Which place’s debt rules apply—and who can help?

SettleADebt.com — S_KS, PASS-07

Kansas collection-agency and debt-buyer licensing, original-creditor coverage, and state-specific collection conduct

Fresh public-source research date: October 26, 2026, Pacific (America/Los_Angeles) / October 26, 2026, UTC Actual model: GPT-5.6 Sol Pro Review character: Same-project continuation in this original authorized Chat; not an independent review Component boundary: Kansas collection-entry classification, debt-buyer and assignee licensing or filing, original-creditor versus third-party coverage, and substantive Kansas collection conduct.

This pass does not regenerate the CSO provider-access, fee, funds, security, agreement, or provider-remedies work. It also does not complete the later required Kansas work on detailed validation and documentation, credit reporting, account-level ownership proof, limitations and revival, service and litigation, default judgments, garnishment, repossession, sector rules, local or tribal law, or full collection-remedy analysis.

Executive determination

Kansas does not appear to operate a general statewide “collection agency license” administered by the Office of the State Bank Commissioner for an ordinary third-party collection agency collecting another creditor’s accounts. OSBC’s current complaint page expressly places “collection agencies” outside its ordinary jurisdiction and directs consumers toward federal collection-law resources. That is not an all-clear, however: the same page warns that an agency that purchases consumer debt may become a debt buyer subject to Kansas consumer-credit licensing. No broader statewide collection-agency licensing statute was established from the current UCCC, OSBC materials, and cases reviewed in this pass. Local, sector-specific, and attorney-practice requirements remain open. Kansas Bank Commissioner

Kansas instead uses a transaction- and assignee-based architecture:

• A person that makes supervised loans—or takes assignments of supervised loans and directly or indirectly collects or enforces them, including through servicing contracts—must obtain a Kansas supervised-lender license unless an actual exemption applies.
• A new supervised-loan assignee must promptly apply and may conditionally collect or enforce for up to three months while the application has not been denied.
• Other consumer-credit creditors and assignees may fall within the Consumer Credit Filer notice and annual-filing regime.
• Original creditors remain subject to the Kansas Consumer Protection Act and applicable UCCC duties even when no separate “collection agency” license exists. Kansas Legislature+3

The current Consumer Credit Filer statute requires special caution. K.S.A. 16a-6-201 uses notice-and-filing terminology, while OSBC’s operational page calls the authorization a “Consumer Credit Filer License.” The current subsection (2), after the 2024 amendment, has an awkward and potentially defective grammatical structure around supervised-lender licensees, sales and leases, assignments, attorneys, and collection agencies receiving accounts for collection. The session law confirms that language was deleted and inserted, but neither the codified text nor the session law produces a clean, judicially interpreted answer for every pure contingency collection-agency model. This pass therefore does not silently rewrite the statute or claim categorical CCF exemption or coverage for every third-party agency. Kansas Legislature+3

Kansas’s substantive collection rules are more fragmented than the federal FDCPA and Regulation F. The principal state-law controls found here are:

• KCPA prohibitions on deception, false status or affiliation, false representations about rights and remedies, willful ambiguity or omission, and unconscionable conduct.
• UCCC good-faith, fraud, licensing, payment-credit, default, cure, and collection-cost rules for covered consumer-credit actors.
• A general Kansas criminal prohibition on telephonic or electronic harassment.
• Transaction-specific restrictions such as the 15% ceiling on certain outside collection costs under a covered UCCC agreement.

A focused search of the current official UCCC compilation, OSBC guidance, and OSBC administrative-interpretation compilation did not identify a Kansas collector-specific counterpart to Regulation F’s 8 a.m.–9 p.m. rule, seven-calls-in-seven-days presumption, represented-consumer rule, workplace-contact rule, third-party communication code, cease-communication command, or electronic-message opt-out procedure. That is a bounded public-source finding, not proof that no other Kansas statute, sector rule, court order, or unpublished agency position exists. Kansas Legislature+5

The federal FDCPA and Regulation F remain important but conditional. They apply only when the actor, debt, and activity meet federal definitions. An original creditor generally is not a federal debt collector when collecting in its own name, but it can become one by using a name that falsely suggests a third party. A debt buyer collecting purchased debt for itself is not covered merely under the “owed another” prong, although Henson did not decide the principal-purpose prong. Attorneys regularly collecting consumer debt through litigation can be covered, while a person doing no more than enforcing a security interest through nonjudicial foreclosure receives only the limited treatment described in Obduskey. Federal law preserves state laws that provide equal or greater protection. U.S. Code+4

