool.
8. What’s the legal difference between “consumer debt” and “commercial debt” in Illinois?
Consumer debt arises from a transaction for personal, family, or household purposes and is owed by a natural person; commercial debt arises from a business transaction. The distinction matters because it changes which judgment interest rate applies, whether wage garnishment is available, and which consumer-specific protections (like FDCPA-style validation notices) come into play.
9. Do debt buyers have to be licensed the same way as collection agencies in Illinois?
Yes, at least in the consumer-debt context. Illinois case law (LVNV Funding, LLC v. Trice) established that a company that purchases delinquent consumer debt and sues on it must itself be licensed as a collection agency under the Act, not merely rely on the original creditor’s status.
10. Are Illinois collection agencies required to keep a separate trust account for money they collect?
Yes. A licensed Illinois collection agency must maintain a trust account and keep sufficient funds in it to pay creditors what’s owed to them, as part of the ongoing conditions of holding an IDFPR license.