Collecting debt in Colorado: licensing, bonds and statutes of limitations.
Any person acting as a collection agency must hold a license from the Administrator of the Uniform Consumer Credit Code (Colorado Department of Law / Attorney General), with a $500 investigation fee, $1,500 initial license fee, $1,500 annual renewal, a $12,000 to $20,000 surety bond (waived for debt buyers that do no third-party collection), a Colorado local office, a trust account and a qualified collections manager; all licenses expire July 1.
General information, not legal advice. Every figure on this page links to the statute, rule or regulator page it came from, with the operative words quoted, and the date we verified it. Rules change; confirm with the regulator or your counsel before acting, and tell us if something here is out of date.
Do you need a license to collect in Colorado?
Fees are set administratively by the Administrator and can change without a statutory amendment; the amounts shown are from the regulator's page as of September 2026. Debt buyers that do not collect for others are licensed but exempt from the bond and trust-account requirements.
Tiered: $12,000 base plus $2,000 for each $10,000 (or part) by which average monthly sums remitted or owed to all clients in the previous year exceed $15,000, capped at $20,000. Alternative: savings account, deposit or certificate of deposit of the same sum meeting C.R.S. 11-35-101 (4 CCR 903-1 Rule 3.04(2)). Bond runs to the Attorney General; surety cancellation gives 30 days to replace or the license expires. Administrator may authorize a $2,000,000 blanket bond with a per-licensee share fee (5-16-124(10)); no blanket bond program is described on the regulator page. Not required of a debt buyer that does no third-party collection (5-16-124(12)) or of a person collecting its own debt (5-16-124(11)). Bond form: CAR Surety Bond (2/26) PDF on the regulator page. The amount field holds the $12,000 floor.
Applications and renewals go through the Department of Law's own Licensing portal (licensing.coag.gov). Nothing on the regulator page, checklist, statute or rules references NMLS.
Two fees, both due with the application: 'Investigation Fee: $500' (nonrefundable, C.R.S. 5-16-119(3), 4 CCR 903-1 Rule 1.02) plus 'Initial License Application Fee: $1,500' (C.R.S. 5-16-119(4)). Amounts are set by the Administrator, not in statute; taken from the regulator page (read 2026-09-20) and the March 2026 Application Information and Checklist. No effective date shown. Older packets (2022: $1,100 license fee) are superseded. Online payment carries a processing fee (amount not stated).
No branch license or fee. C.R.S. 5-16-119(6)(a): 'A collection agency must obtain a license for its principal place of business, but its branch offices, if any, need not obtain separate licenses. A collection agency with branch offices must notify the administrator in writing of the location of each branch office within thirty days after the branch office commences business.' Online payment carries a processing fee (checklist).
collections manager responsible for debt collectors; Collections Manager Form (C.R.S. 5-16-119(1)(b); 4 CCR 903-1 Rule 1.01); no examination required; experience: owner, collections manager or executive officer with at least two years in a responsible position at an established collection agency, or comparable experience accepted by the administrator (C.R.S. 5-16-119(1)(a)); trust account for client funds, not an operating account; out-of-state trust accounts need an affidavit (C.R.S. 5-16-123(1)(a) and (c); Rule 3.01); debt buyers excepted (checklist); Colorado local office open to the public during normal business hours, staffed by at least one full-time employee with access to payment and client records who accepts payments; may be contracted to a third party (C.R.S. 5-16-123(1)(b)(I)(A); Rule 1.09); toll-free telephone number (C.R.S. 5-16-123(1)(b)(II)); verified financial statement for the previous year on the administrator's form (C.R.S. 5-16-119(2)(b)); personal affidavit for each owner, partner, member, officer and the collections manager; disclosure of felony convictions and license discipline (C.R.S. 5-16-119(2)(d), 5-16-120); license verification forms from every other state where licensed, and list of all licenses/registrations held (checklist); sample validation/first notice letter with Colorado consumer-rights and medical-debt disclosures (C.R.S. 5-16-105(3); Rule 2.01); collector and solicitor list; civil actions list (checklist); foreign entity must be authorized to do business in Colorado (C.R.S. 5-16-119(1)(d)); Secretary of State documents; debt purchase agreement if applicant is a debt purchaser only (checklist); branch office list and 30-day written notice of new branches (C.R.S. 5-16-119(6)(a)); notification within 30 days of changes in name, address, bond, collections manager, 10-49% ownership; new application within 30 days for 50%+ ownership change or change of entity type (C.R.S. 5-16-122); remote work by employees permitted subject to data-safeguard conditions (C.R.S. 5-16-119(6)(b), added by SB23-248); applications not completed within 63 days of a deficiency notice become void (Rule 1.02(2))
