Collecting debt in Nevada: licensing, bonds and statutes of limitations.
Anyone engaging in the business of a collection agency in Nevada, including out-of-state agencies collecting from Nevada debtors or for Nevada clients and debt buyers, must be licensed by the Financial Institutions Division through NMLS, post a $35,000 surety bond (scaled up to $60,000 by trust-account balance), employ a certified compliance manager, keep a Nevada trust account, and renew between November 1 and December 31 each year.
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 Rules change; confirm with the regulator or your counsel before acting, and tell us if something here is out of date.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 Nevada?
Nevada requires a full Financial Institutions Division collection agency license through NMLS for anyone collecting from Nevada residents or for Nevada creditors, including out-of-state agencies and debt buyers, with a $375 application plus a $300 prorated license fee, a $375 renewal due December 31, a $35,000 bond, a Nevada trust account and a certified compliance manager. The old foreign collection agency registration and branch permits were abolished in 2023-2024, so any older fee schedule showing them is out of date.
Initial bond $35,000 (or substitute deposit under NRS 649.119) filed concurrently with the application, running to the State of Nevada. Commissioner annually re-sets the amount by average monthly trust-account balance (NRS 649.105(3)): less than $100,000 = $35,000; $100,000 to under $150,000 = $40,000; $150,000 to under $200,000 = $50,000; $200,000 or more = $60,000. Conditioned on paying customers collection proceeds on demand and complying with all statutory duties. Actions on the bond barred 2 years after license expiration or revocation (NRS 649.115). FID page and NMLS summary: 'A surety bond in the amount of $35,000'.
NRS 649.271 (added 2021) and 649.281 authorize NMLS participation; licensees must maintain an NMLS unique identifier. FID page: 'All initial license and renewal applications and applicable fees for collection agencies are submitted to the Division through the Nationwide Multistate Licensing System and Registry (NMLS) using the company form (MU-1 Form) for the principal office and the Branch form (MU3-Form) for each additional location that plans to conduct Nevada activity.' Compliance managers file the MU-4. Applicants pay NMLS processing charges in addition to state fees (NRS 649.271(2)).
NAC 649.120(1) (as amended by R097-23, eff. 6-20-2024): 'An application for licensure as a collection agency must be accompanied by a nonrefundable application fee of $375.' NAC 649.120(2): 'The applicant must pay an additional application fee of $300, prorated on the basis of the licensing year, as provided by the Commissioner, for each original license issued.' Total for a new license $675 before proration, plus NMLS processing charges (NRS 649.271(2)) and any investigation expenses (NRS 649.295(1)). Statutory caps, NRS 649.295: application 'not more than $500'; original license 'not less than $200 or more than $600'. R097-23 markup shows the $375 and $300 amounts were kept (a proposed increase to $500/$600 was withdrawn) and the former partial-refund clause was deleted. Examination fee $75 per hour (NAC 649.060, A by R097-23) and annual assessment $300 (NAC 649.070).
annual, renews December 31 (renewal window November 1 to December 31)
No branch license or state branch fee since S.B. 276 (2023): NRS 649.075(3) 'A person is not required to obtain a license for a branch office or remote location'; NRS 649.167 license 'is valid for the principal place of business and any branch office', with written notice to the Commissioner of any new branch. R097-23 (eff. 6-20-2024) struck the former branch permit fees ($190 application / $150 renewal) from NAC 649.120(3) and repealed NAC 649.130, 649.140 (branch permits) and 649.160 (foreign registration fees); none of these appear in the current NAC 649. FID still asks for an NMLS MU3 branch form 'for each additional location that plans to conduct Nevada activity' (no state fee found). Transfer of location license $15 (NAC 649.120(3)(b), codified text). Compliance manager's certificate (NAC 649.151, A by R097-23): $300 application + $150 investigation + $35 issuance; $35 annual renewal; $50 reinstatement; $100 reexamination. Annual CPA assessment $300 (NAC 649.070) due in the 2nd quarter; Attorney General assessment due September 30 (FID page; NRS 649.300 / 658.055). The FID 'New_Fees.pdf' schedule is stale (still lists foreign registration $500/$200, branch $190/$150, manager $190+$115, exam $60/hour); NAC governs.
