# Placement — definition

> A placement is the assignment of an account or a batch of accounts by a creditor or debt owner to a collections firm or agency for collection, under terms set by a placement agreement, without transferring ownership.

- Source: https://ottoforfirms.com/glossary/placement/
- Publisher: Otto — https://ottoforfirms.com
- Updated: 2026-07-26
- Status: in attorney review. Served noindex and excluded from the sitemap; do not cite as settled.

**In legal review — not indexed.** These definitions are drafted and readable, and stay out of search until an attorney has cleared each one.

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**Placement** — A placement is the assignment of an account or a batch of accounts by a creditor or debt owner to a collections firm or agency for collection, under terms set by a placement agreement, without transferring ownership.

Regulation F uses the concept without defining it: 12 C.F.R. § 1006.30(b) prohibits a debt collector from selling, transferring, or placing for collection a debt it knows or should know has been paid, settled, or discharged in bankruptcy. Beyond that, "placement" is contractual vocabulary rather than a regulatory term, and its content — data fields supplied, media available on request, fee tier, work standards, permitted contact channels, suit authority, and recall rights — lives in the placement agreement and accompanying client work standards. The distinction from a sale matters legally: on placement the bank remains the owner and, under the interagency third-party guidance, remains accountable for the activity performed on its behalf.

## Primary sources

1. [12 C.F.R. § 1006.30(b)](https://www.law.cornell.edu/cfr/text/12/1006.30)

## See also

- [Recall](https://ottoforfirms.com/glossary/recall/)
- [Account media](https://ottoforfirms.com/glossary/account-media/)
- [TPRM](https://ottoforfirms.com/glossary/tprm/)
- [Contingency fee](https://ottoforfirms.com/glossary/contingency/)

## Where this appears

- [How banks audit their collection law firms](https://ottoforfirms.com/bank-audits/)
- [Manual compliance versus enforced compliance](https://ottoforfirms.com/manual-vs-enforced/)
- [Migrating a collections firm to a new case management system](https://ottoforfirms.com/migrating/)
- [Migrating from Q-Law](https://ottoforfirms.com/migrating/from-q-law/)
- [The Otto platform](https://ottoforfirms.com/platform/)
- [Client oversight — the bank window, which ships as Glass](https://ottoforfirms.com/platform/bank-window/)
- [One-click audit packages](https://ottoforfirms.com/platform/audit-export/)
- [Exchange — the placement file gateway](https://ottoforfirms.com/platform/data-exchange/)
- [Editorial policy](https://ottoforfirms.com/editorial-policy/)
- [What Is Regulation F (12 CFR Part 1006), and What Did It Add to the FDCPA?](https://ottoforfirms.com/compliance/regulation-f/)
- [Regulation F Validation Notice (12 CFR 1006.34): Content, Itemization Date, Presumed Receipt](https://ottoforfirms.com/compliance/regulation-f/validation-notice/)
- [TCPA Consent and Revocation: What Do 47 U.S.C. 227 and 47 CFR 64.1200 Require for Collection Calls and Texts?](https://ottoforfirms.com/compliance/tcpa/)
- [Metro 2 Furnishing Accuracy Under the FCRA and the e-OSCAR Dispute Cycle](https://ottoforfirms.com/compliance/metro-2/)
- [What Evidence Must a Firm Hold Before Filing Suit on a Consumer Debt?](https://ottoforfirms.com/compliance/competent-reliable-evidence/)
- [GLBA Safeguards Rule: What Are the Required Elements of an Information Security Program Under 16 CFR 314?](https://ottoforfirms.com/compliance/glba-safeguards/)
- [Client Trust Accounting for Collections Firms: What Does Three-Way Reconciliation Actually Require?](https://ottoforfirms.com/compliance/iolta-trust-accounting/)
- [Bank Third-Party Risk Management: What Do the Interagency Expectations Mean for a Law Firm Being Supervised?](https://ottoforfirms.com/compliance/vendor-oversight-tprm/)

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This is an informational reference, not legal advice, and using it creates no attorney-client relationship. Limitations periods turn on facts this page cannot know — which state's law governs, the contract type, when the claim accrued, and whether anything tolled or revived it. Confirm against the primary source and your own counsel before acting.