How to verify a Tennessee collection service license
By Kai Greenspan, Founding Editor
The oldest original licensure date among the collection service licenses recorded as Active on the Board's register, read on 28 October 2026. Ended licenses stay on the record beside them, which is why one company can have several records, and why the check below is about finding the license in force.
Source: search.cloud.commerce.tn.gov · Last checked: October 28, 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 Commerce and Insurance's license search | The official record is the public license search the Department of Commerce and Insurance runs for its regulatory boards: https://search.cloud.commerce.tn.gov/. Choose the Collection Service Board. It is free and needs no account, and it holds the Board's license records with ended licenses kept on the record. |
| 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 legal name too: companies are listed under their legal name, sometimes with a trading name after it. If you hold a letter carrying a Tennessee license number, search the number directly. A new owner of a collection service needs a new license, so one company can have several numbers over the years. |
| 3. Find the license in force among the records, and read its status and dates | Open each record for the company. The one that matters is recorded as Active with an expiration date that has not passed; that is the license in force. Check that the legal name matches the company that wrote to you, and read the original licensure date, which shows how long that license has been held. Every other status word means the register is not showing a license in force, and records worded Application Denied, Application Withdrawn or Application Expired were applications, never licenses. A license runs 24 months from its issue or renewal, and the Act allows a late renewal for 60 days after it expires, so a license only just past its date may be in the middle of renewal; ask the Board before treating a run-out date as an answer either way. |
| 4. If there is no license in force, do not assume the worst | Some businesses are outside the Act. Section 62-20-103 says it does not apply to nine kinds of business, among them attorneys at law, banks, credit unions and home loan servicers, and that nothing in it requires a business collecting only its own unpaid accounts to be licensed; a debt buyer that collects only through a licensed agency or a Tennessee attorney is exempt too. Ask the company which exemption it relies on. A collection agency collecting for others, with no license and no exemption it can name, has a question to answer. |
Source: advance.lexis.com · Last checked: October 28, 2026
Reading the status words
The register records each license’s status in the Board’s own words and keeps ended licenses on the record. Only Active, with an expiration date still in the future, is read here as a license in force. Expired, Voluntarily Surrendered and Closed are licenses that have ended; records worded Application Denied, Application Withdrawn or Application Expired were applications, never licenses. Section 62-20-112 says “All licenses or identification cards shall expire the last day of the twenty-fourth month from issuance or renewal.” and allows a late renewal for sixty days after that, so a license only just past its date may be in the middle of renewal: reading here is deliberately strict, and you can ask the Board before treating a run-out date as an answer either way. Where a word records a decision by the Board, the Board’s own order says what happened; the word alone does not, and this directory does not read it as if it did.
Tennessee Code Section 62-20-112, quoted October 28, 2026.
Who does not have to be licensed
This is the part worth understanding before you conclude anything from a blank search. Section 62-20-105 sets the rule: “No person shall commence, conduct or operate any collection service business in this state unless the person holds a valid collection service license issued by the board under this chapter or prior state law.” Section 62-20-103 then lists nine kinds of business it does not apply to, among them attorneys at law, banks, credit unions and home loan servicers, quoted on the Tennessee debt law page, and adds: “Nothing contained within this chapter shall be construed to require an individual or business entity that collects only the individual's or its own unpaid accounts to submit to licensure or regulation by the collection service board.”
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 for others that holds no license and cannot name an exemption is worth resolving before you engage.
Tennessee Code Sections 62-20-103 and 62-20-105, quoted October 28, 2026.
Common questions about license checks
Is Tennessee's collection service register free to search?
Yes. The Department of Commerce and Insurance runs a public license search for its regulatory boards, free and without an account, and the Collection Service Board's records are in it. It is the same official record this directory verifies Tennessee agencies against.
The company is not on the register. Does that mean it is operating illegally?
Not necessarily. Section 62-20-103 of the Tennessee Collection Service Act says the Act does not apply to nine kinds of business, among them attorneys at law, banks, credit unions and home loan servicers, and that nothing in it requires a business collecting only its own unpaid accounts to be licensed. A debt buyer that collects only through a licensed collection agency or a Tennessee attorney is exempt as well. A blank search is a question to put to the company, not a conclusion.
Why does one company have several records on the register?
Because the register keeps ended licenses on the record with their status words, and because a license cannot be transferred: Section 62-20-113 says that upon a change of ownership the new owner shall apply for and obtain a new collection service license before commencing or continuing business. So a company can have an older closed or surrendered license beside a newer one. The record that matters is the one recorded as Active with an expiration date still in the future.
What do the status words on the register mean?
This directory treats a Tennessee license as in force only when the register records it as Active and its expiration date has not passed. Expired, Voluntarily Surrendered and Closed are licenses that have ended. Records worded Application Denied, Application Withdrawn or Application Expired were applications, never licenses. Where a word records a decision by the Board, the Board’s own order is the source for what happened, not the word, and this directory does not read it as if it did.
Why do so many Tennessee licenses expire on the same date?
Each license runs 24 months from its own issue or renewal, so most dates differ, but one date stands out: of the 643 licenses recorded as Active on our copy of the register read on 26 October 2026, 67 expire on 31 December 2026. A shared expiration date says nothing about any one company; what matters is whether the license is renewed when that date comes, which the register shows afterward.
The company says it is licensed but I cannot find it. What now?
Ask for its Tennessee license number and search that directly. Companies are listed under their legal name, which often differs from the name they trade under. If the company says it does not need a Tennessee license, ask which exemption it relies on. If neither answer checks out, treat the claim as unverified until the company explains it.
Does a Tennessee license mean an agency is good at collecting?
No. The license is a legal permission, not a quality mark. It tells you the Board licensed the company, and that it posted the bond or certificate of deposit the Act requires to protect its clients, not that it follows the other state and federal rules on how a debt may be collected. Performance is a separate question, which is why our rankings weigh years continuously licensed and verified public-record measures rather than the license alone.