Exemptions. C.R.S. 5-16-103(3)(b) excludes: creditor officers/employees collecting in the creditor's name; affiliates collecting only for related companies where collection is not the principal business; federal/state officers; process servers; debt-management services providers under the Uniform Debt-Management Services Act; fiduciary/escrow incidental activity; the person who extended the debt; debt not in default when obtained; secured party in a commercial credit transaction; mortgage loan servicers/correspondents servicing debt not in default; limited gaming/racing licensees. 5-16-103(3)(e) exempts from licensing (but not substantive rules) attorneys regularly collecting in Colorado and reciprocal out-of-state agencies collecting only non-Colorado debts by interstate communication. 5-16-103(8)(b): 'debt' excludes business, investment, commercial or agricultural purpose debt, so commercial-only agencies need no license (regulator page confirms). Bond not required of debt buyers without third-party collection (5-16-124(12)).
How long can a debt be sued on in Colorado?
Most consumer debt in Colorado, including credit cards, loans and medical bills for a fixed or computable amount, has a six-year limitations period as a 'liquidated debt'; the three-year contract period applies only to claims whose amount a court must determine. A partial payment restarts the clock on a debt that is not yet time-barred, but a payment on an already-barred debt revives it only if the debtor clearly and unequivocally intends to revive it.
“All actions to recover a liquidated debt or an unliquidated, determinable amount of money due to the person bringing the action, all actions for the enforcement of rights set forth in any instrument securing the payment of or evidencing any debt ... shall be commenced within six years after the cause of action accrues and not thereafter”
Colorado has a two-tier rule with no written/oral distinction. A contract claim is three years under 13-80-101(1)(a) unless it is for a liquidated debt or an unliquidated, determinable amount, in which case 13-80-103.5(1)(a) gives six years. Portercare para. 13: 'In general, contract actions are subject to a three-year statute of limitations. 13-80-101(1)(a). If a contract is for a liquidated debt or for an unliquidated, determinable amount, however, it falls under the six-year statute of limitations provided by section 13-80-103.5(1)(a).' Para. 15: 'A debt is liquidated if the amount due is capable of ascertainment by reference to an agreement or by simple computation.' A written contract to pay a fixed or computable sum (the consumer-debt case) is therefore six years; only unliquidated contract claims (e.g. quantum meruit, Rotenberg v. Richards, 899 P.2d 365 (Colo. App. 1995)) get three years.
“The following civil actions ... shall be commenced within three years after the cause of action accrues, and not thereafter: (a) All contract actions, including personal contracts and actions under the 'Uniform Commercial Code', except as otherwise provided in section 13-80-103.5;”
Three years is the general contract period. An oral agreement to pay a liquidated sum is still a 'liquidated debt' under 13-80-103.5(1)(a) and gets six years; the statute turns on whether the amount is ascertainable, not on whether the contract is written.
“an action to enforce the obligation of a party to pay a note payable at a definite time must be commenced within six years after the due date or dates stated in the note or, if a due date is accelerated, within six years after the accelerated due date.”
“A debt is liquidated if the amount due is capable of ascertainment by reference to an agreement or by simple computation.”
Colorado has no statutory credit-card or open-account category. A credit-card balance is ascertainable from the cardholder agreement and statements by simple computation, so it is a 'liquidated debt' under 13-80-103.5(1)(a) (six years) rather than a general contract action under 13-80-101(1)(a) (three years). Portercare itself concerned a hospital bill. The only decision located that squarely applies the six-year period to a credit card is federal: Will v. PRA (D. Colo. 2019), p. 7: 'Pursuant to Colorado law, a six-year statute of limitations applies to all actions to recover a debt. Colo. Rev. Stat. 13-80-103.5.' Neither pass found a published Colorado appellate decision classifying credit-card debt specifically; the six-year figure rests on the statute text and the Supreme Court's liquidated-debt rule. Pass A raised 13-80-101(1)(g) (claims under the Uniform Consumer Credit Code, three years) as a possible competing reading; no authority applying (1)(g) to a creditor's collection claim was found by either pass, and Portercare's framework (liquidated = 103.5) controls contract-based collection claims. Accrual for open accounts: 13-80-108(5) (last item proved) or 13-80-108(4) (date due); no Colorado case choosing between them for credit cards was found.
