State directory

Collecting debt in Tennessee: licensing, bonds and statutes of limitations.

Anyone operating a collection service business in Tennessee must hold a Collection Service License from the Tennessee Collection Service Board ($750 initial, $350 biennial renewal) and post a surety bond of $15,000, $20,000 or $25,000 depending on employee count.

License required Bond $15,000 Written contracts: 6 yearsVerified 2026-09-20

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 Rules change; confirm with the regulator or your counsel before acting, and tell us if something here is out of date.

Licensing and bonding

Do you need a license to collect in Tennessee?

The $750 initial fee is the Board's combined figure ($150 application plus $600 license issuance under Rule 0320-01-.03); the license runs 24 months from issuance, so the renewal date is the licensee's own anniversary, not a calendar date. Out-of-state agencies can be licensed under 62-20-117 if their home state reciprocates and are excused from the in-state office and bank-account requirements, but must file a consent to service of process; the Board's examination rule was repealed effective September 24, 2025.

Requirement
License required
Tenn. Code Ann. § 62-20-105(a) (Tennessee Collection Service Act, §§ 62-20-101 to 62-20-124)
Regulator
Tennessee Collection Service Board, Department of Commerce and Insurance, Regulatory Boards Division
Licensing page
Surety bond
$15,000

Tiered by certified number of employees; $15,000 is the minimum tier. 1-4 employees $15,000; 5-9 employees $20,000; 10 or more employees $25,000. A certificate of deposit assigned to the Board may be substituted in the same amounts (62-20-106(3)(A)(iv)). Bond is executed with a surety authorized in Tennessee, payable to the State of Tennessee, conditioned on faithful performance of client agreements and accounting for net proceeds (62-20-106(3)(B)). Must remain in force while the licensee does business in TN; injured clients may sue on the bond and surety aggregate liability is capped at the bond amount (62-20-110). Evidence of bond renewal is required at each license renewal (62-20-112(b)(2)).

Tenn. Code Ann. § 62-20-106(3)(A)
NMLS
No

Applications and renewals are filed through the Department's CORE online portal, not NMLS (Board pages: 'Complete the Initial Collection Agency Application online through your CORE account'). No NMLS reference in the statute or rules.

Application fee
$750

Board fee page: 'Initial Application $750'. Composed per Rule 0320-01-.03(1)-(2): non-refundable application fee 'one hundred fifty dollars ($150.00)' plus license issuance fee 'six hundred dollars ($600.00), which shall not be prorated for any portion of the year'. Fee rule amendments filed August 1, 2022, effective October 30, 2022.

Tenn. Comp. R. & Regs. 0320-01-.03(1),(2); Tenn. Code Ann. §§ 62-20-106(1), 62-20-109(a)
Renewal fee
$350

biennial, renews last day of the twenty-fourth month from issuance or renewal (anniversary-based, not a fixed calendar date)

Tenn. Code Ann. § 62-20-112; Tenn. Comp. R. & Regs. 0320-01-.03(3),(4)
Branches and other fees
See note

No branch license or location fee in the statute or in Chapter 0320-01 (rules in force: .01 Qualifications, .03 Fees, .04 Change of Ownership; .02 Examinations repealed eff. September 24, 2025). 62-20-105(b): regular employees of licensed collection services need no separate license. Change of address/location is reported to the Board with a bond rider (62-20-108; Board renewal page). Change of ownership (50%+ per Rule 0320-01-.04) requires a new license (62-20-113). License retirement: 62-20-121(a) 'an annual retirement fee of ten dollars ($10.00)' for up to three years.

Other requirements
11 items

trust account: separate fiduciary or trust bank account with sufficient funds at all times to disburse amounts due all clients (62-20-114(3)); Board application page says bank statements may be submitted if not shown in the financial statements; financial statements: current personal or corporate financial statement prepared by a licensed public accountant or CPA with the application (62-20-106(2)); current CPA/PA-prepared balance sheet at renewal (62-20-112(b)(3)); Board verifies the financial statement and pulls a credit bureau report (Rule 0320-01-.01(1)); physical office: 62-20-107(7) denies a license to anyone 'Who, unless a nonresident applicant, does not maintain in this state a regular office in which are kept complete records of collections and claims handled for clients and against debtors residing in this state'; in-state bank accounts: 62-20-107(8) denies a license to anyone 'Who, unless a nonresident applicant, does not maintain in this state bank accounts with sufficient funds at all times to disburse amounts due clients'; nonresident applicants: irrevocable consent to service of process filed with the Board secretary (62-20-117(b)); home state must offer the same privilege to TN licensees (62-20-117(a)); fitness: trustworthy, reputation for honesty, financially responsible, competent; no fraud or felony conviction or judgment for failure to account to a client within 7 years; no bankruptcy or receivership within 7 years (62-20-107(1)-(5),(9)); 'financially responsible' defined at 62-20-102(5); records: retain individual collection records 3 years; issue receipts on request; monthly books and bank-account records (62-20-114); remit net proceeds to clients within 30 days after month end unless otherwise agreed (62-20-115(b)(3)); proof that applicable taxes are paid at renewal (62-20-112(b)(4)); license prominently displayed at place of business (62-20-109(b)); no collection manager exam: Rule 0320-01-.02 (Examinations) repealed effective September 24, 2025; 62-20-111 (identification cards / solicitors) repealed by Acts 2021 ch. 549

