Apply for a corporate field agent licence

Your company must have a valid licence to work as a field agent. If you don’t have a licence, you must submit an application for a corporation's licence.

Authorised activities

A corporate field agent is licensed to:

• find and recover goods (repossession)
• collect debts face to face
• serve documents (process serving).

Alternatively, you and your staff can work as collection agents if you only:

• collect debts (and do not repossess goods or do process serving)

and

• contact debtors over the phone or in writing.

Find out about collection agent work

You must have a licence to do any other type of work as a debt collector or process server.

Restrictions

Personnel

Your personnel must have individual licences too if they are:

• directors of the company and carry out the work of a field agent
• the officer in charge of regulated business.

A director does not need a licence if they don't act as a field agent.

Business operations

You may trade under your corporation name or registered business name. If you use your registered business name, you must register the company as the owner of the business name.

If you are partners with another company, the other company must also have a current licence.

Eligibility

To be eligible for a licence, your company must have an individual licensee in charge of regulated business.

Suitability

You are not a suitable company if you:

• are currently disqualified from holding a licence
• have been convicted of a serious offence within the past 5 years
• have an unsuitable director or executive officer.

Serious offences

A serious offence is anything punishable by 3 or more years in prison, including:

• violent offences (including threats to use violence)
• fraud and dishonesty
• drug trafficking
• extortion
• arson
• unlawful stalking, intimidation, harassment or abuse
• offences of a sexual nature.

Directors and executive officers

You are not suitable for a licence if any director or executive officer:

• is insolvent under administration
• has been convicted of a serious offence within the past 5 years
• have an unsuitable director or executive officer.

We also consider if they:

• have a criminal history
• have been an executive officer of a corporation, which was previously licensed, that has gone insolvent
• were the subject of a successful claim fund action
• have had your licence or registration certification cancelled or suspended
• have been previously disqualified from holding a licence or registration certificate
• are disqualified from being a company director
• have previously been an insolvent under administration
• are unsuitable because of their character or the character of their business associates
• are allowed to work in Australia.

Receivership or liquidation

You must tell us if an executive officer has previously been an executive officer of a corporation that:

• was previously licensed
• has gone into receivership or liquidation.

You must also tell us:

• what circumstances caused it to happen
• whether the executive officer took all reasonable steps to avoid these circumstances
• what assets the executive officer had available to distribute
• how much money (if any) the executive officer paid in dividends
• whether the executive officer broke any laws relating to these circumstances
• whether the executive officer is disqualified from being a company director or other officer.

You must also include a report from the receiver or liquidator that gives us:

• a detailed list of the executive officer’s creditors
• the amount of money the executive officer still owes to each creditor.

Non-citizens

If an executive officer is not an Australian citizen or permanent resident, you need to:

• give us a certified copy of the executive officer’s passport
• have a visa that allows the executive officer to work in Australia.

Lodgement

When you lodge the form, you will need to attach formal identification for anyone named on your form. These will be:

• your executive officers
• all business partners or associates.

Your identification must be a certified copy of 1 of the following 4 documents:

• Birth certificate or extract
• Driver licence
• Passport
• Citizenship certificate

You will need to pay the required fees when you lodge your application.

Criminal history check

To confirm your suitability, we will submit your application for a criminal history check. This will be thorough and may be time consuming.

The criminal history check will apply to each individual named in your application.

If you were born in New Zealand or have a New Zealand passport, you need to get a copy of your criminal history or a letter indicating you have no criminal history from New Zealand. For more information, visit the New Zealand Ministry of Justice website.

You don’t have to pay any fees to get a New Zealand criminal history check. We can only accept original documents dated within one month of the date you send them to us. Please note it takes 20 working days to process a request for a New Zealand criminal history check.

Processing time

The processing time is 4–6 weeks. This can take longer if your application is not complete. This might be because of:

• missing information
• unpaid fees.

We will contact you if you submitted an incomplete application. You will need to complete the application before we can proceed. Otherwise, we may withdraw your application.

Refunds

Depending on your circumstances, you may be entitled to a partial refund if:

• you withdraw your application
• we refuse your application.

You may also get a refund on the fee for a criminal history check if it hasn’t been started yet.

Training

You don’t need any training for this licence.