Important facts about Minnesota’s background screening requirements for collectors:

When initializing or renewing a collection license in Minnesota, an agency must legally attest to completing the Minnesota collector background screening requirements under penalty of law. Cornerstone Support offers a Criminal Background Screening Service which will allow you to rest assured that you have complied with Minnesota’s collector background screening requirements. 

Facts about Minnesota’s Background Screening Requirement:

• New collectors are screened for the previous 5 years.  Renewing collectors are screened for the past year only, saving you money.
• Initial background screening must be performed anytime an agency adds a collector.  The renewal screening is not required if the collector’s initial background screening occurred within the preceding 12 months.
• The renewal screening must be completed no more than 60 days before the license expiration or renewal date and include the following:
  • A national criminal history record search; and
  • A county criminal history search for all counties in which the collector resided in the preceding year.
• A collector is disqualified from being a Minnesota debt collector if, within the past 5 years the proposed or current representative has:
  • Been convicted of any felony;
  • Been convicted of a misdemeanor or gross misdemeanor involving fraud, identity theft, or any financial crime;
  • Incurred a civil judgment for failure to account to a client or customer for money or property collected by the representative; or
  • Had a license to practice law revoked or involuntarily suspended.
• Link to the Minnesota’s background screening requirement (Subd. 8.)