Who needs it
Third-party collection agencies
Yes
Debt buyers
It depends
Collection law firms
No
Out-of-state agencies collecting from residents
Yes
Original creditors collecting their own accounts
No

Exemptions. 62-20-103(a): (1) persons handling claims under court order; (2) attorneys at law; (3) persons collecting debts incurred in the normal course of their own, parent, subsidiary or affiliate business (unless holding out as a collection service); (4) state/national banks, mutual savings banks, savings institutions and their parents/subsidiaries/affiliates; (5) state/federal credit unions; (6) industrial loan and thrift companies under title 45 ch. 5; (7) small business development corporations under title 45 ch. 8; (8) any person servicing or collecting obligations secured by a consensual lien on a dwelling (12 CFR 1026.2(a)(19)); (9) passive debt holders/buyers who collect only through a licensed collection agency or a Tennessee-licensed attorney. 62-20-103(b): collecting only one's own accounts needs no license. 62-20-105(b): regular employees of licensees need no separate license. 62-20-102(3): collection of 'notes or guarantees' is not a collection service.

Statutes of limitations

How long can a debt be sued on in Tennessee?

Tennessee gives creditors six years on any contract claim, including credit cards, because the statute has one residual contract period and no written/oral split; no Tennessee appellate court has ruled on credit cards specifically. A voluntary payment restarts the six years under Graves v. Sawyer, and a debt already past six years can be revived by a promise or an acknowledgment showing willingness to pay, but whether a bare payment on a barred debt revives it has not been squarely decided.

Written contract
6 years
Tenn. Code Ann. § 28-3-109(a)(3)
“The following actions shall be commenced within six (6) years after the cause of action accrued: ... (3) Actions on contracts not otherwise expressly provided for.”
Oral contract
6 years
Tenn. Code Ann. § 28-3-109(a)(3); Wilson v. Harris, 304 S.W.3d 824 (Tenn. Ct. App. 2009)
“We therefore hold that the general six-year statute codified at Tenn.Code Ann. § 28-3-109(a)(3) applies to this action.”
Promissory note
6 years
Tenn. Code Ann. § 47-3-118(a) (UCC, notes payable at a definite time); § 28-3-109(c) (demand notes, 10 years)
“an action to enforce the obligation of a party to pay a note payable at a definite time must be commenced within six (6) years after the due date or dates stated in the note or, if a due date is accelerated, within six (6) years after the accelerated due date.”
Open account and credit card
6 years
Tenn. Code Ann. § 28-3-109(a)(3)
“(3) Actions on contracts not otherwise expressly provided for.”

Tennessee has one six-year contract period covering written, oral, implied and open-account claims, and draws no written/oral distinction. The only account-specific rules are § 28-3-111 (merchant-to-merchant current accounts) and § 28-3-112 (mutual accounts between non-merchants run from the last item), neither of which fits a consumer card, so credit-card debt falls in the residual 'contracts not otherwise expressly provided for' category. No published Tennessee appellate opinion squarely classifying a consumer credit-card account was located by either pass or by the reconciler (a CourtListener search of Tennessee courts for 'credit card' + '28-3-109' returned only Yater v. Wachovia Bank, 861 S.W.2d 369 (Tenn. Ct. App. 1993), a tort case). Closest primary authority is Wilson v. Harris (unwritten loan of money governed by § 28-3-109(a)(3)); the Official Code annotations cite In re Shippy (Bankr. M.D. Tenn. 2016) treating a credit-card claim as time-barred under the six-year period.

