Collection agencies which conduct business in Washington state (i.e., by pursuing those who have real or alleged debts and who reside in the state) are regulated by the Washington State Department of Licensing.
According to Washington state law, one of the definitions of a collection agency is, in part, “Any person directly or indirectly engaged in soliciting claims for collection, or collecting or attempting to collect claims owed or due or asserted to be owed or due another person…”
While Washington has state laws which govern collection agencies, all collection agencies doing business in Washington must abide by both state and federal law. The latter is found under the Fair Debt Collections Practices Act (FDCPA).
Persons wishing to start a collection agency in the state must do the following:
Businesses which conduct collection agency activities in Washington State but have no offices in the state may apply for an “Out-of State Collection Agency endorsement”.
For out of state businesses to qualify, they must not have any clients (on behalf of whom they are collecting debt) in Washington state.
All offices must be outside the Washington State.
All debtors who are in Washington State must owe (or be alleged to owe) persons who are outside of Washington State.
In order to be licensed to conduct a collection agency in Washington State, a surety bond must be posted in the amount of $5,000.
This $5,000 surety bond amount is for both Washington-based collection agencies and collection agencies with the out of state endorsement.
The exception is that if a collection agency with an out of state endorsement has a surety bond in their own state, they are not required to purchase a Washington State collection agency bond; otherwise they are required to do so.
Washington State collection agency bonds renew on an annual basis on January 1st.
Both the Washington State collection agency bond and Washington out of state collection agency $5,000 surety bond are very easy to qualify for.
These surety bonds are “instant issue” bonds with AmeriPro Surety Bonds.
That means that there is no formal underwriting, and, perhaps, ironically, there is no credit check involved.
The annual premium of a Washington State collection agency bond is only $100.
Merely complete the application (or call us) and pay the premium due, and this surety bond is issued to you immediately for filing with the Washington Licensing Department.
AmeriPro Surety Bonds provides bonds in Washington state for court, license & permit, contractor, and fiduciary bonds. We also provide bonds in all 50 states.
Call us today and we will get your collection bond issued to you in moments!