Commercial Debt Collection in Georgia

What Georgia law gives a business creditor, the deadlines that quietly kill claims, and how C2C Resources works Georgia accounts from our Atlanta and Metairie offices.

How long do you have to collect a Georgia business debt?

This is the single most misunderstood point in Georgia collections, and getting it wrong costs suppliers real money. Georgia's six year rule for written contracts, at O.C.G.A. 9-3-24, expressly excludes contracts for the sale of goods. Those fall under the Uniform Commercial Code at O.C.G.A. 11-2-725, which allows four years. If you manufacture, distribute or wholesale anything, four years is your number.

One more wrinkle worth knowing: under 11-2-725 the parties can agree to shorten the four years to as little as one, but never lengthen it. If your terms and conditions were drafted by the buyer, read them before you assume you have four years.

None of this means you should wait. Recovery falls hard as an account ages, which is why we ask clients to place at 90 to 120 days rather than at the deadline.

Can you charge interest on a past due invoice in Georgia?

Georgia gives commercial creditors something most states do not: a statutory right to service charges without a contract clause. The account becomes due when you render the statement, unless a signed writing says otherwise, and from 30 days past due you may charge up to 1.5 percent per month, which is 18 percent a year. That is O.C.G.A. 7-4-16, and it applies to ordinary business to business accounts, not to retail installment transactions.

Two other rates matter once a claim moves toward court. A fixed invoice amount is a liquidated demand, so it bears interest from the day the debtor became liable at Georgia's legal rate of 7 percent simple interest where no contract rate exists (O.C.G.A. 7-4-15 and 7-4-2). After judgment, the rate changes again: the prime rate on the day judgment is entered plus 3 percent, or your contract rate on a written contract (O.C.G.A. 7-4-12).

The practical takeaway: if your invoices and credit application say nothing about service charges, Georgia still gives you a floor. If they do say something, that language usually controls, so it is worth getting right before the next customer signs.

Can you recover attorney fees on a Georgia commercial debt?

Georgia is unusually specific here. If your note or credit agreement promises "reasonable attorney's fees" without naming a percentage, the statute fills in the number for you: 15 percent of the first $500 of principal and interest, plus 10 percent of everything above that. If the document names a percentage, it is enforceable up to 15 percent.

The notice is the part creditors miss. It has to come after maturity, in writing, and it must tell the debtor they have 10 days from receipt to pay without fees. Refusing to accept delivery counts as receipt, which is a helpful detail when a debtor stops signing for mail. Where the formula would produce more than $20,000, the debtor can ask the court to review it before judgment.

No fee clause in your paperwork? There is still a route. O.C.G.A. 13-6-11 allows litigation expenses where the debtor has acted in bad faith, has been stubbornly litigious, or has put you to unnecessary trouble and expense, but it has to be pleaded specifically.

Does a collection agency need a license in Georgia?

Georgia is one of the states that leaves commercial collection unlicensed. There is no collection agency chapter in Title 43, the professions and businesses title, and no board for it among the state's professional licensing boards. Anyone claiming a "Georgia collection agency license" is describing something that does not exist.

That does not mean the work is unregulated in practice. Commercial collection is governed by contract law, by the Uniform Commercial Code, and by the standards agencies hold themselves to. C2C Resources is certified by the Commercial Law League of America, endorsed by the International Association of Commercial Collectors, and carries a $500,000 surety bond. We hold collection licenses in the states that require them, and we watch licensing changes through the IACC, the CLLA, ACA International and a law firm that works only in this industry.

One point that matters to out of state creditors more than they realise: under O.C.G.A. 14-2-1501(b)(8), securing or collecting debts in Georgia does not by itself count as transacting business in the state. Collecting from a Georgia customer does not drag your company into Georgia registration.

This page describes Georgia law in general terms. It is not legal advice, statutes change, and your situation may turn on facts a web page cannot know. Talk to your attorney before acting.

Where do Georgia commercial claims get filed, and what happens after judgment?

The jurisdictional change is recent enough that most published guides are still wrong. House Bill 999, enacted in the 2026 session, lifted the magistrate court limit from $15,000 to $25,000 effective July 1, 2026, amending O.C.G.A. 15-10-2 and 15-10-80. If a site tells you $15,000 today, it has not been updated. Above that limit, O.C.G.A. 15-7-4 gives state courts jurisdiction without regard to the amount in controversy.

After judgment, Georgia's garnishment procedure is the same in every court that has garnishment jurisdiction. The creditor files an affidavit stating the judgment and the balance, and the clerk issues a summons to whoever holds the debtor's money. Garnishment reaches obligations the garnishee owes the debtor and any property of the debtor in its hands, which in practice means bank accounts and wages. A bank garnishment captures the day of service plus five days. A continuing wage garnishment runs 1,095 days. Wage garnishment is capped at the lesser of 25 percent of disposable earnings or the amount above 30 times the federal minimum wage for that week, and retirement accounts are exempt until distributed.

Out of state creditors are not shut out. A judgment from another state can be domesticated in Georgia under O.C.G.A. 9-12-132 and then enforced like a Georgia judgment. Georgia also allows post judgment discovery under O.C.G.A. 9-11-69, so a creditor can make the debtor answer questions about where the money is.

Georgia lien deadlines for suppliers and contractors

If you supply materials or labor to Georgia construction projects, the lien is often worth more than the lawsuit, and O.C.G.A. 44-14-361.1 is unforgiving about timing:

• 90 days to file the claim of lien with the clerk of superior court in the county where the property sits, counted from completion of the work or the last delivery.
• 2 business days after filing to send a copy to the owner, by registered or certified mail or statutory overnight delivery.
• 365 days from the lien filing to commence the action.
• 30 days after commencing it to file a notice of commencement of lien action with the same clerk. Win the lawsuit and skip this filing, and the lien is unenforceable anyway.

The lien itself has to carry Georgia's required expiration language and the owner's right to contest, in at least 12 point bold type. Leave either out and the lien fails. Suppliers without a direct contract with the general contractor also owe a Notice to Contractor within 30 days of the notice of commencement or 30 days after first delivery, whichever is later.

Placing a Georgia account with C2C Resources

Georgia's economy is built on the kind of business that extends trade credit. The state's private sector runs about 386,578 establishments, including roughly 13,600 in manufacturing, 21,100 in wholesale trade, 11,100 in transportation and warehousing and 28,700 in construction (Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2025). The Port of Savannah is the fourth busiest container port in the country by loaded containers, which is why so much of Georgia's B2B credit risk sits with distributors, freight companies and suppliers.

Here is how we work a Georgia file:

• Best claim to place: over $5,000 and under 120 days past due. We take accounts of any size, and we would rather see them before they age. Most accounts reach us closer to 180 days, which is late enough to cost recovery.
• What we do first: verify the balance and the paperwork, then work the account by phone and in writing under our own name, not yours.
• If it needs legal: our Legal Forwarding Edge program moves the file to a vetted commercial attorney, with our interests still lined up with yours.
• What you can expect from us: we handle roughly 25,000 claims a year, we have been collecting in all 50 states since 2002, and clients typically recover 20 to 30 percent more with us than with the agency they used before.
• What we will not tell you: a made up recovery percentage. Recovery depends on your credit policy, your in house process, how old the account is and your industry. A suspiciously high published rate usually means the agency is choosing easy files, or making the number up.

Not ready to place anything? Read how third party B2B collection works, what Legal Forwarding Edge does when a file needs a lawyer, or how First Party AR keeps accounts from aging this far in the first place.

Frequently asked questions