（Singapore, 09.11.2026）Staff turnover at some Chinese debt collection firms can reach 20% in a single month as agents face the strain of repeatedly calling borrowers who are struggling to repay. Artificial intelligence can take over some of the administrative work, but firms still rely on staff to handle difficult conversations and untangle complicated accounts.
Joy Zhu, a manager at a Shanghai collection firm, told Bloomberg that agents spend much of their working day speaking to people under severe financial strain. Some borrowers break down during calls, leaving agents to deal with their distress while continuing to pursue overdue payments. Zhu described the calls as “a constant stream of negative emotions”.
Agents recognise that the people they call face the greater hardship and that the financial setbacks that push borrowers deeper into debt can have tragic consequences. For collectors, the strain builds over the course of a working day as one difficult conversation gives way to another. The emotional toll helps explain why firms can struggle to retain staff.
While the agent needs to establish whether a payment can be made, the borrower may still be dealing with the economic setback that made it unaffordable in the first place. A collector can explain how to pay or clarify which company is calling, but those steps do little to change what the borrower can afford to repay.
Many collection agents are young, and younger people have also been disproportionately affected by China’s consumer debt problems. That puts some workers in the position of pursuing payments from people facing much the same uncertainty about jobs and income. An agent can understand how a borrower fell behind while still having to ask when the next payment will come.
China’s youth unemployment rate stood at about 18% in September, and a spell out of work can make it harder for borrowers to keep up with repayments, especially once they have fallen behind. Advances in AI could put further pressure on job prospects for young workers, even as the technology offers some relief from repetitive work inside collection firms.
For Hu, a debt collector in the central Chinese city of Wuhan, hearing from borrowers who are struggling to repay has changed how he manages his own money. Their experiences have made him more aware of how easily he could find himself in a similar position.
Complex cases still need agents
Collection firms can use AI to screen leads, enter data, look up records and tag accounts. Screening helps narrow down which cases to follow up, while data entry and account tags help staff keep track of them. A faster search can also help an agent find an existing record while a borrower is still on the line.
Most firms see limits to how much of the job they can hand over, particularly when a routine payment reminder turns into a conversation about how to make the payment. A borrower may be unable to log into an app or may be unsure how to complete a transfer. The agent then has to establish where the person got stuck and talk them through the next step.
Some calls involve debts that have changed hands several times, leaving borrowers unsure who now holds the debt or why a different company is asking for payment. Looking up the record can help the agent trace the debt and explain how it reached the firm now making the call.
In a single call, an agent may have to explain who now holds the debt, guide the borrower through the payment process and discuss what they can afford to repay. If the borrower is already distressed, the agent must also judge how much information to give at once and when to pause. Software can retrieve the account history in advance, but the agent has to decide how to use it as the conversation unfolds.
Handing over routine computer work could free up time for agents, although the calls that weigh on them most can also be the hardest to automate. The history of an overdue account can help an agent prepare for a conversation, but it offers little indication of how the borrower will react or whether they can afford to pay.
In Wuhan, Hu said the job had turned him into a “penny-pincher”, making him more careful about what he spends. “Otherwise, I could easily have ended up on the debt collectors’ call list myself,” he said.