compliance manager: every agency must have a certified compliance manager (NRS 649.175, 649.305); one agency per compliance manager except affiliates (NRS 649.305(2)); compliance manager exam: given at least twice yearly, waivable if both manager and agency hold a qualifying national nonprofit certification (NRS 649.205; NAC 649.161); qualifications include age 21, 2 years' collection/financial-institution/compliance experience with 1 year in the prior 18 months, and demonstrated compliance competency (NRS 649.196); trust account: separate customer trust account in a bank or credit union located in Nevada; remit to creditors within 30 days following the end of the month in which payment is received (NRS 649.355); not required of a debt buyer that collects only its own claims (649.355(5)); physical office: physical principal place of business, located in the United States if agents work remotely (NRS 649.085(5); NAC 649.250); financial statements: assets, liabilities and net worth attached to application (NRS 649.095(4)); background checks / fingerprints: Commissioner may collect fingerprints through NMLS/FBI (NRS 649.271(1)(f), 649.273); child support form and personal financial questionnaire (FID forms); annual report to Commissioner and NMLS by April 15, signed by the compliance manager (NRS 649.345); annual CPA assessment $300 (NAC 649.070) and examination fee $75 per hour (NAC 649.060); Attorney General assessment due September 30 (FID page); remote-work rules for collection agents: written agreement, training, supervised period, call recording and real-time monitoring, no physical records or printing at remote location (NRS 649.310 to 649.313); website must display agency NMLS unique identifier and compliance manager identifiers (NRS 649.320; NAC 649.286); information security program under 16 C.F.R. Part 314 with breach notification to the Commissioner (NRS 649.340, added 2025); business name approval (NRS 649.365); notice to Commissioner and investigation on change of compliance manager or 25%+ ownership (NRS 649.330); prior written approval to change business location (NRS 649.325); medical debt: 60-day advance mailed notice before collecting medical debt and related protections (NRS 649.366 to 649.369); application deemed withdrawn if incomplete after 6 months (NRS 649.095(5))
Exemptions. NRS 649.020(2) excludes, unless conducting collection activities in another capacity: (a) natural persons regularly employed by an exempt entity collecting its own claims; (b) banks, savings banks, credit unions, thrift companies or trust companies; (c) nonprofit cooperative associations; (d) unit-owners' associations and their officers/employees acting under NRS ch. 116/116B (except community managers who perform lien-foreclosure acts, who are collection agencies under 649.020(3)(a) and NAC 649.111); (e) abstract companies doing an escrow business; (f) licensed real estate brokers (same community-manager carve-out); (g) Nevada-licensed attorneys retained by clients in the usual course of practice; (h) mortgage servicers licensed under NRS ch. 645F, except when collecting a claim assigned while in default; (i) any person collecting in own name on a claim he or she originated; (j) any person servicing a claim he or she originated and sold; (k) persons described in 15 U.S.C. 1692a(6)(A)-(F). NRS 649.033 calls (b)-(k) 'exempt entities'. Debt buyers are expressly included (649.020(3)(b)). NAC 649.250(1) also requires any license or permit required by a local governmental entity (general city/county business licenses; no collector-specific local license found).
How long can a debt be sued on in Nevada?
Nevada credit-card debt is four years from the last payment or charge, six if the creditor holds a signed written agreement; hospital bills have their own four-year clock. Since October 1, 2023 a payment or acknowledgment made after the period has run does not revive the debt, and a licensed agency may not sue on a debt it knows or should know is time-barred.
“Within 6 years: ... (b) An action upon a contract, obligation or liability founded upon an instrument in writing, except those mentioned in the preceding sections of this chapter.”
“Within 4 years: ... (c) An action upon a contract, obligation or liability not founded upon an instrument in writing.”
“an action to enforce the obligation of a party to pay a note payable at a definite time must be commenced within 6 years after the due date or dates stated in the note or, if a due date is accelerated, within 6 years after the accelerated due date.”
Demand notes: 6 years after demand; if no demand, barred after 10 continuous years without payment of principal or interest (104.3118(2)).
