LICENSING REQUIREMENTS FOR DEBT COLLECTION BUSINESS
1. The Debt Collection Act 2022 (DCA) took effect on 1 December 2023. The new licensing requirements for a debt collection business are as follows:
a. Licences for Debt Collection Companies. Debt collection companies will require a licence from the Police, unless they are excluded1 or class licensed2 under the said Act. It will be an offence to do so without a valid licence. Persons who apply for a debt collection business licence must be assessed by the Police to be fit and proper for licence grant. Persons with valid licences may also have their licences suspended or terminated if they breach any regulation under the DCA.
b. Approvals for Debt Collectors. Persons who work as debt collectors for a licensed debt collection company must obtain Police’s approval. Such persons must submit a joint application with his/her debt collection employer-company to the Police. Persons who apply for approvals as debt collectors must be assessed by the Police to be fit and proper for approval. Similarly, a person’s approval may be rescinded if is found to have breached any regulation under the DCA. The debt collection employer-company will also be held accountable for the conduct of its debt collectors.
You may read the DCA at https://sso.agc.gov.sg/.
2. The Police will conduct regular compliance checks on debt collection businesses and debt collectors. Debt collection businesses are reminded to apply for a licence and approvals for their debt collectors prior to commencing their debt collection activities.
3. To apply for a debt collection business licence, please visit https://www.gobusiness.gov.sg/.
4. If you have enquiries, please contact the Police Licensing & Regulatory Department at Tel: 6835 0000 between 8.30 am and 6.00 pm (on Mondays-Fridays, excluding public holidays) or by filling out this form https://go.gov.sg/PLRD
Footnote:
1Exclusion from DC Act. Entities whose debt collecting activities are deemed to pose a low risk of public disorder are excluded from the DC Act. The excluded persons are prescribed under Part 1 of the First Schedule to the DCA and includes the Official Assignee, the Official Receiver, licensed insolvency practitioners, regulated legal practitioners and regulated non-practitioners, joint law ventures, licensed foreign law practices, qualifying foreign law practices, Singapore law practices, accounting corporations, accounting firms, accounting limited liability partnerships, chartered accountants, and public accountants.
2Class Licensing Regime for Regulated Businesses. A class licensing regime will be introduced for entities that are regulated by other government agencies and that are engaged in lending and collecting money owed to their respective businesses. The regulated businesses are prescribed under Part 2 of the First Schedule to the DCA and includes banks, merchant banks, licensed credit card or charge card issuers, finance companies, and licensed and exempt moneylenders. While these entities do not need to be individually licensed, they are class licensed under the Debt Collection (Class Licence) Order 2023 and must comply with the conditions of the class licence, e.g. only deploy their employees to collect debts owed to their company.
Under the Debt Collection Act 2022,a person who carry on a debt collection business, or carry out any debt collection activity in the course of the business must be authorised to carry on the debt collection business by a valid licence under this Act.
Under the Debt Collection Act,
"debt collection business" means the bussiness carried on by a person of collecting any debt from a debtor in the following manner:
a. on behalf of another person; or
b. where the first mentioned person has acquired the debt;
"debt collection activity" means any activity undertaken in Singapore that involves finding the debtor of a debt or requesting, demanding or collecting from the debtor money due under the debt.
Criteria for Grant of Licence
1. The applicant is at least 21 years of age and the applicant and key appointment holder are fit and proper person to hold a licence.
2. In determining whether -
(a) an applicant is a fit and proper person to hold a licence; or
(b) a key appointment holder of an applicant is a fit and proper person to act in that capacity, the Licensing Officer may have regard to, and give any weight that the Licensing Officer considers appropriate to, any criteria and requirements that are prescribed.
3. For more details on the prescribed criteria for an applicant and key appointment holder, you may refer to the Debt Collection Act and Debt Collection (General) Regulations 2023.
4. To avoid doubt, the Licensing Officer is not confined to consideration of the criteria and requirements prescribed under the Debt Collection Act and Debt Collection (General) Regulations 2023, and may take into account any other matter or evidence that may be relevant.
The applicant must be holding one of the following positions:
(a) For Entity Type: Limited Liability Partnership; Eligibility Criteria: The applicant must be a Partner or Manager.
(b) For Entity Type: Company; Eligibility Criteria: The applicant must be the Managing Director, Chief Executive Officer, or a Director.