“execution may issue on any judgment ... at any time within twenty years from the entry thereof, but not afterwards, unless revived as provided by law, and, after twenty years from the entry of final judgment in any court of this state, the judgment shall be considered as satisfied in full, unless so revived.”
Statutory: a cause of action for debt or money owed accrues 'on the date such debt, obligation, money owed, or performance becomes due' (13-80-108(4)); an open account for goods or services accrues 'at the time of the last item of goods or services proved in such account' (13-80-108(5)); breach of contract accrues when the breach 'is discovered or should have been discovered by the exercise of reasonable diligence' (13-80-108(6)). Installment obligations accrue installment by installment (annotations to 13-80-103.5). Notes payable at a definite time: six years from the stated or accelerated due date (4-3-118(a)). The statute is silent on last payment and charge-off as triggers; 13-80-108 has not been amended since 1986.
“In the case of a single debt not yet barred by the statute of limitations, partial payment alone tolls the statute of limitations.”
Before the period expires, a partial payment on a single debt restarts the clock on its own; Drake treats the payment as an acknowledgment from which a new promise is implied (citing McBride v. Noble, 40 Colo. 372). Payment made after the period has expired is a different rule (see time_barred_debt.revival_by_payment). 13-80-113: 'this section shall not alter the effect of a payment of principal or interest.'
“No acknowledgment or promise shall be evidence of a new or continuing contract sufficient to take a case out of the operation of the statute of limitations, unless it is in writing signed by the party to be charged; but this section shall not alter the effect of a payment of principal or interest.”
13-80-110: 'If a cause of action arises in another state or territory or in a foreign country and, by the laws thereof, an action thereon cannot be maintained in that state, territory, or foreign country by reason of lapse of time, the cause of action shall not be maintained in this state.' 13-80-101(1)(k): 'All actions accruing outside this state if the limitation of actions of the place where the cause of action accrued is greater than that of this state' are subject to Colorado's three-year period. Together: a shorter foreign period is borrowed; a longer foreign period is capped at three years. Both passes said 'yes'; they cited different sections, and both sections were confirmed from the statute text.
The debt exists but cannot be sued on; a suit can be defended by raising the defense.
“A debt collector or collection agency shall not use any false, deceptive, or misleading representation or means in connection with the collection of any debt, including ... (b) The false representation of: (I) The character, amount, or legal status of any debt”
Both passes read the Colorado FDCPA (C.R.S. 5-16-101 et seq.) and the AG's 4 CCR 903-1 rules and found no affirmative time-barred disclosure requirement and no anti-revival provision. Only the general prohibition on misrepresenting the legal status of a debt (5-16-107(1)(b)(I)) and federal Regulation F (12 C.F.R. 1006.26(b)) apply. Federal courts in Colorado have held a 'we will not sue you' letter without a revival warning is not misleading because a bare payment does not revive a barred debt in Colorado (Will v. PRA, D. Colo. 2019; Goodman v. Asset Acceptance, 428 F. Supp. 3d 526 (D. Colo. 2019)). Colorado treats the statute as a bar to the remedy, not the right (Brereton v. Benedict, 41 Colo. 16 (1907), annotation to 13-80-103.5).
Payment after the period has expired revives the debt only if 'the debtor's intent to revive the debt must be clear and unequivocal so as to indicate the debtor's willingness and obligation to pay the debt in question' (Drake at 522, citing Van Diest). An undesignated payment on several barred debts does not revive any of them (McBride v. Noble, as described in Drake). Thomas v. Carey (annotation to 13-80-113): 'To remove the bar of the statute of limitations so that a debt otherwise barred may be recovered upon a new promise, there must be an express promise to pay it.' Will v. PRA (D. Colo. 2019), p. 10: a debtor's 'payment without evidence of a clear and unequivocal intention to revive the debt has no effect upon a fully satisfied statute of limitation.' No Colorado statute addresses revival of barred consumer debt.
