How to verify a Colorado collection agency license
By Kai Greenspan, Founding Editor
The oldest start date among the collection agency licenses recorded as Active in our copy of the Department of Law's register, read on October 26, 2026. Licenses that are no longer Active stay on the record beside them, which is why one company can have several records, and why the check below is about finding the one recorded as Active.
Source: licensing.coag.gov · Last checked: October 26, 2026
What brings you here?
Two of the most common reasons people check a collector. Pick whichever fits.
The four steps
| Step | What to do |
|---|---|
| 1. Open the Department of Law's public license reports | The official record is the public license register the Colorado Department of Law publishes for collection agencies: https://licensing.coag.gov/s/public-reports. It is free and needs no account, and it keeps ended licenses on the record beside those in force. |
| 2. Search the company name, and try shorter versions | Type the company name as it appears on its letters or website, and try shorter versions and the full business name too: companies are listed under a business name, usually ending in LLC, Inc or similar, sometimes with a trading name beside it. If you hold a letter carrying a Colorado license number, look for that number: each record shows one. A company can hold a newer number after a change of ownership. |
| 3. Find the license recorded as Active, and read its start date | Look at each record for the company. The one that matters is recorded as Active. If the newest record shows as Expired since the last July 1, ask the Department whether a renewal is pending: its page says a license stays in force while a renewal that has been submitted is decided. Check that the legal name matches the company that wrote to you, and read the start date, which shows how long that license has run. |
| 4. If there is no license in force, do not assume the worst | Some collectors are lawfully absent. Attorneys who regularly collect debts in Colorado are exempt from Colorado's licensing rules, a creditor's own employees collecting in its name are not collection agencies, and business debts are outside the act. Ask the company which exemption it relies on. |
Source: licensing.coag.gov · Last checked: October 26, 2026
Reading the status words
The register records each license’s status in the Department’s own words and keeps ended licenses on the record. Only Active is read here as a license in force. Surrendered, Cancelled and Withdrawn are licenses that have ended, and Expired usually is too, though the Department says a license whose renewal has been submitted stays in force until the renewal is decided. The Colorado act explains two of them: a licensee “may voluntarily surrender the license to the administrator to be canceled, but such surrender shall not affect the licensee’s liability for violations of this article 16 that occurred prior to the date of surrender” (Section 5-16-119), and a license expires on its own in some cases, such as an ownership change that was not reported (Section 5-16-122) or a bond that was canceled and not replaced (Section 5-16-124).
Every Colorado collection agency license runs to the next July 1. The Department’s page says licenses “are valid from the date of issuance to the following July 1” and must be renewed by July 1 each year, and that a license whose renewal was submitted does not expire until the renewal has been decided. So around July 1 a license may be in the middle of renewal; ask the Department before treating a recent change as an answer either way. None of the status words is one of the act's sanctions (Section 5-16-127), and this directory does not read them as findings against a company; the register does not say why a license ended.
Colorado Revised Statutes Sections 5-16-119, 5-16-122, 5-16-124 and 5-16-127, quoted November 5, 2026 · Colorado Department of Law, Collection Agency Licensing, read October 3, 2026.
Who does not have to be licensed
This is the part worth understanding before you conclude anything from a blank search. Section 5-16-118 sets the rule: “Any person acting as a collection agency must possess a valid license issued by the administrator in accordance with this article 16 and any rules adopted pursuant thereto.” But not everyone collecting a debt is a collection agency, and not every collection agency needs a license:
- Attorneys. An attorney who regularly collects debts in Colorado is a collection agency under the act but “shall be exempt from provisions of this article 16 that concern licensing and licensees”.
- The creditor’s own staff. A collection agency does not include “Any officer or employee of a creditor while, in the name of the creditor, collecting debts for such creditor”.
- Collectors of business debts only. The act covers consumer debts; a business, investment, commercial or agricultural debt is not a debt under it.
- Some out-of-state collectors. A collector outside Colorado collecting only debts not incurred in Colorado, by interstate communications such as mail, phone or fax, from a state that licenses collection agencies but does not require a license of Colorado agencies collecting there in the same limited way, is exempt from the licensing rules.
So a blank search is a question, not an answer. The useful next move is to ask the company which exemption it relies on. A genuinely exempt business can name it in one sentence. A collection agency collecting consumer debts, a debt buyer included, that holds no license and cannot name an exemption is worth resolving before you engage. The exemptions are set out, with the statute’s words, on the Colorado debt law page.
Colorado Revised Statutes Sections 5-16-103 and 5-16-118, quoted November 5, 2026.
Common questions about license checks
Is Colorado's collection agency register free to search?
Yes. The Colorado Department of Law publishes its collection agency licenses in public license reports, free and without an account. It is the same official record this directory verifies Colorado agencies against.
The company is not on the register. Does that mean it is operating illegally?
Not necessarily. Attorneys who regularly collect debts in Colorado are exempt from the act's licensing provisions, a creditor's own officers and employees collecting in its name are not collection agencies, and the act covers consumer debts only (Section 5-16-103). Ask the company which exemption applies before drawing a conclusion.
Why does one company have several records on the register?
Because the register keeps licenses that are no longer Active on the record with their status words, and because some changes of ownership need a new license: Section 5-16-122 lists them, among them a change of fifty percent or more of a company's stock or ownership interest. So one company can show an older license and a newer one recorded as Active.
What do the status words on the register mean?
This directory treats a Colorado license as in force only when the register records it as Active. Surrendered, Cancelled and Withdrawn are licenses that have ended, and Expired usually is too, though the Department says a license whose renewal has been submitted stays in force until the renewal is decided. Under the Colorado act a licensee may give up its license voluntarily, and it is then canceled (Section 5-16-119); a license expires on its own in some cases, such as an ownership change that was not reported or a bond that was canceled and not replaced (Sections 5-16-122 and 5-16-124). None of these words is one of the act's sanctions (Section 5-16-127), and this directory does not read them as findings against the company.
Do Colorado licenses all renew on the same day?
They all fall due on the same day. The Department of Law's page says collection agency licenses are valid from the date of issuance to the following July 1 and must be renewed by July 1 each year, and that a license whose renewal was submitted does not expire until the renewal has been decided. So around July 1 a license may be in the middle of renewal.
The company says it is licensed but I cannot find it. What now?
Ask for its Colorado license number and look for it on the register: each record shows one. Companies are listed under a business name, which often differs from the name they trade under. If the company says it does not need a Colorado license, ask which exemption it relies on. If neither answer checks out, treat the contact with caution and do not pay until it does.
Does a Colorado license mean an agency is good at collecting?
No. The license is a legal permission, not a quality mark. It tells you the Department of Law licensed the company, not that it follows the other state and federal rules on how a debt may be collected. Performance and conduct are separate questions, which is why this directory also shows complaint records and public enforcement records.