Southaven, Mississippi collection firm focused only on trucking and freight debt, from unpaid freight bills to out-of-business brokers, with a free BBA Insider broker database.
Services
Who it serves
Overview
Baxter Bailey & Associates is a collection agency that works only on transportation debt. Its website describes the firm as "the first debt collection firm exclusive to trucking," and its pages are written for carriers, factoring companies and other transportation businesses that hauled freight and were not paid. The firm is based on Swinnea Road in Southaven, Mississippi, just south of Memphis.
The firm is known in the trucking world for two things. The first is its collection work on hard accounts, including freight bills owed by brokers that have shut down. The site states that 70 percent of its collections come from companies that are out of business. The second is its free BBA Insider service, which publishes broker alerts, debtor profiles and a Top Debtors list that carriers can check before they accept a load.
Note for readers: the web address baxterbailey.com belongs to an unrelated architecture firm in Virginia. The freight collection firm's own site is bbcollects.com.
Compare with other Freight Collections providers: TransCollect by TransCredit, Reesor & Associates and Burt & Associates, or see all Freight Collections.
Services
Baxter Bailey's freight collections page lists three main kinds of debt it handles: freight bills, third-party debt and double-brokered debt. In practice that covers a carrier chasing a broker that never paid, a carrier that was double brokered and is owed by a party it never contracted with, and cargo claims and disputes.
A large part of its work is pursuing other parties when the broker is gone. The site says the firm consistently sues shippers when a broker is out of business and has not paid the delivering carrier, and it notes that shippers or consignees can end up as the debtor even after they paid their broker.
Supporting services include licensed investigation of the debtor, a liability analysis to decide who legally owes the money, and litigation through an in-house legal team when collection efforts fail. BBA Insider adds Flash Alerts on brokers, enhanced company profiles and broker trend data, all described on the site as free.
Who it is for
The firm is built for motor carriers, from small fleets to larger trucking companies, that have an unpaid invoice from a broker, shipper or consignee. Factoring companies are also a core audience, since a factor that bought a carrier's invoice often ends up holding the bad debt when a broker fails.
It is a strong fit when the debtor is out of business or cannot be reached, because that is the situation the firm says produces most of its recoveries. Carriers that were caught in a double-brokering scheme, or that are owed by a party they never had a contract with, are also in its stated scope.
Brokers and carriers that want to check a company before they work with it can use BBA Insider without placing an account. The site says insiders are alerted when patterns suggest a brokerage may fail, often months before it does.
How working with them works
Accounts are placed through the Place an Account link on the website. The firm then follows a four-step process described on its freight collections page.
First comes investigation. Licensed investigators look for the debtor's carrier division, run a business credit analysis, identify successor companies, check corporate status, find owners and officers and perform a UCC search. Second is the liability determination, where the firm decides whether the money is owed by the debtor, a broker's carrier division, a successor company, individuals or a third party such as a shipper. Third is collection by an assigned collector, which the site says resolves most cases. Fourth, if needed, the account moves to litigation with the in-house legal team, which the firm calls a last resort.
All collection work is on contingency. The site says the firm is paid only when it recovers money and the client owes nothing if it is unsuccessful. Fee percentages are not published. Office hours are 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Thursday and 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Friday, Central Time.
Questions to ask before you sign
What contingency percentage will you charge on this account, and does the rate change if the broker is out of business or if the file goes to your legal team? Ask for the rate in writing before you place the account.
Is there a minimum claim size you will accept, and how do you handle a single small invoice versus several loads owed by the same broker?
If the debtor is a broker, will you also pursue the broker's BMC-84 surety bond or BMC-85 trust? Who files the bond claim, and how do you coordinate with other carriers making claims against the same bond?
How old is too old? Ask how the federal deadline for suing over freight charges, generally 18 months from delivery under 49 U.S.C. 14705, affects your account, and whether the firm will file in time if the account is close to that date.
Are your collectors and investigators licensed in the states where my debtor is located, and who in-house handles litigation?
How will I get status updates, and can I track placements and payments through BBA Insider?
Company background
Baxter Bailey & Associates states on its own About page that it was founded in 2009 and restructured in 2021, and that it has more than 15 years of experience in freight charge recovery. Its headquarters address is 6858 Swinnea Road, Building 4, Southaven, Mississippi 38671.
The firm lists memberships in the American Trucking Associations, the American Collectors Association and the International Factors Association. A legal directory profile of the Memphis-based Davison Law Firm notes that its attorney Edgar Davison previously served as general counsel for Baxter Bailey & Associates.
The company does not publish employee counts, revenue or client totals. Its BBA Insider pages describe its broker database as constantly updated and delivered in real time, and the firm offers an RSS feed of its Top Debtors list for carriers that want to follow it.
Sources
- Baxter Bailey & Associates home page
- Baxter Bailey freight collections page
- BBA Insider
- Baxter Bailey & Associates About page (freightrecoverypros.com)
- Baxter Bailey & Associates (freightrecoverypros.com home)
- Davison Law Firm profile, Lexinter
- 49 U.S.C. 14705, Limitation on actions by and against carriers (Cornell LII)
Information compiled from public sources. Last verified November 2026. Confirm details directly with the company.