A. Kansas licensing and classification findings

A1. No general statewide OSBC collection-agency license established

OSBC’s current consumer-complaint page distinguishes regulated nonbank financial businesses from ordinary collection agencies. It states that collection agencies generally are not regulated by OSBC, while cautioning that an agency purchasing consumer debt may become a debt buyer and require supervised-lender authority. This supports a bounded conclusion that Kansas does not administer a general OSBC collection-agency license for the ordinary contingency agency model. It does not establish that the agency has no Kansas obligations, that no other agency or locality has authority, or that the agency is exempt from KCPA, the UCCC, federal law, professional rules, or litigation requirements. Kansas Bank Commissioner

The practical Kansas classification question is therefore not simply, “Is this company a collection agency?” It is:

1. What type of debt is involved?
2. Was the obligation made in Kansas?
3. Is it a UCCC consumer credit transaction?
4. Is the account a supervised loan?
5. Does the actor own the receivable, service it, or merely collect for another?
6. Did the actor receive an assignment of the payment right or only an agency placement?
7. Is the actor collecting directly, indirectly, or through a servicing contract?
8. Does an actual statutory exemption apply?
9. Is the conduct independently governed by KCPA or federal law?

A2. Kansas UCCC jurisdiction and remote nexus

The UCCC applies to consumer credit transactions made in Kansas. Current K.S.A. 16a-1-201 reaches transactions where, among other things, the consumer’s written or electronic agreement is received from the consumer in Kansas or the creditor solicits a Kansas resident through mail, telephone, radio, television, email, the internet, or similar means. A remote office, foreign incorporation, digital-only platform, or out-of-state call center therefore does not necessarily defeat Kansas UCCC jurisdiction. Kansas Legislature

The underlying transaction must satisfy the relevant consumer-credit definition. Kansas generally requires an individual consumer, a primarily personal, family, or household purpose, and the applicable installment or finance-charge conditions. Certain high-dollar transactions can fall outside the UCCC threshold. The statute states a July 1, 2024 base threshold of at least $69,500 and provides for annual adjustment, but this pass did not verify the exact adjusted 2026 figure. That amount remains held rather than reconstructed. Kansas Legislature+2

Assignment is defined broadly enough to include transfers of servicing rights. The definitions of “creditor” and “lender” also address assignees of the right to payment, while providing that assignment alone does not automatically impose every assignor duty arising from events before assignment. Kansas Legislature+2

A3. Supervised-lender licensing of assignees and debt buyers

A supervised loan is generally a consumer loan with an annual percentage rate exceeding 12%. Unless exempt, a person may not:

• Make supervised loans; or
• Take assignments of supervised loans and directly or indirectly, including through servicing contracts, collect payments or enforce rights against debtors arising from those loans,

without a supervised-lender license. Kansas Legislature+1

This provision has several consequences:

• A debt buyer purchasing a portfolio of supervised consumer loans can require supervised-lender licensure even when it originated none of the loans.
• A passive owner cannot necessarily avoid the requirement by outsourcing collection to a servicer because the statute expressly reaches indirect collection and servicing contracts.
• A servicer’s own status must be analyzed separately; the owner’s license does not automatically authorize a legally distinct servicer.
• A purchaser’s federal FDCPA status does not decide its Kansas supervised-lender status.

A person newly taking an assignment of supervised loans must apply promptly. The statute permits collection or enforcement for three months after acquisition if the application has not been denied. This is a bounded temporary bridge, not an indefinite safe harbor and not proof that an actual applicant was authorized. Kansas Legislature+1

A4. Supervised-lender lifecycle and places of business

A supervised-lender license becomes effective on the written effective date, runs on a calendar-year basis, and ordinarily expires December 31. Renewal is due by December 1. The statute permits a reinstatement process through the last day of February and provides continuity where the reinstatement application is approved. Licenses are nontransferable and nonassignable. Kansas Legislature+2

The licensee must conduct business under the licensed name and from licensed places. Ten-business-day notice applies to specified changes such as closure or relocation, name or legal-status changes, and changes in listed owners, officers, partners, members, or directors. Kansas-directed internet and electronic solicitations or advertising must identify the licensed name and license number or unique identifier, and those advertising records must be retained for 36 months. Kansas Legislature+1

