Debt Collectors
N.J.S.A. 45:18-1 — no collection agency without a bond on file with the secretary of state
The bond. No person may conduct a collection agency, collection bureau or collection office in New Jersey, engage in the business of collecting or receiving payment for others of any account, bill or other indebtedness, or solicit or advertise in print for that business, unless that person, or the person for whom that person acts as agent, has a sufficient bond on file with the secretary of state.
What the bond does. The bond is in the sum of five thousand dollars and provides that, on written demand, the agency pays and turns over the proceeds of what it collected to the person it collected for, as their agreement provides. It runs for one year from its date and is renewed annually, and no action on it may be begun after two years from its expiration.
Who is outside it. The chapter does not apply to an attorney at law authorized to practice in New Jersey, a national bank, or a bank or trust company incorporated under New Jersey law.
The penalty. A person, member of a partnership or officer of an association or corporation who fails to comply with the chapter is subject to a fine of not more than five hundred dollars, imprisonment for not more than three months, or both.
How a collector may contact a debtor, and what a collector may say, are set by federal law and by consumer protection law that is not on this page. A particular collection is a question for a licensed New Jersey attorney.
Sources for this section (4)
- N.J.S.A. 45:18-1 — Collection agencies to file bond
- N.J.S.A. 45:18-2 — Amount, term and provisions of bond; renewal; limitation of actions
- N.J.S.A. 45:18-5 — Penalty
- N.J.S.A. 45:18-6 — Exemptions
Legal information, not legal advice. Verified as of September 2026. Applying it to a particular situation is the work of a licensed New Jersey attorney.