How to apply for debt collection permission
When do you need a permit to pursue debt collection activities?
Debt collection activities concerning recovery of claims on behalf of another person or claims taken over for recovery may only be pursued with permission from the Data Inspection Board.
Normally there is no requirement to apply for debt collection permission from the Data Inspection Board in order to recover your own claims or claims for companies within the own group of companies, so called corporate recovery.
Permission is not needed for debt collection activities pursued by companies supervised by the Swedish Financial Supervisory Authority. This concerns in the first place banks, credit market companies and insurance companies. The Financial Supervisory Authority supervises that these companies comply with the Debt Recovery Act and that they observe good business practice in debt collection activities.
For more information, see the Swedish Financial Supervisory Authority (Finansinspektionen)
Lawyers and employees at law firms do not need permission from the Data Inspection Board to recover clients' claims. The handling of such claims are subject to the supervision of the Swedish Bar Association.
For more information, see the Swedish Bar Association (Advokatsamfundet)
It is free of charge to apply for permission to pursue debt collection activities.
What qualifications are required in order to be granted debt collection permission
According to section 3 of the Debt Recovery Act (1974:182) the Data Inspection Board shall assess whether the debt collection activities will be pursued in a professional and judicious way based on, inter alia, an assessment of the applicant's qualifications. The Data Inspection Board's assessment is on the whole made on the basis of the qualification documents submitted by the applicant.
The person who is the subject of the assessment must have good insight in the daily debt collection work and the possibility to influence the debt collection routines. The principal rule is that one person is the subject of assessment, but there may be exceptional cases. If the Data Inspection Board finds that the person who is the subject of the assessment does not have the necessary qualifications alone, the assessment may refer to this person jointly with another person of the debt collection activity. It is normally the person who in fact will lead the daily debt collection work or a lawyer on the staff of the activity.
Here you can read about whom will be the subject of assessment as regards legal persons:
- Limited liability companies: The managing director, member of the board or any other person in a leading position
- Trading company: A partner
- Association: A member of the board
- Foundation: A member of the board
If the applicant is a natural person - with or without a private firm - he/she will be assessed.
Expert knowledge can be verified through a certified copy of certifications or certificates relating to theoretical education and/or indicating practical experience. Generally university studies in law verified through documents are required. In certain cases long practical activity may compensate for shortcomings as regards theoretical education by the applicant's presentation of certifications and certificates indicating long practical experience of debt collection activities or other similar practice. The Data Inspection Board examines the certifications or certificates relating to practical experiences from the point of view of what kind of tasks that have been pursued, to what extent and for how long they have been pursued as well as service records.
Judicious discernment can, for instance, be verified through a certified copy of certifications from previous employers.
Application form for debt collection activities
You can here download an application form in a pdf-format ready to fill in. On the form there are instructions for how to fill in the application.
Application form
You can here download an application form in a pdf-format ready to fill in. On the form there are instructions for how to fill in the application.
More information
Application of the Debt Recovery Act
The Data Inspection Board has issued general advice on the application of the Debt Recovery Act. The publication is in the first place intended for those who pursue debt collection activities and contains the Data Inspection Board's opinion on what is meant by "good business practice". The publication can also be ordered as a printed brochure. In this case visit our order service. (In Swedish only)
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Contact
Do you have any questions concerning debt collection issues? Please contact us:
Data Inspection Board
Box 8114
SE-104 20 Stockholm
Sweden
datainspektionen@
datainspektionen.se
