Licensing Requirements For Collection Agency Branch Offices
Mass. Gen. Laws chapter 93, section 24A requires that licensed collection agencies wishing to conduct business in more than one location "must procure a license for each office where the business is to be conducted." A collection agency which operates on a national basis, and which is licensed in the Commonwealth, under certain circumstances, may contact debtors in the Commonwealth from offices not located in the Commonwealth. It is not necessary that each out-of-state office of a licensee must obtain a separate license if some work relative to debtors in the Commonwealth is generated from an out-of-state office. A licensed collection agency with an office in the Commonwealth may contact debtors in the Commonwealth from an out-of-state office, provided the out-of-state office uses approved letters and cites the in-state office address and the agency's toll-free telephone number. A licensed collection agency which does not have an office in the Commonwealth may conduct its business from offices in other states, so long as it cites in its letters the office address licensed by the Division. The accounts being collected are considered to belong to the licensed office, and the records of those accounts are to be maintained at the licensed office.