Where this page comes from.
Researched in two independent passes from primary sources (the statute, the administrative code and the regulator's own pages), then reconciled against the text where the passes disagreed. Verified 2026-09-20. Licensing is re-verified quarterly and limitation periods annually.
- coag.gov/licensing/collection-agency-regulation/
- coag.gov/app/uploads/2026/03/CAR-Initial-Application-Information-Checklist-3.26.pdf
- coag.gov/app/uploads/2024/05/Collection-Agency-Renewal-Information-Checklist-1.pdf
- coag.gov/app/uploads/2026/02/CAR-Surety-Bond-2.26.pdf
- www.coloradosos.gov/CCR/GenerateRulePdf.do?ruleVersionId=9565&fileName=4+CCR+903-1
- law.justia.com/codes/colorado/title-5/debt-management/article-16/
- law.justia.com/codes/colorado/title-5/debt-management/article-16/section-5-16-102/
- law.justia.com/codes/colorado/title-5/debt-management/article-16/section-5-16-103/
- law.justia.com/codes/colorado/title-5/debt-management/article-16/section-5-16-115/
- law.justia.com/codes/colorado/title-5/debt-management/article-16/section-5-16-118/
- law.justia.com/codes/colorado/title-5/debt-management/article-16/section-5-16-119/
- law.justia.com/codes/colorado/title-5/debt-management/article-16/section-5-16-121/
- law.justia.com/codes/colorado/title-5/debt-management/article-16/section-5-16-124/
- colorado.public.law/statutes/crs_5-16-102
- colorado.public.law/statutes/crs_5-16-103
- colorado.public.law/statutes/crs_5-16-118
- colorado.public.law/statutes/crs_5-16-119
- colorado.public.law/statutes/crs_5-16-121
- colorado.public.law/statutes/crs_5-16-124
- colorado.public.law/statutes/crs_5-16-135
- leg.colorado.gov/bills/hb24-1380
- leg.colorado.gov/bills/sb23-248
- law.justia.com/codes/colorado/title-13/limitation-of-actions/article-80/section-13-80-101/
- law.justia.com/codes/colorado/title-13/limitation-of-actions/article-80/section-13-80-103-5/
- law.justia.com/codes/colorado/title-13/limitation-of-actions/article-80/section-13-80-108/
- law.justia.com/codes/colorado/title-13/limitation-of-actions/article-80/section-13-80-110/
- law.justia.com/codes/colorado/title-13/limitation-of-actions/article-80/section-13-80-113/
- law.justia.com/codes/colorado/title-13/judgments-and-executions/article-52/section-13-52-102/
- colorado.public.law/statutes/crs_13-52-102
- law.justia.com/codes/colorado/title-4/article-3/part-1/section-4-3-118/
- law.justia.com/codes/colorado/title-5/debt-management/article-16/section-5-16-107/
- law.justia.com/codes/colorado/title-5/debt-management/article-16/section-5-16-108/
- law.justia.com/codes/colorado/title-5/debt-management/article-16/section-5-16-109/
- law.justia.com/codes/colorado/title-5/debt-management/article-16/section-5-16-111/
- law.justia.com/codes/colorado/title-5/debt-management/article-16/section-5-16-134-5/
- colorado.public.law/statutes/crs_5-16-111
- colorado.public.law/statutes/crs_5-16-109.5
- leg.colorado.gov/bills/sb17-216
- leg.colorado.gov/bill_files/71870/download
- www.coloradojudicial.gov/sites/default/files/2024-09/JDF112.pdf
- law.justia.com/cases/colorado/supreme-court/2012/10sc765.html
- law.justia.com/cases/colorado/court-of-appeals/2010/09ca0900.html
- case-law.vlex.com/vid/drake-v-tyner-890321940
- www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/USCOURTS-cod-1_18-cv-02790/pdf/USCOURTS-cod-1_18-cv-02790-0.pdf
- case-law.vlex.com/vid/goodman-v-asset-acceptance-llc-886001268
- docketmath.com/blog/statute-of-limitations-credit-card-open-account-debt-colorado
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