Collecting debt in Alaska: licensing, bonds and statutes of limitations.
Anyone who for compensation collects claims for others in Alaska must hold a biennial collection agency license from the Division of Corporations, Business and Professional Licensing, keep the agency and each branch under a licensed operator, post a $5,000 surety bond (or cash deposit) and keep a trust account; licenses expire June 30 of even-numbered years, and the regulator says the license is required only for agencies collecting on behalf of Alaska-based creditors.
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 Rules change; confirm with the regulator or your counsel before acting, and tell us if something here is out of date.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 Alaska?
Alaska licenses collection agencies biennially (expiring June 30 of even-numbered years) with a $5,000 bond, a trust account and a licensed operator per office; nonresident agencies pay double application and license fees. The Division states that a license is needed only when collecting for Alaska-based creditors, so an agency whose clients are all outside Alaska is told it does not need one, though the statute's wording is broader.
Flat $5,000, no tiers. Surety bond running to the State of Alaska (Form 08-4971), or in lieu a $5,000 cash deposit, time certificate of deposit or savings passbook assigned to the state (AS 08.24.150(b); Form 08-4106b). Bond conditioned on reporting and paying customers net proceeds over $20 within 30 days after the close of each month (AS 08.24.140(a)(3)). Separate bond per additional business name (AS 08.24.310). An agency cannot maintain a collection suit in Alaska courts without alleging and proving it is licensed and bonded (AS 08.24.300).
Applications are paper/mail to the Division (faxed or emailed applications not accepted per Form 08-2555); licensees use the state MY LICENSE portal. No NMLS reference in AS 08.24, 12 AAC 02.160 or the Division's forms.
Resident: nonrefundable application fee $50 plus agency license fee $50 for all or part of the initial biennial period (total $100). Nonresident: application fee $100 plus license fee $100 (total $200) under 12 AAC 02.160(b) and AS 08.24.370 doubling. Operator license fee $50 (nonresident $100); branch office license fee $50 (not doubled). Nonrefundable fingerprint processing fee for operator applicants per 12 AAC 02.105(19) (12 AAC 02.160(a)(9); AS 08.24.120(a)(1)). 12 AAC 02.160 last amended 1/5/2024 (Register 249, April 2024); Form 08-4106 (Rev. 03/26/2026) shows the same amounts.
biennial, renews June 30 of even-numbered years (renewed as of July 1; current cycle July 1, 2026 to June 30, 2028)
AS 08.24.140(a)(2): biennial license fee for the principal place of business 'and the same amount for each branch office'. 12 AAC 02.160(a)(6)-(7): branch office license fee $50 initial, $50 biennial renewal, not doubled for nonresidents. Each branch must be under the management and control of a licensed operator (AS 08.24.100(a)). AS 08.24.310: each additional business name requires a separate license and bond. Operator license: $50 application, $50 biennial fee, fingerprints and criminal history check required (AS 08.24.120).
trust account: all client money deposited in a trust account and cleared at the end of each month (AS 08.24.140(b), AS 08.24.280); Form 08-4106: 'There is no waiver of the trust account requirement even for those agencies that perform solely telephonic solicitations'; licensed operator with managerial control for the agency and each branch office (AS 08.24.100(a)); operator must be a high school graduate, of good moral character, 19 or older, with no felony/larceny/embezzlement/moral-turpitude conviction, not a disbarred attorney and not bankrupt (AS 08.24.110(a)); fingerprints and state/national criminal history record check for operator applicants, with Department of Public Safety fees (AS 08.24.120(a)(1)); natural-person agency applicants must be 19 or older (AS 08.24.130(b)); public office: principal and branch offices at a street address open for contact by the public or debtors during normal working hours (AS 08.24.330); branch licenses at the same biennial fee as the principal office (AS 08.24.140(a)(2)); annual statement of collections to the department by January 31 each year (AS 08.24.210); employee roster within 15 days of licensure and notice of each hire or termination within 15 days (AS 08.24.340, 08.24.350); separate license and bond for each additional business name (AS 08.24.310); Alaska business license also required in addition to the professional license (Form 08-4106, General Information: 'A professional license does not bypass the need for a business license'); criminal penalty for unlicensed activity: misdemeanor, up to one year in jail and/or $1,000 fine (AS 08.24.090(c))
Exemptions. AS 08.24.090(b): chapter does not apply, when engaged in the regular course of their respective businesses, to (1) attorneys at law; (2) persons regularly employed on a regular wage or salary as credit men or similar, except as independent contractor; (3) banks including trust departments, fiduciaries and financing and lending institutions; (4) common carriers; (5) title insurers and abstract companies doing escrow; (6) licensed real estate brokers; (7) employees of licensees; (8) substation payment offices for public utilities. Regulator instructions (Form 08-4106) add that no license is required if the agency's customers (creditors) are out of state.
How long can a debt be sued on in Alaska?
