In plain language
A promise to pay (PTP) is a borrower's or customer's commitment, made during a collections or servicing contact, to pay a stated amount by a stated date. The PTP kept rate is the share of promises that came due in a period and were paid as promised.
A closer look
Who uses it
Collections and recovery teams at lenders, servicers, and agencies, in dialer and workflow reporting, agent scorecards, and client reports.
How teams count it
Shops define these differently, so the definitions are usually written down next to the report.
PTP made. A contact ends with an amount and a date the customer commits to.
PTP rate. Promises made, divided by a contact count. The denominator varies: right-party contacts is common, total conversations is another.
PTP kept rate. Promises paid in full and on time, divided by promises that came due in the period. Some shops count partial payments or a grace window as kept; others count only full, on-time payments.
Broken promise. A promise whose date passed without the agreed payment, which often triggers a follow-up contact.
Rule text that sits nearby
We didn't find a definition of the term in the FDCPA or Regulation F; the word "promise" doesn't appear in Regulation F's text or its official interpretation. A few sources mention promises or sit close to them. We're quoting them, not saying how they apply.
Time-barred debt and revival. A February 2020 CFPB report on disclosure testing says: "State laws generally permit revival of a debt collector's right to sue if a consumer: (1) makes a partial payment on a time-barred debt; or (2) acknowledges to the debt collector in writing that the consumer owes the time-barred debt." One test disclosure, which the report says was modelled on disclosures "currently required in some states," mentions signing "a paper in which you admit that you owe the debt or in which you make a new promise to pay."
Regulation F. "A debt collector must not bring or threaten to bring a legal action against a consumer to collect a time-barred debt." (12 CFR 1006.26(b))
AI-agent operations questions
When an AI agent records a promise, what's stored: the amount, the date, the channel, and the exact words the customer used?
Is a promise made to an AI agent counted the same way as one made to a person in the PTP rate?
When a promise breaks, what decides the next contact, and where is that decision logged?
Why it matters
PTP rate counts promises made; kept rate counts promises paid as promised. The two numbers can move independently of each other.
An example in practice
Example (hypothetical, systems only)
A servicer's workflow stores each promise as its own record with amount, due date, channel, and a link to the conversation. A nightly job marks each due promise kept, partly kept, or broken against posted payments. The kept-rate report reads from those records, so the number and its definition come from the same place.
Common questions
What does PTP stand for?
Promise to pay.
What's the difference between PTP rate and PTP kept rate?
PTP rate measures how often contacts end in a promise. Kept rate measures how many promises that came due were paid as promised.
Is there a regulatory definition of promise to pay?
We didn't find one in Regulation F or the FDCPA. Teams define it in their own reporting.
Sources & further reading
CFPB, "Disclosure of Time-Barred Debt and Revival: Findings from the CFPB's Quantitative Disclosure Testing" (February 2020): https://files.consumerfinance.gov/f/documents/cfpb_debt-collection-quantitative-disclosure-testing_report.pdf
Regulation F, 12 CFR 1006.26 (eCFR): https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-12/chapter-X/part-1006/subpart-B/section-1006.26
For general information only, not legal advice. Sources are linked above. Teams often review their programs with their own compliance team or counsel.