Collections MAX got you started. It should not be the thing your agency depends on.
Collections MAX is how a lot of small agencies began: a free download, a one-time per-PC license, a MySQL database on a machine in the office. It is Windows desktop software from Decca Software, a company with one visible developer, that went three years without a release and now ties its future to a browser front-end on the same database. If your agency has grown past a few seats, the risk is no longer the price. It is the single point of failure.
- Accounts, debtors & balances
- Payment history, notes & activity
- Active payment arrangements
- Stored cards & ACH, via your processor
- Compliance flags & audit trail
Migrating from Collections MAX (Decca Software Company, founded 2006) → Resolvah
What is happening at Collections MAX.
Dated and sourced. The things a buyer should know before deciding whether to stay.
- 2006 to 2013
Decca Software Company is founded by Frank Coukos, who remains president and its only visible engineer. By 2010 Collections MAX ships as a free Administrator and Collector with a paid Professional edition licensed per PC.
- 2018 to 2021
Version 3 stops working on September 1, 2018, by policy. Version 4 moves to .NET 4.6.1 and TLS 1.2 (April 2018); 4.1 adds a payment batch runner and custom reports (September 2020); 4.1.2 ships in March 2021. Then releases stop.
- 2021 to 2024
Just under three years with no release. Version 4.2 arrives in February 2024 with Windows 11 fixes and the auto-update system removed; the vendor's newsletter apologizes for the gap and gives personal reasons. Integrated card processing runs through the vendor's own merchant program. The user forum had gone quiet by 2017 and its replacement Q&A was later taken down.
- February 2026
Version 5.0 ships Remote Collector, a browser front-end to the same hosted MariaDB, plus a skip-tracing add-on and the metrics reports the vendor says were, with import speed, its two biggest complaints for years. A new licensing policy charges a yearly commercial license to anyone with custom tables or stored procedures and states that competitors will not be licensed. The Collections MAX Cloud rewrite announced in 2022 has not shipped.
- August 2026
Versions 5.1 and 5.2 rewrite the payment portal and add native Metro 2 files. Version 4 is set to stop working on January 1, 2029, the same way version 3 did in 2018. Support remains email tickets, weekdays 10 to 4 Eastern; phone support is through independent consultants, one of whom now sells a competing product.
Why agencies leave Collections MAX.
Nobody leaves Collections MAX because it is expensive. They leave because everything about it sits on one person and one machine: one developer who writes the code and answers the tickets, one MySQL database the vendor explicitly does not support, one Windows PC per license, and integrations that are CSV files going in and out. That is fine at three seats. It is a liability at fifteen.
One visible developer. Releases stopped for almost three years and resumed in 2024; the vendor's own newsletter names import speed and lack of metrics as the two biggest complaints for years, fixed only in the 2026 release.
You run the database. MySQL or MariaDB 5.5 on your own server or a rented VPS, with backups, permissions and connection limits on you; the vendor says it does not support the database, the network, email or letters.
Windows desktop only, hardware-locked per PC, with no Citrix or thin-client support and a transfer fee to move a license. The 2026 browser front-end still needs the hosted database behind it.
No dialer, no API. Dialers get CSV exports and a screen-pop URL; skip tracing is batch return files; card processing runs through the vendor's own merchant program, or through your own gateway on the paid hosted payment portal; QuickBooks is not supported.
Collections MAX vs Resolvah
Both can collect a debt. The difference is how it feels to your team, your clients, and the person on the other end.
A hosted payment page (Payment Portal) that takes a card or echeck. Plain-language resolution, plan building and 24/7 self-service are not the design.
A warm, self-serve resolution experience. Dee explains the balance in plain language, offers plans people can actually afford, and lets them resolve it 24/7 from any phone.
Windows desktop apps on a MySQL database you host, or a vendor-managed Windows VPS; the 2026 Remote Collector is a browser front-end to that same database.
Fully cloud-hosted and always current — nothing to install, patch, or keep alive on a server in your office.
Procedure-driven. Metro 2 files are produced natively since August 2026 (through a validator), and via a third-party service before that; call-frequency and consent rules live in your process, not the software.
FDCPA, Reg F, TCPA and state rules built into the everyday workflow, with a complete, exportable audit trail on every account and message.
A Windows Task Scheduler module and CSV import mapping; no automation builder, no AI assist.
Modern automation and AI assist draft outreach, summarize an account at a glance, and surface the next best step — without taking the human out of it.
Free to start, then a one-time per-PC license, monthly hosted add-ons, and a yearly commercial license if you have custom tables.
Transparent, predictable pricing. The features that make recovery humane aren't locked behind surprise modules or per-seat upcharges.