OSBC’s remote-work guidance allows employees to work from home without automatically making the residence a licensed place of business when, among other things, activity originates from the official licensed customer-facing location and consumers do not meet at the residence. The guidance also says the licensee remains responsible for employees and contractors and must make records available. This is current operational guidance in the 2026 compilation, not a statute, individualized approval, or blanket remote-office exemption. Kansas Bank Commissioner+2

A5. Supervised-lender attorney exemption is narrow

K.S.A. 16a-2-311 exempts “an attorney who is forwarded contracts for collection” from the supervised-lender licensing provision. The text does not create a blanket exemption for:

• A law firm that buys receivables.
• A company owned by an attorney.
• An attorney acting as a principal debt buyer.
• A servicing affiliate.
• A provider whose nonlawyer employees conduct ordinary collection operations.
• A debt purchaser that later places accounts with counsel.

Actual forwarding, attorney status, role, ownership, and conduct matter. Kansas Legislature+1

A6. Consumer Credit Filer regime

K.S.A. 16a-6-201 reaches creditors engaged in Kansas consumer-credit transactions and certain persons that accept assignments and collect payments or enforce rights arising from those transactions. The statutory mechanism is framed as filing notice with the Administrator, while OSBC operationally calls the authorization a “Consumer Credit Filer License.” These are not interchangeable descriptions of every legal consequence, and neither label proves authorization of a named company. Kansas Legislature+1

A person subject to the filing provision must file within 30 days after commencing the relevant business and must amend the notice as required by rule. Annual fees are due by August 31. Current K.A.R. 75-6-32 also requires notice within 30 days and annual filing by August 31, and requires updates to name, legal status, and business location within 30 days. The current rule was amended July 24, 2026. Kansas Legislature+3

Current statutory ambiguity

The current K.S.A. 16a-6-201(2) sentence addressing supervised financial organizations, supervised-loan licensees, consumer sales and leases, assignments, attorneys, and collection agencies is grammatically difficult. The 2024 session law confirms that the legislature deleted a former sentence concerning fees for attorneys or collection agencies receiving accounts for collection and inserted new language, but no controlling published decision or formal OSBC interpretation located in this pass resolves the resulting edge cases. Kansas Secretary of State+2

Accordingly:

• A debt buyer or assignee collecting consumer-credit obligations may be a CCF.
• A supervised-lender licensee may be outside parts of the CCF regime, subject to the actual statutory conditions.
• The exact CCF treatment of a pure contingency agency or attorney receiving accounts—but taking no assignment—remains unresolved on the current text reviewed.
• The statute should not be “corrected” by assumption.

A7. Public application and verification routes

OSBC’s public applications page directs supervised-lender applications through NMLS and CCF filings through OSBC Online. The page describes CCF activity to include extending credit, purchasing retail installment contracts or loans, acquiring leases, and acquiring servicing rights. It identifies an annual August 31 cycle and states that 2026 notices were issued July 30, 2026. Those operational descriptions support procedure but do not replace the statute’s coverage language. Kansas Bank Commissioner

OSBC’s online-help page explains public searches by name, license number, license type, status, and other identifiers. CCF records are searched through OSBC Online; nonbank financial-company records can be searched through NMLS Consumer Access. No named provider was searched in this pass. Kansas Bank Commissioner+1

OSBC also publishes a 23-page “Approved Consumer Credit Filers” roster dated July 28, 2026. It contains entries with both NOT and SL designations. The roster is dated operational evidence only. A listed entry does not prove present authorization on a later date, coverage of every activity, account ownership, compliance, or authority of a related entity. Kansas Bank Commissioner

A8. Government fees and financial responsibility

The supervised-lender fee schedule consistently displayed a $600 company application or renewal charge and a $100 branch charge. The CCF schedule consistently displayed:

• $30 per location.
• $15 per $100,000—or fraction thereof—of average unpaid balance.
• $10 per $100,000—or fraction thereof—for specified assignments to nonfilers.