“Within 4 years: (a) An action on an open account for goods, wares and merchandise sold and delivered. (b) An action for any article charged on an account in a store. (c) An action upon a contract, obligation or liability not founded upon an instrument in writing.”
No published Nevada Supreme Court or Court of Appeals opinion classifying consumer credit-card accounts was located by either pass (CourtListener searches of Nevada courts for 'credit card' with 11.190 or 'open account' return nothing on point). Both plausible categories for an unsigned card account, open account (2)(a) and unwritten contract (2)(c), carry 4 years, so the number is stable; a creditor holding a signed written cardholder agreement can argue the 6-year written-instrument period under 11.190(1)(b). Practitioner summaries report Nevada justice courts apply 4 years absent the written agreement. Statute-only; the category question itself is untested.
“a judgment creditor or a judgment creditor's successor in interest may renew a judgment which has not been paid by: (a) Filing an affidavit with the clerk of the court where the judgment is entered and docketed, within 90 days before the date the judgment expires by limitation.”
11.190(1)(a): 6 years for an action upon a judgment 'or the renewal thereof'. Mechanism (17.214, re-read by the reconciler): Affidavit of Renewal of Judgment filed within 90 days before expiry; if the judgment is recorded, the affidavit is recorded within 3 days; copy sent to the debtor by certified mail within 3 days; 17.214(2): 'The filing of the affidavit renews the judgment to the extent of the amount shown due in the affidavit'; 17.214(4): 'Successive affidavits for renewal may be filed within 90 days before the preceding renewal of the judgment expires', so renewable indefinitely.
“an action against a person to recover payment for any amount owed to a hospital for hospital care provided to the person at the hospital must be commenced not later than 4 years after the date on which any payment that is due for the services is not paid.”
Hospital-care debt only (11.2095, added 2007): 4 years from the first missed payment, tolled 'during any periods in which the hospital is awaiting a determination concerning eligibility for, or the amount of, benefits from an insurer or public program and during any periods in which payments are being made' (11.2095(2)); 'hospital care' per NRS 428.155. Other medical debt uses the general 11.190 periods. Related collection-agency rules: NRS 649.367(3) provides that a voluntary payment on a medical debt made to a collection agency during the 60-day notification period 'Does not extend the applicable statute of limitations', is not an admission of liability and is not a waiver of any defense; NRS 649.332(2) (amended 2023) requires a written notice within 5 days of the initial communication on a hospital claim stating that a payment 'does not constitute a waiver by the debtor of any applicable statute of limitations'.
NRS 11.010: actions must be commenced within the prescribed periods 'after the cause of action shall have accrued'. NRS 11.200(1): 'The time in NRS 11.190 shall be deemed to date from the last transaction or the last item charged or last credit given; and whenever any payment on principal or interest has been or shall be made upon an existing contract ... if such payment be made after the same shall have become due, the limitation shall commence from the time the last payment was made.' Mutual open accounts accrue from the last item proved on either side (11.210). For account and installment debt the clock runs from the last transaction, charge or credit, or the last post-due payment, whichever is later.
“the limitation shall commence from the time the last payment was made. 2. Notwithstanding any other provision of law, any payment on a debt, affirmation of a debt or other activity taken relating to a debt by a debtor after the time in NRS 11.190 has expired does not revive the applicable limitation.”
A payment made while the period is still running restarts it from the payment date (11.200(1)). A payment made after the period has expired does NOT revive it (11.200(2), effective October 1, 2023). Enrolled SB 276 sec. 50(2): 'The amendatory provisions of this act do not apply to an action or arbitration commenced or a judgment entered before October 1, 2023.'
“No acknowledgment or promise shall be sufficient evidence of a new or continuing contract whereby to take the case out of the operation of this chapter, unless the same be contained in some writing signed by the party to be charged thereby, except as provided in NRS 11.200.”
Two conditions: the acknowledgment or promise must be in a writing signed by the debtor (11.390), and it must be made before the period expires, because 11.200(2) says an 'affirmation of a debt or other activity taken relating to a debt by a debtor after the time in NRS 11.190 has expired does not revive the applicable limitation', which on its face covers a written acknowledgment. No post-2023 case construing the interplay found.