(c) For Entity Type: Business (Sole Proprietor/Partnership); Eligibility Criteria: The applicant must be the Sole Proprietor or a Partner.
(d) For Entity Type: Limited Partnership; Eligibility Criteria: The applicant must be a Partner.
The applicant will have to make the following declarations while submitting a New, Renewal or Amendment application:
(a) Declaration on whether the applicant’s business is able to pay all its debts; and
(b) Declaration on whether the applicant’s business has gone and/or is likely to go into compulsory or voluntary liquidation.
|
Types of Applications |
Validity |
Fees (Non-Refundable) |
|
New Debt Collection Business Licence |
Three Years |
$600 upon approval of application |
|
Renewal of Debt Collection Business Licence Application |
Three Years |
$600 upon approval of application |
|
Cancel of existing Debt Collection Business Licence |
NA |
NA |
|
Withdrawal of Debt Collection Business Licence Application |
NA |
NA |
New
This is for persons who wish to apply for a debt collection business licence. Under the Debt Collection Act 2022, a licence may be required when the business involves debt collection, e.g. collecting debt from a debtor on behalf of another person.
You may submit a new Debt Collection Business Licence here.
Renew
This is for persons who wish to apply to renew an existing debt collection business licence. The applicant shall also submit an application to renew the approvals for the debt collectors deployed by him via the GoBusiness portal when he applies to renew his debt collection licence.
You may submit your renewal of Debt Collection Business Licence here.
Amend Licence Details
You may make the following amendments to your existing Debt Collection Business Licence:
- Company Name (*Should the UEN change, you will have to apply for a new Debt Collection Business Licence)
- Key Appointment Holders
- Contact Details
- Mailing address
- Business Operating Address
Cancel Licence
Under the Debt Collection (General) Regulations 2023, licensees must notify Police of the cessation within 14 days after the cessation of the debt collection business
You may cancel your existing Debt Collection Business Licence any time before its expiration.
Please note that there will be no refund of the licence fees upon cancellation as stipulated under the Debt Collection Act 2022.
Withdrawal
You may withdraw your application for Debt Collection Business Licence at any time before the licence is approved.
If the licence has been approved and issued, you will no longer be able to withdraw it and you will need to make a request to cancel the licence.
No supporting document is required at the point of application.
Approximately 3 weeks from the receipt of the application and if all necessary supporting documents are enclosed (if required). Any incomplete or incorrect submission will be rejected.
You will be notified of the outcome via SMS and/or Email. Alternatively, you may login to GoBusiness Licensing to view your application status.
You will be directed to GoBusiness Licensing webpage, which will require you to sign in using your SingPass
If you require assistance or guidance on the GoBusiness portal, please contact their helpdesk at (+65) 6774 1430 or email licences-helpdesk@crimsonlogic.com.sg
The process may take around 15-20 minutes to complete.
Under the Debt Collection Act 2022, an individual who act as a debt collector for a person who carries on a debt collection business (licensee) requires prior approval from the Licensing Officer for the individual to be deployed as a debt collector by the licensee. Under the Debt Collection Act, “debt collector” means an individual who carries out any debt collection activity for or on behalf of another person.
Criteria for Grant of Approval
1.The applicant is at least 21 years of age and is a fit and proper person to be granted an approval to be deployed as a Debt Collector.
2. In determining whether an individual is a fit and proper person to be deployed as a debt collector by the licensee, the Licensing Officer may have regard to, and give any weight that the Licensing Officer considers appropriate to, any criteria and requirement that is prescribed.
3. For more details on the prescribed criteria for an individual to be debt collector, you may refer to the Debt Collection Act and Debt Collection (General) Regulations 2023.
4. To avoid doubt, the Licensing Officer is not confined to consideration of the criteria and requirements prescribed under the Debt Collection Act and Debt Collection (General) Regulations 2023, and may take into account any other matter or evidence that may be relevant.
|
Types of Applications |
Validity |
Fees (Non-Refundable) |
|
New Debt Collector Approval Application |
Approval tagged to the validity of a Debt Collection Business Licence |
$55 upon submission of application |
|
Cancel of existing Debt Collector Approval Application |
NA |
NA |
|
Withdrawal of Debt Collector Approval Application |
NA |
NA |
New
This is for persons to apply for approval to work as debt collectors. This application must be made jointly with all the debt collection businesses that the applicant intends to work for and an approval must be obtained before they may carry out debt collection activities. The applicant shall submit the application for approval via the GoBusiness portal.