Email tickets, weekdays 10 to 4 Eastern; no phone support from the vendor. Resolvah reads your MySQL database directly and reconciles it with you.
A Resolvah onboarding team works with yours at every step: we map your data, move it, reconcile it against your old system, and work with your payment processor so active arrangements keep running. Four weeks to three months, and we stay on through go-live.
Comparison reflects general, publicly-observable platform characteristics and is provided to help you evaluate a switch. Collections MAX is a trademark of its respective owner; Resolvah is not affiliated with or endorsed by it.
A migration you barely feel.
Collections MAX keeps your data in a MySQL or MariaDB database that you already own, which makes this one of the cleanest exports there is. We take a copy of the database (never the live one), map the tables and any custom ones your consultant added, move the accounts, history, notes and arrangements, and reconcile every total against Collections MAX before cutover. Four weeks to three months, usually the short end.
Prepare
We scope your portfolio, confirm the export path, and schedule a calm migration window.
Move
Your data comes across — accounts, history, notes and active plans — with a Resolvah specialist on it start to finish.
Validate
We reconcile every total with you against your old system before anyone relies on the new one.
Go live
Your collectors pick up where they left off, and your old system stays put until you're ready to retire it.
Worried about payment tokens? We work directly with your existing payment processor to re-point the vault to Resolvah, so stored cards and ACH come across and every active arrangement keeps running. Nobody re-enters a card, and no plan is interrupted.
The honest list for this system, so cutover day holds no surprises.
- Accounts, debtors and balances
Read directly from your MySQL or MariaDB database and reconciled account by account.
- Payment history and notes
Transaction and note history come across; we check counts and totals against Collections MAX's reports before cutover.
- Active payment arrangements
Scheduled arrangements continue on their cadence.
- Stored cards and ACH
Cards run through the vendor's own merchant program, or through your own gateway (USAePay, Authorize.Net, NMI, Usio) on the hosted payment portal. We work with your processor to re-point the vault to Resolvah, so every plan keeps running.
- Credit reporting history
Metro 2 files are produced natively since August 2026 and went through a third-party service before that; we carry the reporting state across so the next file is consistent.
- Custom tables, stored procedures and consultant reports
Work your consultant built directly on the database comes across as data; the reports and procedures themselves are rebuilt in Resolvah.
- Letters and call recordings
Letters are Word mail merges on your PCs and recordings live with your dialer or softphone. We help you export them for retention.
- Take a full MySQL dump you control and confirm it restores on another machine. We work from that copy, never the live database.
- If a consultant hosts your database, get the hosting agreement's notice period and how you receive a full copy in writing.
- If you moved to Remote Collector or the hosted portal, note the subdomain and who holds the DNS; the payment page URL your consumers know may be on the vendor's domain.
- Tell your payment processor a re-point of the token vault is coming; if your only merchant account is the vendor's, ask us early and we will set up yours.
- List every CSV hand-off you rely on (dialer exports, skip-trace return files, letter merges); each becomes a live integration in Resolvah, not a file.
Switching from Collections MAX
Is Collections MAX going away?
There is no sale or sunset on record, and 2026 brought the first real releases in years. What is on record is the shape of the company: one visible developer, email-only support, a three-year release gap, and a version 4 that stops working on January 1, 2029. Whether that is acceptable depends on how many seats you now run on it.
We paid once and it works. Why would we move?
If it still fits, keep it. Agencies move when they outgrow a PC-locked desktop app: a second office, remote collectors, a client who wants a real portal, a dialer that needs more than a CSV, or an auditor asking for consent records and call-frequency controls the software does not keep. Those are the moments a free start stops being free.
How painful is moving our Collections MAX data to Resolvah?
We make it as painless as we can, and we do it with you rather than to you. Accounts, balances, payment history, notes, active arrangements and compliance flags come across, and we reconcile the totals against Collections MAX before anyone relies on Resolvah. Anything that cannot come across (call recordings held by a dialer vendor, for example) is identified up front, so nothing is a surprise on cutover day.
Will active payment plans keep running when we switch from Collections MAX?
Yes. We work with your existing payment processor to re-point the vault to Resolvah, so stored card and ACH tokens come across, scheduled arrangements continue on their cadence, and no consumer re-enters payment details.
How long does migrating from Collections MAX take?
Four weeks to three months, depending on the size of the portfolio and how Collections MAX stores its data. A Resolvah onboarding specialist scopes it with you first, so you get a date, not a range, before anything moves. Collections MAX stays your system of record until the reconciliation is signed off.
Don't see your system? See every migration we support.
Leave Collections MAX behind — without leaving anything behind.
Book a 20-minute demo and we'll map your exact portfolio onto Resolvah, payment tokens and all.
