This is a guide to the licensing of debt collectors and repossession agents in each Australian state and territory, written and published by Dotto. The ACCC and ASIC’s debt collection guideline notes that most states and territories set licensing rules for people involved in collecting debts, and the name of the licence changes at each border: a commercial agent in New South Wales and the Northern Territory, a field agent in Queensland, a debt collector in Western Australia and an investigation agent in South Australia. Victoria does not license debt collectors at all.
General informationAbout the law on debt collectors and repossession agents, not legal advice about any debt, licence or dispute. The official word is with each regulator: NSW Fair Trading, Consumer Affairs Victoria, Queensland’s Office of Fair Trading, Consumer Protection WA, SA.GOV.AU, and nationally the ACCC.
How to read the wallet
Each page opens on a drawn card wallet with a pocket for every place it covers. A card in a pocket means that place’s official pages describe a licence for collecting debts or repossessing goods; the card gives the licence’s name, what it covers and who has to hold one. Victoria’s pocket holds a slip, because there is no licence there, only a permission that prohibited persons need. An empty pocket says what the official pages say instead, or that no page was found. The conduct and checking guides turn the cards over.
Eight places at a glance
| Place | The licence | Who needs one | Where it is set out |
|---|---|---|---|
| New South Wales | Commercial agent licence | Commercial agents who deal with people face to face (field agents), and anyone who employs them. Phone and video contact do not count as face to face. | NSW Fair Trading, which regulates the industry |
| Victoria | None | No one, unless they are a prohibited person, who needs the Business Licensing Authority’s permission | Consumer Affairs Victoria |
| Queensland | Field agent licence; subagents register | Field agents, who repossess goods, collect debts and serve documents. Collection agents do not need a licence. | Queensland’s Office of Fair Trading |
| Western Australia | Debt collectors licence | Anyone who works as a debt collector or claims to be one, does any debt collecting task, or runs a debt collecting business, with exemptions such as legal practitioners | Consumer Protection WA, under the Debt Collectors Licensing Act 1964 |
| South Australia | Investigation agent licence | Individuals, partners and companies whose work includes collection or inquiry work | Consumer and Business Services, under the Security and Investigation Industry Act 1995 |
| Northern Territory | Commercial agent licence | Anyone carrying on business as a commercial agent | The Commercial and Private Agents Licensing Act 1979 |
| Tasmania | Not described | Consumer Affairs Tasmania’s page on security and investigation agent licences does not mention debt collectors | Consumer Affairs Tasmania, which took over from CBOS on 1 October 2026 |
| Australian Capital Territory | No page found | No ACT government page on licensing debt collectors was found for this guide | Not found |
One national guideline beside the state rules
Licensing is set state by state, but the way collectors treat people is also governed by Commonwealth consumer protection law, which the ACCC and ASIC both enforce. The two regulators wrote a joint debt collection guideline, published by ASIC as Regulatory Guide 96. It applies to creditors who collect their own debts and to specialist agencies that collect for others, and it says that a creditor who uses an agent will generally be liable, as principal, for what the agent does within its authority.
The third guide sets the guideline beside the rules each state adds, and the fourth follows them to the doorstep, where repossession happens.
The five guides
- Who must hold a debt collector licenceThe licence in each state and territory, who is exempt, and what unlicensed work can cost.
- What it takes to hold a collector’s licenceAge, character, convictions, bonds and net assets, and the duties that come with the card.
- The conduct rules collectors work underThe ACCC and ASIC guideline, what a demand letter may say, and the rules each state adds.
- Repossession agents and taking goods backWho may repossess, when a home may be entered, and the police report after a car is taken.
- How to check a debt collector’s licenceSeeing the card, the public registers, what an entry shows, and where a complaint goes.