How Legalcity Automated Debt Collection Calls Using AI Voice Agents

At a glance

• Legalcity is a SaaS platform for digital debt collection, integrated with most accounting and invoicing tools on the market.

• More importantly, Legalcity is a licensed and regulated debt collection firm (not a marketplace or software-only tool).

• Phone calls are often a decisive step in resolving cases, but they’re time-consuming and require a well-structured, resource-heavy human team.

• Legalcity has deployed a team of AI-powered voice agents that operate at different stages of the collection process, supporting human agents.

• 70% of debtors who interact with these voice agents don’t realize they’re speaking to an AI.

• When used wisely, voice AI agents offer a powerful automation lever for debt collection professionals like Legalcity.

Context

Each year, over €56 billion in debts go unpaid in France. Debt collection is a critical activity for the economic health of businesses — from SMEs to large enterprises.

And yet, only €2 billion are recovered annually by traditional collection agencies and judicial officers.

Legalcity is a licensed collection firm offering an all-in-one SaaS platform that helps businesses manage the entire debt collection lifecycle — from the first amicable message to legal enforcement — thanks to a network of over 40 court bailiffs across France.

Legalcity mainly handles B2B debt, but also covers B2C cases. The average amount recovered is around €3,000 per case, with significant variation.

All recovery sequences include SMS, emails, and standard or registered demand letters. These flows always include phone calls, handled at scale by collection agents.

All actions are conducted under the Legalcity brand, which gives psychological weight: debtors clearly understand a collection agency has been officially mandated.

Voice is often the last channel that hasn’t been automated — yet it’s also the one that makes the biggest difference when layered onto the others.

To automate large-scale voice relaunches, Legalcity turned to AI voice agents built with Rounded. Here’s how it works.

2. The economics of phone-based collection

Phone calls are still necessary in almost all cases.

Emails and SMS are often ignored — only about 25% yield a first response. Calls, by contrast, allow for a synchronous exchange, which can clarify the situation and help assess the debtor’s solvency.

But the problem? Phone calls are expensive. Not in cost per minute — but in human time. Leaving voicemails or calling unresponsive numbers still takes up agent bandwidth.

Most agencies lose money on calls for debts under €233. That’s not even factoring in the cost of acquiring the client or operating the case. Many agencies avoid calling for debts under €2,000.

The job is also repetitive and unmotivating.

So Legalcity kept the phone… but changed how it’s used.

Profitability threshold for human calls:

• Hourly cost of a human agent: €35

• Average handling time: 2 min (voicemail), 5 min (live call)

• Pickup rate: 30% max

• Conversion rate: 5% after voicemail, 15% after real call

• Market commission: ~15%

→ 20 calls/hour → 6 pick-ups → 1 payment

→ €35 / 15% commission = €233.33 minimum debt size for break-even

3. Rethinking collection with AI voice agents

Legalcity chose a different approach: keep the voice, automate the effort.

They built a team of AI voice agents, each tailored to a specific stage of the collection journey — from first contact to legal escalation.

Their goal: relaunch by phone, at scale, without mobilizing humans unless necessary.

In the amicable phase, three agents handle different scenarios:

Lucien — the friendly opener:

He handles the first contact. Calm and courteous, he confirms the debtor received the payment link and offers support. The goal: keep the case visible and reduce drop-off.

Vincent — the firmer follow-up:

If no progress has been made, Vincent returns with a more assertive tone. He checks for payment issues and suggests a meeting with a human advisor.

Guillaume — the final chance:

On the third attempt, Guillaume takes over. His tone is formal and firm. He states this is the last amicable attempt before escalation, lists potential legal consequences, and offers a final chance to settle the case.

After each call:

• The agent updates the internal CRM with call status

• Clients can follow the case in the front office and chat with Legalcity for strategy updates

• The agent can transfer the call, schedule a meeting, or resend the payment link, all autonomously

"These agents follow a structured conversational logic — tone and objective vary by stage. This is what makes them credible, and explains why nearly 70% of debtors don’t realize they’re speaking to AI" says Frédéric Dupuy, CEO of Legalcity.

4. AI voice agents in numbers

After 1 month and ~1,000 weekly calls, here are the first metrics:

• 35% pick-up rate

  • 20.3% of those calls result in a payment link being sent

  • 26.1% are transferred to a human agent

  • 21.7% result in a scheduled meeting

  • 31.9% are hang-ups within 20 seconds

• 65% of calls go unanswered

  • 15% of those receive a callback

  • 5% result in a payment without further contact

• Average cost per call: €0.07

  • €0.03 for voicemails

  • €0.19 for answered calls

On a 100-call campaign:

• Total cost: €7

• Based on human call conversion rates (5% / 15%), that’s 8 payments

• Required recovered amount: €87.5 (Legalcity’s average commission: 8%)

• → Break-even per payment = €10.93

That’s 21x lower than the human call threshold of €233.

AI voice agents unlock scalable, profitable outreach — especially for low-value or low-engagement debts.

And yes: 70% of debtors don’t realize they’re talking to an AI.

5. What’s next?

Legalcity is expanding its voice agent suite to cover other stages of the process:

• Agents for judicial collection: filing injunctions, bailiff notifications, enforcement

• A secure voice payment module for instant settlement during the call

With dozens of case types and thousands of files in motion, Legalcity’s AI agents will also serve commercial and support teams, helping them prioritize, decide, and optimize recovery efforts.

Customer satisfaction is core to Legalcity’s mission — and AI agents will now be part of that promise.