How to verify a Connecticut collection agency license
By Kai Greenspan, Founding Editor
Connecticut licenses each office, not just each company: a main office license and a branch office license for every branch, each with its own number (Connecticut General Statutes Section 36a-801). So one company can appear on the Department of Banking's list several times.
Source: cga.ct.gov · Last checked: November 3, 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 Banking's list of licensed agencies | The official record is the Connecticut Department of Banking's page for consumer collection agencies: https://portal.ct.gov/dob/consumer-credit-licenses/consumer-credit-licenses/consumer-collection-agencies-licensed-in-connecticut. Download its list of licensees, dated by the day it was made. It is free and needs no account. The same page directs readers to NMLS Consumer Access, the national licensing system's public search, to verify a license. |
| 2. Search the list for the company name, and try shorter versions | Search the file for the company name as it appears on its letters or website, and try shorter versions and the legal name too: companies are listed under their legal name. If you hold a letter or a web page carrying a Connecticut license number, search the number directly. A licensee must show its unique identifier on its solicitations and advertisements, including business cards and websites (Section 36a-801). |
| 3. Read the license type and the address | Each office has its own license: a main office license and a branch office license for each branch, each with its own number. Check that the legal name and the address match the company that wrote to you. The list has no status column and no dates: a company on it holds a license in force on the list date. Every license ends on 31 December unless it is renewed, and renewal is filed between 1 November and 31 December, so early in the year the newest list is the one that shows who renewed. |
| 4. If it is not on the list, do not assume the worst | The list shows only current licensees, so a license issued after the list date is not on it yet, and some businesses are not consumer collection agencies at all. Section 36a-800 leaves out, among others, members of the Connecticut bar, banks, servicers that handle current accounts as well as delinquent ones, and anyone acting under a court order, and an original creditor collecting its own accounts under its own name is not an agency either. Ask the company what it is. A collection agency collecting for others, or a debt buyer, that is not on the list and cannot explain why has a question to answer. |
Source: portal.ct.gov · Last checked: November 3, 2026
What the list does and does not show
The Department’s page says its listings include “entity name, license number, license type and address”. That is all: no status, no issue date, no expiration date. A company on the list held a license on the list’s date; a license that ends simply leaves the next list, and the list does not say why. Every license ends on 31 December unless renewed: Section 36a-801 says “An application for renewal of a license shall be filed between November first and December thirty-first of the year in which the license expires.” A list made early in a new year is therefore the one to read for who renewed.
Connecticut Department of Banking, Consumer Collection Agencies Licensed in Connecticut, read November 3, 2026; Connecticut General Statutes Section 36a-801 (2026 Supplement), quoted November 3, 2026.
Who is not a collection agency
This is the part worth understanding before you conclude anything from a blank search. Section 36a-801 sets the rule: “No person shall act within this state as a consumer collection agency, directly or indirectly, unless such person has first obtained a required consumer collection agency license for such person's main office and for each branch office where such person's business is conducted.” Section 36a-800 then says a consumer collection agency “does not include” seven kinds of business, among them “any member of the bar of this state” and “a bank or out-of-state bank, as defined in section 36a-2”, all quoted on the Connecticut debt law page. An original creditor collecting its own accounts under its own name is not one either. Debt buyers, by contrast, are included: the definition covers anyone “engaged in the business of debt buying”.
So a blank search is a question, not an answer. The useful next move is to ask the company what kind of business it is. A lawyer or a bank can say so in one sentence. A collection agency collecting for others, or a debt buyer, that is not on the list and cannot explain why is worth resolving before you engage.
Connecticut General Statutes Sections 36a-800 and 36a-801 (2026 Supplement), quoted November 3, 2026.
Common questions about license checks
Is Connecticut's list of collection agencies free to check?
Yes. The Department of Banking publishes its list of licensed consumer collection agencies as a free download, with no account needed, and directs readers to NMLS Consumer Access to verify a license. The list is the same official record this directory verifies Connecticut agencies against.
The company is not on the list. Does that mean it is operating illegally?
Not necessarily. The list shows current licensees only, so a license issued after the list date will not be on it yet. And Section 36a-800 of the Connecticut General Statutes says a consumer collection agency does not include, among others, any member of the Connecticut bar, a bank or out-of-state bank, a servicer that handles current accounts as well as delinquent ones, and anyone acting under a court order. A blank search is a question to put to the company, not a conclusion.
Why does one company appear more than once on the list?
Because Connecticut licenses offices, not just companies. Section 36a-801 requires a license "for such person's main office and for each branch office where such person's business is conducted." A company with branches has one main office license and a branch license for each branch, each with its own number.
Does the list show how long a company has been licensed?
No. The list gives each license's name, number, type and address, but no license dates, and the Department publishes only its current list. That is why this directory ranks Connecticut agencies by a different date, from the Connecticut Business Registry, and says so plainly on its Connecticut page.
The company says it is licensed but I cannot find it. What now?
Ask for its Connecticut license number, or the unique identifier the Nationwide Multistate Licensing System assigned it, and search that. Companies are listed under their legal name, which often differs from the name they trade under, and a license newer than the list date will not be on it yet. If neither answer checks out, treat the claim as unverified until the company explains it.
Does a Connecticut license mean an agency is good at collecting?
No. The license is a legal permission, not a quality mark. It tells you the Banking Commissioner licensed the company, and that an agency collecting for others has filed the $50,000 bond the statute requires for each office, not that it follows every other state and federal rule on how a debt may be collected. Performance is a separate question. Our Connecticut list groups agencies only by their Connecticut Business Registry date, alphabetical within each group, and lists companies without a single matching active registry entry separately, unranked; nothing else changes where an agency appears.