Judgment
10 yearsrenewable
Tenn. Code Ann. § 28-3-110(a)(2); Tenn. R. Civ. P. 69.04 (text as quoted in Town & Country Jewelers, Inc. v. Trotter, 538 S.W.3d 508 (Tenn. Ct. App. 2017))
“Within ten years from the entry of a judgment, the creditor whose judgment remains unsatisfied may file a motion to extend the judgment for another ten years. ... The same procedure can be repeated within any additional ten-year period.”
When the clock starts, and what restarts it
Accrual

The period runs from when 'the cause of action accrued' (§ 28-3-109(a)); for contracts that is breach/default under case law. § 28-1-102: where a demand is necessary, the period runs from when the right to make the demand was completed, not from the demand; Wilson v. Harris applied this to hold that a loan with no due date accrued the day the money was advanced. § 28-3-112: mutual accounts between non-merchants run from the last item unless liquidated. § 28-1-111 tolls during the defendant's absence from the state. No Tennessee appellate case fixes the accrual date for a consumer credit-card account (default vs last payment vs charge-off); under Graves v. Sawyer a voluntary, unconditional payment keeps the debt alive 'for the statutory period from that time', so in practice the clock runs from the later of the first missed payment or the last voluntary payment.

Tenn. Code Ann. § 28-1-102; § 28-3-112; § 28-1-111; Wilson v. Harris, 304 S.W.3d 824 (Tenn. Ct. App. 2009); Graves v. Sawyer, 588 S.W.2d 542 (Tenn. 1979)
Partial payment restarts the period
Yes
Graves v. Sawyer, 588 S.W.2d 542, 544 (Tenn. 1979) (common law; Tennessee has no acknowledgment/part-payment statute)
“in the absence of evidence to the contrary, we hold that such a payment is an acknowledgment of the debt and implies a promise of payment which operates to keep the debt alive for the statutory period from that time.”
Written acknowledgment restarts the period
It depends
Ingram v. Earthman, 993 S.W.2d 611 (Tenn. Ct. App. 1998); Wilson v. Harris, 304 S.W.3d 824 (Tenn. Ct. App. 2009) (common law; no writing required)
“Promises and statements made before the limitations period expired will support an estoppel claim, just as promises and statements made after the limitations period expired will support a revival claim.”
Borrowing statute
Yes
Tenn. Code Ann. § 28-1-112

Text: 'Where the statute of limitations of another state or government has created a bar to an action upon a cause accruing therein, while the party to be charged was a resident in such state or such government, the bar is equally effectual in this state.' It imports a shorter foreign bar only when the cause accrued in that state while the defendant resided there; it never lengthens Tennessee's period. Note § 28-1-111 is the tolling-for-absence provision, not an acknowledgment statute; Tennessee has no acknowledgment or part-payment statute and the rules are case law.

Time-barred debt
Status after the period runs
Unenforceable

The debt exists but cannot be sued on; a suit can be defended by raising the defense.

Collector must disclose that the debt is time-barred
No
Tenn. Code Ann. § 62-20-101 et seq. (Tennessee Collection Service Act) searched; no such provision

The full text of Title 62, Chapter 20 in the Official Code mirror (Release 74, 2020) contains no 'statute of limitations', 'time-barred' or consumer-disclosure language, and § 62-20-115 as shown on FindLaw (current as of Jan. 2, 2024) is unchanged: subsection (b)(5) only makes 'failing to comply with any applicable state or federal law or regulation pertaining to the credit and collection industry' a ground for discipline, which pulls in federal Reg. F (12 CFR 1006.26(b)) but is not a state-law disclosure duty.

A payment revives a time-barred debt
It depends
Graves v. Sawyer, 588 S.W.2d 542 (Tenn. 1979); Ingram v. Earthman, 993 S.W.2d 611 (Tenn. Ct. App. 1998); Wilson v. Harris, 304 S.W.3d 824 (Tenn. Ct. App. 2009)

No statute. Under Ingram, 'a defendant may revive a plaintiff's remedy that had been barred by the running of a statute of limitations either by expressly promising to pay the debt or by acknowledging the debt and expressing a willingness to pay it', made to the creditor; Wilson adds that 'a promise or acknowledgment after the limitations period has expired is a necessary ingredient of a revival'. Graves holds that a voluntary, unconditional part payment or interest payment is itself an acknowledgment implying a promise to pay, overruling Hall v. Skidmore (1943), but the payments in Graves were made before the six years ran, so there is no Tennessee Supreme Court holding squarely applying Graves to a payment on an already-barred debt. Revival by a post-expiry payment is likely under Graves' reasoning (a payment supplies the 'willingness to pay' Ingram requires) but depends on the circumstances of the payment and is not settled by a direct holding.

Sources

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.

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