You may submit a Debt Collector Approval Application here.
Amend/Terminate Debt Collector’s Approval
This is for persons who wish to amend or terminate the approval for employees who are deployed as debt collectors.
You must notify the Police within 14 days after you cease the deployment of any person deployed by you to collect debts.
Withdrawal
You may withdraw your application for Debt Collector Approval at any time before it is approved.
If the application has been approved, you will no longer be able to withdraw it and you will need to make an application to terminate the approval.
For Debt Collector Approval Application, you will need the following supporting document:
· Scanned copy of the employee/debt collector's NRIC (front and back).
· If the employee is a foreigner, please submit a copy of the work pass issued by the Ministry of Manpower (if applicable) or a copy of the passport (if the employee is not based in Singapore). We may also require the applicant to obtain the criminal record clearance certificate or its equivalent from the country of citizenship to be submitted as supporting documents for Police’s assessment. Typically, such documents are known as “Certificate of Free from Criminal Conviction”, “Certificate of Good Conduct”, “Police Clearance Certificate”, etc. and likely issued by the Police, Home or Justice Ministry. However, as the issuing authority may differ from country to country, the applicant must approach the relevant authority in their respective country of citizenship to obtain the required document. Please note that for this purpose, we are NOT seeking the document issued by the Singapore Police Force. Police will recognise the document issued by the relevant authority in the applicant’s country of citizenship.
Approximately 3 weeks from the receipt of the application and if all necessary supporting documents are enclosed (if required). Any incomplete or incorrect submission will be rejected.
You will be notified of the outcome via SMS and/or Email. Alternatively, you may login to GoBusiness Licensing to view your application status.
You will be directed to GoBusiness Licensing webpage, which will require you to sign in using your SingPass
If you require assistance or guidance on the GoBusiness portal, please contact their helpdesk at (+65) 6774 1430 or email licences-helpdesk@crimsonlogic.com.sg
The process may take around 15-20 minutes to complete.
(NEW) ADVISORY ON SUBMITTING APPLICATION FOR APPROVAL FOR DEBT COLLECTORS
Recently, the Police have had situations when the employees’ names and/or identity numbers were entered wrongly in the GoBusiness portal (https://www.gobusiness.gov.sg) and the application had to be rejected. This caused inconvenience to both the applicant and processing officer.
This is to remind debt collection businesses to enter your employees’ names and identity numbers correctly in GoBusiness application portal when you apply for employee approvals. If a wrong digit or alphabet is entered, the application cannot be processed and the Police would have to reject the application. In addition, the application fee of $55 cannot be refunded. An applicant would have to make a fresh payment of $55 if he wished to apply again.
If you have foreign employees without a Foreign Identification Number (FIN), please apply using their Passport Numbers using this FormSG via this link athttps://form.gov.sg/661df9cc6130a0f93179aeb5. The reason is that the current GoBusiness portal accepts only a Singapore-registered identity number and/or FIN.
We seek your cooperation and understanding to in this matter so that there will not be major disruptions to business and delays to the process arising from errors in the names and/or identity numbers of employees in the application.
Thank you.
Police Licensing & Regulatory Department
3 October 2024
Dear Customers,
Since 1 August 2021, all over-the-counter services at the Police Licensing & Regulatory Department at the Police Cantonment Complex (391 New Bridge Road), would be only through pre-approved appointments (including making payments at the counter)
2. To make an appointment, please use the following link at www.picktime.com/policelicensing or the below QR code:
3. We will attend to cases of persons who turn up without an appointment on a case by case basis, only if they have a valid reason(s).
4. For enquiries, please use our online services at www.police.gov.sg/licence or you can reach us using FormSG at https://www.go.gov.sg/PLRD
5. Thank you.
Additional information related to Debt Collection Business Licence and Debt Collector Approval.
GoBusiness is the go-to platform for businesses in Singapore to access Government e-services and resources, including applying for a debt collection business licence and/or debt collector approval.
If you require assistance or guidance on the GoBusiness portal, please contact their helpdesk at (+65) 6774 1430 or email licences-helpdesk@crimsonlogic.com.sg