Collection Agency Licensing

Prohibits a person from conducting business in the state as a collecution agency or debt buyer without first obtaining a license. Minn. Stat. § 332.33

Except as otherwise provided, no person shall conduct the business of collecting claims for others without having obtained a collection agency license. See, Minn. Stat. §332.14. A collection agency is defined as any person engaged in the business of collection for others any account, bill or indebtedness except as hereinafter provided. Minn. Stat. §332.31. Under Minn. Stat. §332.32, the term "collection agency" does not include persons whose collection activities are confined to and directly related to the operation of a business other than that of a collection agency such as, but but not limited to banks when collecting accounts owed to the banks and when the bank will sustain any loss arising from uncollectible accounts, abstract companies doing an escrow business, real estate brokers, public officers, persons acting under order of a court, lawyers, trust companies, insurance companies, credit unions, savings associations, loan or finance companies unless they are engaged in asserting, enforcing or prosecuting unsecured claims which have been purchased from any person, firm, or association when there is recourse to the seller for all or part of the claim if the claim is not collected. NOTE: The plain language of Minn. Stat. §332.32 has been interpreted in