A material source-version conflict exists. The parsed PDF metadata/text described the schedule as revised August 2026 and reported $500 late or reinstatement figures, while the rendered pages displayed a footer of “Rev. 10/2025” and showed up to $750 or $750 figures. The exact current late and reinstatement amount is therefore held. No current amount should be selected from the conflicting render and parse without an authoritative corrected schedule. Kansas Bank Commissioner+2

Current K.A.R. 75-6-31 requires a supervised-lender surety bond of $100,000 for the first licensed place plus $25,000 for each additional licensed place, ordinarily capped at $300,000, with authority in special circumstances to require up to $1 million. K.A.R. 75-6-35 requires positive net worth under its stated exclusions and an annual CPA-reviewed financial statement, subject to the rule’s exception authority. These entry thresholds are identified here only to explain market access. Bond claims, underwriting, cancellation, collateral, and security-specific remedies are deferred to a separate collector-security pass. Kansas Bank Commissioner+2

No separate Kansas qualifying-individual examination, resident-manager mandate, or responsible-person credential was established from the public statutes, rules, and operational pages reviewed. The current complete NMLS state checklist was not extracted, so background, control-person, fingerprint, branch, or qualifying-person requirements not visible in these sources remain held.

B. Model-by-license, exemption, and nexus matrix

Support for this matrix comes from the UCCC scope, definitions, supervised-lender and CCF provisions, KCPA definitions, Kansas cases, and federal definitions. Kansas Legislature+6

C. State-specific collection conduct

C1. KCPA applies to independent collection agencies

In State ex rel. Miller v. Midwest Service Bureau of Topeka, Inc., the Kansas Supreme Court held that an independent collection agency can be a KCPA “supplier” when:

1. The debt arose from a consumer transaction.
2. The original parties were a supplier and consumer.
3. The complained-of collection practice was deceptive or unconscionable.

The case arose on an interlocutory appeal from denial of a motion to dismiss. It established KCPA coverage; it did not adjudicate the truth of the alleged conduct or enter a final penalty against the agency. Justia Law+1

That holding is material because Kansas did not enact a separate comprehensive collection-conduct code comparable to the FDCPA. KCPA therefore supplies broad state-law standards applicable to both original suppliers and independent collection agencies when the underlying transaction and conduct satisfy the Act.

C2. Deceptive collection conduct

K.S.A. 50-626 prohibits deceptive acts and practices in consumer transactions. Material collection applications include:

• False representations that the collector has sponsorship, approval, status, affiliation, or connection it does not have.
• Willful exaggeration, falsehood, innuendo, or ambiguity as to a material fact.
• Willful failure to state a material fact or willful concealment, suppression, or omission.
• False statements about rights, remedies, or obligations.

The statute can be violated even if no consumer was actually misled. That violation rule does not, by itself, establish private standing, damages, or a private penalty; those remedy questions remain for the separate remedies component. Kansas Legislature

Collection examples that can implicate these provisions include falsely claiming to be:

• A law firm.
• A court officer.
• A government agency.
• The original creditor.
• A licensed Kansas lender.
• An independent agency when the “agency” is merely an internal creditor department.

The same provisions can reach false statements that a lawsuit, garnishment, arrest, repossession, license suspension, or credit reporting action is legally available or imminent when the actor lacks the present right or intent to take it. Actual content, materiality, intent where specified, and legal authority must be proved.

C3. Unconscionable collection conduct

K.S.A. 50-627 prohibits unconscionable acts or practices before, during, or after a consumer transaction. Unconscionability is a question for the court. Statutory considerations include known consumer inability to receive a material benefit, gross disparity, one-sided terms, exploitation of consumer vulnerability, and misleading statements of opinion on which the consumer is likely to rely. Kansas Legislature

A harsh collection demand is not automatically unconscionable. The relevant context includes the debt’s validity, the actor’s knowledge, consumer vulnerability, the amount demanded, the legal rights actually available, and whether pressure or terms are materially one-sided.

C4. UCCC good faith and applicable-law duties

K.S.A. 16a-2-310 applies to persons required to hold supervised-lender authority or to file as Consumer Credit Filers. It prohibits lack of good faith or fraud in consumer-credit transactions, aiding unlicensed activity, and failure to comply with applicable UCCC provisions and other state or federal law. Some clauses are origination-oriented and should not be converted into a universal collection code, but the provision supplies a regulatory conduct basis for covered lenders and filers. Kansas Legislature

C5. Communication times, places, frequency, workplace, third parties, and cease requests

No current Kansas collection-specific statute or regulation was located in the sources reviewed that independently establishes:

• An 8 a.m.–9 p.m. contact window.
• A numerical call-frequency presumption.
• A blanket workplace-contact prohibition.
• A represented-consumer contact ban.
• A third-party-location-only rule.
• A written cease-communication command.
• A debt-collector electronic opt-out mechanism.
• A social-media direct-message procedure.