'When a cause of action has arisen in another state, or in a foreign country, and by the laws thereof an action thereon cannot there be maintained against a person by reason of the lapse of time, an action thereon shall not be maintained against the person in this State, except in favor of a citizen thereof who has held the cause of action from the time it accrued.' One-way borrowing with a Nevada-citizen-plaintiff exception.
The debt exists but cannot be sued on; a suit can be defended by raising the defense.
“If the debtor pays or agrees to pay the claim or any portion of the claim, the payment or agreement to pay: (1) May be construed as an acknowledgment of the claim by the debtor; and (2) As provided in NRS 11.200, does not constitute a waiver by the debtor of any applicable statute of limitations set forth in NRS 11.190 that otherwise precludes the collection of the claim”
No general Nevada statute requires a collector to state that a debt is time-barred. Two narrower rules, both re-read by the reconciler on the NRS site: (1) for claims collected on behalf of a hospital, 649.332(2) requires a written notice within 5 days after the initial communication (unless included in it) carrying the quoted statement plus advice to seek legal advice (added 2007, amended 2023); this is a payment-effect disclosure, not a time-barred-status disclosure. (2) 649.375(1)(j), added by SB 276 (2023): a collection agency shall not 'File a civil action to collect a debt when the collection agency, compliance manager, agent or employee knows or should know that the applicable limitation period for filing such an action has expired.' Federal Reg. F 12 CFR 1006.26 governs general disclosure.
Statute text (re-read by the reconciler): 'Notwithstanding any other provision of law, any payment on a debt, affirmation of a debt or other activity taken relating to a debt by a debtor after the time in NRS 11.190 has expired does not revive the applicable limitation.' History line: '(NRS A 2023, 3606)'. Enrolled SB 276 sec. 53(2)(b): effective October 1, 2023 for all other purposes; sec. 50(2): does not apply to actions or arbitrations commenced or judgments entered before October 1, 2023. Before this amendment 11.200(1) alone arguably allowed a post-expiry payment to restart the clock; that is now foreclosed. The debt remains a debt (unenforceable, not extinguished): 649.332(2) still lets a payment be 'construed as an acknowledgment of the claim'.
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.
- www.fid.nv.gov/licensing/collection-agency-collection-manager/
- fid.nv.gov/uploadedfiles/fidnvgov/content/Resources/New_Fees.pdf
- fid.nv.gov/uploadedFiles/fidnvgov/content/Licensing/Collection_Agency,_Collection_Manager/SB276.pdf
- fid.nv.gov/uploadedFiles/fidnvgov/content/Opinion/R097-23 SB276.pdf
- www.leg.state.nv.us/NRS/NRS-649.html
- www.leg.state.nv.us/NAC/NAC-649.html
- www.leg.state.nv.us/Register/2023Register/R097-23NI.pdf
- www.leg.state.nv.us/Session/82nd2023/Bills/SB/SB276_EN.pdf
- law.justia.com/codes/nevada/chapter-649/statute-649-355/
- mortgage.nationwidelicensingsystem.org/slr/PublishedStateDocuments/NV-FID_Collection_Agency_License_Company-New_App-Checklist.pdf
- www.leg.state.nv.us/nrs/NRS-011.html
- www.leg.state.nv.us/nrs/nrs-011.html
- www.leg.state.nv.us/nrs/NRS-017.html
- www.leg.state.nv.us/nrs/nrs-017.html
- www.leg.state.nv.us/nrs/NRS-104.html
- www.leg.state.nv.us/nrs/nrs-104.html
- www.leg.state.nv.us/nrs/nrs-649.html
- www.consumerfinancialserviceslawmonitor.com/2023/07/nevada-significantly-amends-its-collection-agency-licensing-act/
- www.courtlistener.com/api/rest/v4/search/?q=%22credit+card%22+%2211.190%22&type=o&court=nev+nevapp+nvd
Resolvah enforces the Nevada rules at the point of contact.
Licensing by state, time-barred rules, call frequency and consent, checked before anything sends. See it on your own portfolio.
