AI Agent Recovers Unpaid Loans for SMBs — Born From a Friend’s $300K Problem

A team on Hacker News built an AI agent platform to automate debt recovery. The idea came from a commercial lender friend struggling to recover $300K in unpaid loans. Most collection agencies only work with $1M+ accounts, leaving SMBs with no affordable recovery options.

Originally selling compliance AI to fintechs, they pivoted to SMBs, SaaS companies, and commercial lenders who were simply writing off smaller debts.

The AI agent handles the entire recovery workflow — replacing expensive agencies with automated AI-driven recovery. Results show strong close rates and clear ROI.

“How many businesses are simply writing off smaller debts because collections isn’t accessible?” The answer: a lot. And it’s proving to be a viable business model.