Alaska uses one three-year period for every contract debt, including credit cards, unless the contract itself waives it. A payment on the debt restarts the clock from the payment date under AS 09.10.210, and the statute's text suggests that applies even to an old debt, but no Alaska appellate court has squarely decided whether a payment made after the three years have run revives it.
“Unless the action is commenced within three years, a person may not bring an action upon a contract or liability, express or implied, except as provided in AS 09.10.040, or as otherwise provided by law, or, except if the provisions of this section are waived by contract.”
“Unless the action is commenced within three years, a person may not bring an action upon a contract or liability, express or implied”
“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 person may not bring an action upon a contract or liability, express or implied”
Alaska has a single three-year period for every 'contract or liability, express or implied,' so the written / oral / open-account distinction does not change the answer; credit cards fall under AS 09.10.053. The Alaska Supreme Court in Duvall (2025) characterized debt-buyer credit-card suits as contract claims ('Portfolio's debt-collection actions are essentially contract claims') and noted 'Alaska has not formally recognized an account stated cause of action'; Duvall did not discuss limitations. The Alaska Court System self-help page states the three-year rule applies to 'a debt owed according to a contract.' Caveat: AS 09.10.053 allows the period to be 'waived by contract', so a cardholder agreement with a longer period or another state's choice-of-law clause could matter.
“A person may not bring an action upon a judgment or decree of a court of the United States, or of a state or territory within the United States, and an action may not be brought upon a sealed instrument, unless the action is commenced within 10 years.”
General rule: an action must be commenced 'within the periods prescribed in this chapter after the cause of action has accrued' (AS 09.10.010); for contracts, accrual is at breach / default. The Alaska Court System self-help page: 'The time starts running from the date of default on the contract, which is usually the day you made your last payment or were supposed to make your first payment.' Statutory restart: 'When a past due payment of principal or interest is made upon any evidence of indebtedness, the running of the time within which an action may be commenced starts from the time the last payment is made' (AS 09.10.210); Osborne v. Buckman, 993 P.2d 409 (Alaska 1999): 'Each payment started the limitations period running anew.' Notes: six years after the stated or accelerated due date, or after demand for demand notes (AS 45.03.118). Judgments: execution after five years only by court order (AS 09.35.020); action on the judgment within 10 years (AS 09.10.040).
“When a past due payment of principal or interest is made upon any evidence of indebtedness, the running of the time within which an action may be commenced starts from the time the last payment is made.”
“No acknowledgment or promise is sufficient evidence of a new or continuing contract to take the case out of the operation of this chapter unless the acknowledgment or promise is contained in writing, signed by the party to be charged”
Quote: 'When a cause of action has arisen in another state or in a territory or foreign country between nonresidents of this state, and by the laws of the state, territory, or country where the cause of action arose that action cannot be maintained because of a lapse of time, the action may not be maintained in this state.' Applies only between nonresidents of Alaska; imports a foreign bar, never a longer period.
The debt exists but cannot be sued on; a suit can be defended by raising the defense.
On its face AS 09.10.210 restarts the clock from 'the time the last payment is made' with no 'before the bar' limit, and AS 09.10.200 says the writing requirement 'does not alter the effect of any payment of principal or interest.' The Alaska Court System self-help page says: 'If you have not made a payment in a long time, but then make a payment, the time limit usually starts over from the date you make the payment.' But no Alaska appellate decision applying AS 09.10.210 to a payment made after the period had already expired was found: Osborne v. Buckman (1999) and International Investors v. Business Park Fund, 991 P.2d 219 (Alaska 1999) involved payments within the period; Walker v. White, 618 P.2d 561 (Alaska 1980) concerned written acknowledgments under AS 09.10.200, not payment; Dworkin v. First National Bank of Fairbanks, 444 P.2d 777 (Alaska 1968) does not reach the point. Because no authority squarely addresses a debt already barred, the value is 'conditional'. A signed written acknowledgment or promise takes the case out of the chapter under AS 09.10.200 (Walker v. White). Limitations is an affirmative defense that bars the remedy, not the 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.
- law.justia.com/codes/alaska/title-8/chapter-24/
- law.justia.com/codes/alaska/title-8/chapter-24/section-08-24-090/
- law.justia.com/codes/alaska/title-8/chapter-24/section-08-24-150/
- law.justia.com/codes/alaska/title-8/chapter-24/section-08-24-380/
- www.commerce.alaska.gov/web/portals/5/pub/CollectionStatutes.pdf
- www.commerce.alaska.gov/web/portals/5/pub/coa4106.pdf
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- www.law.cornell.edu/regulations/alaska/12-AAC-02.160
- aws.state.ak.us/OnlinePublicNotices/Notices/View.aspx?id=196542
- www.akleg.gov/basis/Bill/Subject/33?subject=COLLECTION+AGENCIES
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- law.justia.com/codes/alaska/title-9/chapter-35/section-09-35-020/
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- law.justia.com/codes/alaska/title-45/chapter-03/article-1/section-45-03-118/
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- www.courtlistener.com/api/rest/v4/search/?type=o&q=%2209.10.210%22&court=alaska
Resolvah enforces the Alaska 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.