Focused searches of the current official UCCC compilation, OSBC administrative interpretations, and OSBC guidance found no pertinent provisions using those concepts. This is a limited negative search and cannot establish that another Kansas criminal, privacy, sector, professional, or local rule never applies. Kansas Bank Commissioner+5

For an actor covered by the federal FDCPA and Regulation F, federal communication rules can independently govern call times, known inconvenience, workplace contacts, represented consumers, third-party communications, cease requests, electronic communications, and frequency presumptions. Those federal rules should not be recaptioned as Kansas enactments. eCFR+2

C6. General Kansas telecommunication harassment

K.S.A. 21-6206 is a general criminal statute rather than a collection-specific provision. It reaches, among other things:

• Telephone calls or communications made with intent to abuse, threaten, or harass.
• Repeated telephone ringing with intent to harass.
• Certain calls or recorded communications without proper identification.

A qualifying violation is a class A misdemeanor. The criminal statute does not itself create a collection license, a debt-validation procedure, or an automatic private damages remedy. Kansas Legislature

C7. Collection fees and costs

For a covered UCCC consumer-credit transaction, K.S.A. 16a-2-507 permits a consumer-credit agreement to provide for reasonable outside collection costs, including court, attorney, and collection-agency costs, subject to important conditions:

• The costs must be incurred outside the creditor’s salaried staff.
• The creditor may not recover both attorney fees and collection-agency fees.
• The amount may not exceed 15% of the unpaid debt after default.
• A contractual provision violating the section is unenforceable.
• Separate costs of realizing on a security interest are treated differently. Kansas Legislature

This is a ceiling and permission structure, not a flat automatic 15% surcharge. The creditor still needs:

• Contractual authorization.
• Actual outside collection costs.
• Reasonableness.
• A covered UCCC transaction.
• A default.
• Compliance with the no-double-fee rule.

For credit instruments outside that UCCC provision, K.S.A. 58-2312 generally permits an agreement to provide for reasonable collection costs while similarly excluding salaried-employee expenses and barring both attorney and collection-agency fees. It does not state the UCCC’s 15% ceiling. The more specific UCCC rule controls where applicable. Kansas Legislature

C8. Payment credit and processing

K.S.A. 16a-2-104 generally requires a creditor to credit payment on receipt unless delayed crediting causes no finance or other charge. When the payment does not conform to reasonable written payment requirements but the creditor nevertheless accepts it, credit ordinarily must occur within five days. Kansas Legislature

This rule does not determine:

• Whether the collector had authority to receive payment.
• Whether a payment was properly allocated among multiple accounts.
• Whether a disputed amount was valid.
• Whether a post-dated payment was authorized.
• Whether a processor fee was lawful.

Those account-level questions remain later work.

C9. Default and cure

Under K.S.A. 16a-5-109, a consumer is in default where a required payment is not made or where the prospect of payment, performance, or realization on collateral is significantly impaired. The creditor bears the burden of establishing significant impairment. Kansas Legislature

For specified installment-payment defaults, K.S.A. 16a-5-111 permits a cure notice after the default has continued for ten days. The written notice must include the creditor’s name, address, and telephone number; a brief description of the transaction; the consumer’s cure right; the amount and date required to cure; and the possible assessment of collection costs. Acceleration or repossession ordinarily cannot proceed until 20 days after the notice in the covered installment-default situation. Kansas Legislature

The Kansas cure notice is not the federal FDCPA validation notice. It addresses a creditor’s right to accelerate or repossess under the UCCC, not the federal collector’s obligation to provide debt-validation information.

C10. Disputes, cease requests, bankruptcy, death, and credit reporting

This pass did not establish a comprehensive Kansas state analogue to federal FDCPA dispute validation, cease communication, decedent-contact, or credit-reporting procedures. The following boundaries apply:

• A false statement about dispute rights, legal remedies, credit reporting, or account status can be actionable under KCPA.
• A covered federal debt collector may have FDCPA and Regulation F duties.
• Bankruptcy communications can implicate the automatic stay or discharge injunction, but bankruptcy analysis is deferred.
• FCRA furnishing and dispute duties are deferred to the later credit-reporting pass.
• Death, estate, probate, and authorized-representative contact rules are deferred.
• A CCF filing, supervised-lender license, or roster entry does not validate a debt, establish ownership, or prove an account balance.

