Debt Management: Consumers
Important Information for Consumers
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Debt Management: Registration
The Colorado Uniform Debt Management Services Act and the Colorado Credit Services Organization Act were relocated from Title 12 of the Colorado Revised Statutes to Title 5, effective August 9, 2017.Please see the right sidebar for the revised Acts as well as Title 12 to Title 5 Cross-References. |
Any person or organization that provides, offers to provide, or agrees to provide Debt-Management services directly or through others must register as a Debt-Management Services Provider. This includes, but is not limited to, Consumer Credit Counseling agencies, Debt Settlement agencies, telemarketing or marketing companies advertising as Credit Counseling or Debt Settlement agencies.
Debt-Management Services Provider Registration Application
General Forms
Colorado Uniform Consumer Credit Code: Licensing & Notification
The Administrator of the Uniform Consumer Credit Code (UCCC) has issued an Administrator Opinion, dated August 7, 2017. Please click here to read the Administrator Opinion.
Supervised Lenders
A Colorado supervised lender's license is required to engage in the business of supervised loans. A supervised loan is a consumer loan with an annual percentage rate greater than 12% per year. Consumer loans include both secured and unsecured consumer loans; deferred deposit loans (also known as payday loans, post-dated check cashing, and/or deferred deposit lending); small installment loans; credit cards; consumer insurance premium financing; and certain real estate secured loans. For more information on licensing requirements and exemptions, please refer to the Colorado Uniform Consumer Credit Code.
Application Forms
General Forms
Notification Filers
Retail Sales - FAQs
Credit sellers and retail merchants that regularly extend consumer credit as a "creditor" must file the notification form and pay the notification fee within 30 days after commencing business in Colorado and thereafter, on or before January 31 of each year.
If you have failed to file notification for previous years, please fill out each applicable year's notification form below and submit along with the required notification and late fees:
*Please note you will not be considered an active Retail Sales Notification Filer until all notification forms and fees have been submitted*
Sales Finance - FAQs
Sales finance companies that regularly collect consumer credit contracts must file the notification form and pay the notification and volume fees within 30 days after commencing business in Colorado and thereafter, on or before January 31 of each year.
If you have failed to file notification for previous years, please fill out each applicable year's notification form below and submit along with the required notification, volume, and late fees:
*Please note you will not be considered an active Sales Finance Notification Filer until all notification forms and fees have been submitted*
Rent-to-Own - FAQs
Colorado regulates the rent-to-own industry under the Colorado Rental Purchase Agreement Act. Rent-to-own businesses must file notification and pay the notification fee within 30 days after first soliciting or entering into rental purchase agreements and thereafter, on or before January 31 of each year.
If you have failed to file notification for previous years, please fill out each applicable year's notification form below and submit along with the required notification fee:
File a Complaint
Please select one of the following business types to ensure we direct you to the proper complaint review agency. Depending on your complaint form selection, you may be rerouted to the Colorado Attorney General's Consumer Fraud initiative, www.stopfraudcolorado.gov.
Collection Agency Regulation: General Information
The Administrator for the Colorado Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (CFDCPA) will host a meeting for licensees, industry groups, client groups and other interested parties at 1:30 p.m. on Monday, July 30, 2018. View the Agenda.Senate Bill 17-216 was recently enacted and contains some substantive changes to the CFDCPA. Please click here to review a memo from the Administrator of the CFDCPA. In accordance with Senate Bill 17-216, the Administrator of the CFDCPA has prepared a biannual report. View the report. |
Administrator's Advisory Opinions
Please note: Opinions may not be applicable due to changes in the law or renumbering of statutes.
Meetings
The Colorado Collection Agency Board does not currently have an upcoming meeting scheduled.
Previous Meetings
Monday, April 25, 2016 - Meeting Agenda
Thursday, October 15, 2015 - Meeting Agenda | Meeting Minutes
News
AG Coffman Announces $491,000 Judgment Against Illegal and Abusive Debt Collection Agency
Colorado Attorney General Cynthia H. Coffman announced that her office has shut down the unlicensed debt collection company, Peak Resolution, LLC, and secured a judgment requiring the defendants to pay approximately $491,000 in consumer restitution, penalties, and attorney fees. Dan Cane, Peak Resolution's owner, and Chris Hagerman, the company's primary manager, are also subject to the judgment.
Peak Resolution operated out of the Denver area from early 2014 through January 2015, illegally collecting money from thousands of consumers under its own name and various aliases, including PR & Associates; Paramount Recoveries; and Mile High Mediation, LLC.
Click here to read the full press release issued by Colorado Attorney General Cynthia H. Coffman.
