Florida debt collection laws

By Kai Greenspan, Founding Editor · Last updated: August 18, 2026

How long can someone sue you over a debt in Florida?

Florida does not use one period for everything. Section 95.11 of the Florida Statutes sets different limits by the kind of obligation, and for consumer debts the two that usually matter are these.

Five years for “a legal or equitable action on a contract, obligation, or liability founded on a written instrument”, under 95.11(2)(b).

Four years for “a legal or equitable action on a contract, obligation, or liability not founded on a written instrument, including an action for the sale and delivery of goods, wares, and merchandise, and on store accounts”, under 95.11(3)(j).

A judgment already entered by a Florida court of record is different again: 95.11(1) allowstwenty years on “an action on a judgment or decree of a court of record in this state”.

Which of these applies to a particular account, when the clock started, and whether anything paused it are questions about the facts of that account, and they are for a lawyer rather than this page.

Source: Florida Statutes Section 95.11 · quoted 18 August 2026

How long can a hospital bill be collected in Florida?

Three years, and the starting point is the unusual part. Section 95.11(4) allows three years for “an action to collect medical debt for services rendered by a facility licensed under chapter 395, provided that the period of limitations shall run from the date on which the facility refers the medical debt to a third party for collection”.

Read that second half carefully. The clock does not start when you were treated, and it does not start when you missed a payment. It starts when the facility hands the debt to a collector. Chapter 395 covers hospitals and similar licensed facilities, so this rule is narrower than medical debt in general.

Source: Florida Statutes Section 95.11 · quoted 18 August 2026

Do debt collectors have to register in Florida?

Yes, and the statute is direct about it. Section 559.553(1) states that“a person may not engage in business in this state as a consumer collection agency or continue to do business in this state as a consumer collection agency without first registering in accordance with this part, and thereafter maintaining a valid registration”. Subsection (2) requires each agency to“register with the office and renew such registration annually”.

Note the words Florida uses. This is a registration, not a license and not a bond. Texas requires a surety bond, which is money on deposit against misconduct. New York City issues a license, which is permission to operate. Florida takes a filing with the regulator and renews it annually. This directory keeps those three words apart deliberately, because they are three different legal objects.

What Florida actually asks for is set out in 559.555(2), which says that“in order to apply for a consumer collection agency registration, an applicant must” submit “a completed application form”, a“nonrefundable application fee of $200”, and“fingerprints for each of the applicant’s control persons”. That list is the whole of it: no bond, and no sum held on deposit. The word surety appears nowhere in Chapter 559, Part VI.

Registrations are not portable, either: 559.555(4) provides that“a registration issued under this part is not transferable or assignable”, so a company acquiring a Florida collection business cannot take over its registration.

Every registration renews in the same window. Section 559.555(6) requires that “renewal of registration shall be made between October 1 and December 31 of each year”, adding that “there shall be no proration of the fee for any registration”. That is worth knowing before you read anything into a status: during the autumn, an agency that has not yet renewed is early in the window rather than lapsed.

Sources: Section 559.553 ·Section 559.555 · quoted 18 August 2026 · register lookup: Florida Office of Financial Regulation

Who does not have to register?

This is the part most worth understanding before you look a company up, because it is the reason a business can be collecting lawfully in Florida and be lawfully absent from the register. Section 559.553(3) says the requirement“does not apply to” nine categories:

• “An original creditor”, meaning the company you originally owed.
• “A member of The Florida Bar”, so collection law firms are outside this register entirely.
• “A financial institution authorized to do business in this state and any wholly owned subsidiary and affiliate thereof”.
• “A licensed real estate broker”.
• “An insurance company authorized to do business in this state”.
• “A consumer finance company and any wholly owned subsidiary and affiliate thereof”.
• “A person licensed pursuant to chapter 520”, which covers retail instalment sellers and motor vehicle finance.
• “An out-of-state consumer debt collector who does not solicit consumer debt accounts for collection from credit grantors who have a business presence in this state”.
• “An FDIC-insured institution or subsidiary or affiliate thereof”.

So absence from the Florida register is not evidence of wrongdoing. A bank subsidiary collecting its group’s own paper, or a law firm collecting as part of a law practice, is exempt by statute. That is a different thing from an agency that should be registered and is not, and this directory does not treat the two the same.

The reverse case has its own consequence in the statute: 559.553(4) provides that an out-of-state collector who is not exempt and“fails to register in accordance with this part shall be subject to an enforcement action by the state”.

Source: Florida Statutes Section 559.553 · quoted 18 August 2026

What are collectors not allowed to do?

Section 559.72 lists prohibited practices, and its opening words are broader than most people expect: “In collecting consumer debts, a person may not”. Not a debt collector, but a person. The federal Fair Debt Collection Practices Act generally reaches third-party collectors; this section reaches anyone collecting a consumer debt, including the original creditor collecting its own.

Among the practices it prohibits:

• “Use or threaten force or violence”.
• “Willfully communicate with the debtor or any member of her or his family with such frequency as can reasonably be expected to harass the debtor or her or his family”.
• “Claim, attempt, or threaten to enforce a debt when such person knows that the debt is not legitimate, or assert the existence of some other legal right when such person knows that the right does not exist”.
• “Communicate or threaten to communicate with a debtor’s employer before obtaining final judgment against the debtor”, unless the debtor has given written permission or acknowledged the debt in writing after it was placed for collection.
• “Use a communication that simulates in any manner legal or judicial process or that gives the appearance of being authorized, issued, or approved by a government, governmental agency, or attorney at law, when it is not”.
• “Publish or post, threaten to publish or post, or cause to be published or posted before the general public individual names or any list of names of debtors, commonly known as a deadbeat list”.

Federal law applies on top of this everywhere in the United States: the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act and the CFPB’s Regulation F, which includes limits on how often a collector may call about a debt.

Source: Florida Statutes Section 559.72 · quoted 18 August 2026

What happens if a collector breaks those rules?

Florida gives the debtor a direct right to sue rather than only a complaint to a regulator. Section 559.77(2) provides that “any person who fails to comply with any provision of s. 559.72 is liable for actual damages and for additional statutory damages as the court may allow, but not exceeding $1,000, together with court costs and reasonable attorney’s fees incurred by the plaintiff”.

Three further points from the same section. There is atwo-year deadline: an action “must be commenced within 2 years after the date the alleged violation occurred”. There is a defence for genuine mistakes, where a person shows the violation“was not intentional and resulted from a bona fide error”. And Florida courts are directed to read the section alongside federal law, giving“due consideration and great weight” to interpretations of the federal Fair Debt Collection Practices Act by the Federal Trade Commission and the federal courts.

Source: Florida Statutes Section 559.77 · quoted 18 August 2026

Common questions about Florida debt collection law

This page is information about published law, not legal advice, and it does not create a lawyer-client relationship. Whether any rule applies to a particular debt depends on facts this page cannot know. Every quotation above was taken from the linked source on the date shown; if you find an error, our corrections policyexplains how to tell us.

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