Debt collection agencies in Florida

State registers re-read every week · latest read: October 5, 2026

What is the Florida registration rule for debt collectors?

Florida requires a consumer collection agency to register with the Office of Financial Regulation before doing business in the state, and to renew that registration every year (Florida Statutes, Sections 559.553 and 559.555). Florida issues a registration rather than a license, and Part VI requires no surety bond of a registrant: an applicant submits an application form, a $200 fee and fingerprints for each control person. The word appears once in the whole of Part VI, in Section 559.78, and in an unrelated sense: an injunction against a violator "shall issue without bond". Every registration renews in the same window, between October 1 and December 31. Nine categories are exempt from registering, including original creditors, members of The Florida Bar, financial institutions and their subsidiaries, and certain out-of-state collectors, so a business can be collecting lawfully in Florida and be lawfully absent from this register.

You can check any agency yourself in the Office of Financial Regulation's public register, or follow our step-by-step verification guide. The rule itself is quoted from the statute on our Florida debt law page.

Source: leg.state.fl.us · Last checked: October 1, 2026

Who does not have to register in Florida?

Nine categories are exempt by statute, among them original creditors, members of The Florida Bar, banks and their wholly owned subsidiaries, insurance companies, and out-of-state collectors who do not solicit accounts from credit grantors with a Florida business presence.

So a business can be collecting lawfully in Florida and be lawfully absent from this register. That is a different thing from a collector who should be registered and is not, and this directory does not treat the two the same. Absence from the register is never published here as a finding against a company. The exemptions are quoted in full, from the statute itself, on the Florida debt law page.

Which debt collection agencies have the longest verified record in Florida?

Ranked on positive, verified measures only. Rankings are never for sale.

Grouped by years continuously registered on the Florida Office of Financial Regulation register, most-established band first. Within each band, agencies are listed alphabetically: no agency is ranked above another. Full rules in the methodology.

How this ranking works

Agencies are grouped into bands by how many years they have been continuously registered on the Florida Office of Financial Regulation's public register: 25 or more years, then 15-24, 5-14, and under 5. Within a band, agencies are listed alphabetically, so no agency is ranked above another and there are no ordinal positions. Only agencies whose registration is active on the register appear in a band. A long registration history is a verifiable public record of staying in business under the state's one legal requirement; it is not a quality rating. Rankings are never for sale: paid options are clearly labeled and can never change where an agency sits. The full rules are on the methodology page.

Common questions about Florida debt collection

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