Debt collection agencies in New York

There is no statewide debt collector license in New York. New York City requires one: a Debt Collection Agency License issued by the Department of Consumer and Worker Protection, which the city says you must have to collect personal or household debts from New York City residents. Because the requirement follows the consumer rather than the collector, agencies based anywhere in the country need the city license to collect from New York City residents. Some other localities, including Buffalo and Yonkers, have their own licensing rules.

Search the agency name in New York City's public license records, published as the DCWP Issued Licenses dataset on the city's open data portal. An active Debt Collection Agency license means the agency meets the city requirement. Every licensed agency we list links to that same public record.

Collecting personal or household debts from New York City residents without a Debt Collection Agency license violates the New York City Administrative Code and exposes the agency to enforcement by the Department of Consumer and Worker Protection, including fines. Creditors should treat an unlicensed collector as a serious red flag and verify the license before engaging any agency.

The license is a New York City requirement, and it is the register this site verifies against because New York has no statewide equivalent. An agency collecting only outside the five boroughs may not need it, though some other localities have their own rules. This site states exactly which register each verified fact comes from, so a New York City license is never presented as more than it is.

For a lawsuit, generally three years. New York Civil Practice Law and Rules Section 214-i requires an action arising out of a consumer credit transaction to be commenced within three years, and says expressly that once the period expires, later payment or acknowledgement does not revive it. This is general legal information, not advice: when a limitations period starts or pauses depends on the facts of the account.