Colorado Attorney General Cynthia H. Coffman has announced additional actions against debt collectors resulting from Colorado's collaboration with the Federal Trade Commission and its Operation Collection Protection ("OCP"). OCP is a collaborative effort to crackdown against abusive debt collectors nationwide. Led by the FTC, OCP includes more than 70 law enforcement partners.
In addition to the first round of actions announced in November 2015 and available here, the Colorado Attorney General's Office has announced three additional actions:
Click here to read the full press release issued by Colorado Attorney General Cynthia H. Coffman.
Collection Agency Regulation: Consumers / Creditor Clients
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Clients of Collection Agencies
Collection agencies licensed in Colorado, excluding debt buyers, must file a surety bond or assign a cash deposit with this office. The amount of the bond varies depending on the average annual amount collected by the agency. The bond protects clients who placed debts with the collection agency but did not receive remittances of money collected.
If you are a creditor client of a collection agency and have not received remittances owed to you, please complete the below form.
Collection Agency Regulation: Licensing
Senate Bill 17-216 was recently enacted and contains some substantive changes to the Colorado Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (CFDCPA). Please click here to review a memo from the Administrator of the CFDCPA.Additionally, the CFDCPA and the Colorado Child Support Collection Consumer Protection Act were relocated from Title 12 of the Colorado Revised Statutes to Title 5, effective August 9, 2017.Please see the right sidebar for the revised Acts as well as Title 12 to Title 5 Cross-References. |
The 2018-19 Renewal Application form is now available at: www.coag.gov/car/renew
The CFDCPA applies to the following collection agencies or debt collectors:
- Located within this state;
- Outside this state and collects or attempts to collect from consumers who reside within this state for a creditor with a place of business located within this state;
- Outside this state and regularly collects or attempts to collect from consumers who reside within this state for a creditor with a place of business located outside this state; or
- Outside this state and solicits or attempts to solicit debts for collection from a creditor with a place of business located within this state;
- Debt/judgment buyers who are now the owners of debts that were in default at the time they acquired ownership of those debts;
- Creditors that collect their own debts using another name which would indicate that a third person is collecting or attempting to collect such debts.
Attorneys engaged in debt collections do not need a collection agency license but must comply with the substantive provisions of the CFDCPA and are subject to the Administrator's enforcement authority.
Collection agencies that collect only commercial, business, investment, and agricultural purpose debts are not subject to the CFDCPA and do not need a collection agency license.
Creditors, defined in section 5-16-103(7), C.R.S., who collect their own debts in their own name are not subject to the law and do not need to be licensed.
Collection Agency License Application
General Forms
- Address Change Form
- Collections Manager Change Form (also includes a Collections Manager Form)
- Personal Affidavit
- Out-of-State Trust Account Affidavit
- Surety Bond
- Citizenship/Lawful Residency Affidavit
Colorado Uniform Consumer Credit Code: Consumers
File a Complaint
Tobacco Master Settlement Agreement and Enforcement
In November 1998, forty-six states, the District of Columbia and five U.S. territories (the states) entered into a settlement agreement with the four largest tobacco companies in the United States. This agreement, called the Master Settlement Agreement (MSA), restricts tobacco companies’ marketing practices and requires them to pay a projected $206 billion over twenty-five years to the states.
The Office of the Attorney General is responsible for enforcing the MSA and for seeing that tobacco product manufacturers who have not signed the MSA comply with the Colorado Tobacco Escrow Funds Act.
Health Club Bonds
- The health club has been in operation in this state more than two years; and
- The health club maintains a bond with a corporate surety from a company authorized to do business in this state or other security acceptable to and approved by the attorney general; and
- The aggregate amount of the bond is one hundred thousand dollars for each club location; and
- The bond is payable to the state for the benefit of any buyer injured in the event the health club goes out of business prior to the expiration of the buyer's membership contract; and
- The bond is maintained for so long as the health club has any membership contracts in place and outstanding, the specified term for which exceeds twenty-four months; and
- The bond is not cancelled, revoked, or terminated except after notice to, and with the written consent of, the attorney general at least forty-five days in advance of such cancellation, revocation, or termination; and
- The annual renewal option for continued membership contained in the membership contract is not automatic but requires that the buyer affirmatively accept the renewal option by notice in writing to the person selling the membership contract for reasonable consideration on or before the expiration of each contract term, but not more than six months prior to the expiration of any contract term; and
- In the event that the health club elects to cancel, revoke, or terminate the bond, it posts a notice of such action, in twenty-four-point bold-faced type, to its customers, on the front door of such health club