C11. CSO and collection-agency separation

K.S.A. 50-1121 prohibits a Kansas credit-services-organization licensee from operating as a collection agency and from purchasing consumer debt. A CSO license therefore is not a collection-agency license, debt-buyer authorization, or supervised-lender license. The precise treatment of affiliates and shared-control structures requires entity-specific analysis. Kansas Legislature

D. State-conduct matrix

The Kansas conduct authorities supporting this matrix are K.S.A. 50-626, 50-627, 16a-2-310, 16a-2-104, 16a-2-507, 16a-5-109, 16a-5-111, 58-2312, and 21-6206. Kansas Legislature+8

E. Federal gateway and Kansas differences

E1. FDCPA scope

Federal “debt” generally means an obligation arising from a transaction primarily for personal, family, or household purposes. A debt collector includes a person whose principal purpose is collection of debts or who regularly collects debts owed or due another. The definition separately includes a creditor using a name suggesting a third party and gives limited treatment to a person whose principal business is enforcement of security interests. U.S. Code

Federal exclusions include, subject to their exact terms:

• Certain creditor employees collecting in the creditor’s name.
• Certain affiliates collecting only for related entities.
• Government officers.
• Process servers performing service.
• Bona fide nonprofit consumer-credit counseling activity.
• Certain fiduciary, escrow, and servicing activity.
• Certain assignments not in default when obtained.

These exclusions do not create Kansas supervised-lender or CCF exemptions.

E2. Debt buyers

In Henson v. Santander Consumer USA Inc., the Supreme Court held that a company collecting debt it had purchased for itself was not collecting a debt “owed or due another” under that definitional prong. The Court expressly did not decide the separate principal-purpose definition. Thus, “the debt buyer owns the debt” is not a complete federal FDCPA analysis. It is also irrelevant to whether Kansas supervised-lender or CCF requirements apply. Supreme Court+3

E3. Attorneys and litigation

In Heintz v. Jenkins, the Supreme Court held that the FDCPA applies to attorneys who regularly engage in consumer-debt collection activity, including litigation. Attorney status does not itself provide a federal exemption. Kansas’s narrow supervised-lender exemption for an attorney forwarded contracts for collection remains a separate state rule. GovInfo+2

E4. Security-interest enforcement

In Obduskey v. McCarthy & Holthus LLP, the Supreme Court held that a business engaged in no more than nonjudicial foreclosure is generally subject only to the limited FDCPA treatment for security-interest enforcement. The Court’s result does not immunize additional debt-collection activity, decide Kansas UCCC default or cure law, or govern judicial collection independent of its facts. Supreme Court+3

E5. Regulation F is conditional federal law

For an FDCPA-covered debt collector, Regulation F governs material communication subjects including:

• Communication at inconvenient times or places.
• The presumptively inconvenient 8 a.m.–9 p.m. window.
• Workplace contacts where the collector knows the employer prohibits them.
• Communications with represented consumers.
• Third-party communications.
• Cease-communication requests.
• Electronic communication procedures.
• Frequency presumptions, including the seven-calls-in-seven-days framework.

These are not independently enacted Kansas rules. An original creditor outside the federal definition can still be liable under KCPA or another Kansas law, but not because Regulation F was converted into state law. eCFR+3

E6. State-law preservation

The FDCPA does not annul, alter, or affect state law except to the extent of inconsistency, and greater state protection is not inconsistent. Kansas KCPA and UCCC duties can therefore coexist with federal law. U.S. Code

F. Documentation, validation, and reporting boundaries preserved for later passes

G. Material opinions and interpretations

G1. State ex rel. Miller v. Midwest Service Bureau of Topeka, Inc.

Authority: Kansas Supreme Court, 229 Kan. 322 (1981). Posture: Interlocutory appeal from denial of a motion to dismiss a government KCPA action. Holding relevant here: An independent collection agency can be a KCPA supplier when the debt arose from a consumer transaction between a supplier and consumer and the alleged collection activity was deceptive or unconscionable. Limit: The court did not enter final liability or determine the truth of the alleged practices. Justia Law+1

G2. Independent Financial, Inc. v. Wanna

Authority: Published Kansas Court of Appeals decision, 2008. Posture: Summary judgment. Holding relevant here: An assignee of a supervised consumer loan that neither held a supervised-lender license nor made the statutory application lacked authority to collect or enforce the loan on the facts before the court. Limits: The case involved the historical statute and mortgage-related facts. Current §16a-2-301 retains the prompt-application and conditional three-month architecture, but current mortgage and federal treatment should not be inferred wholesale from the older case. Justia Law+1

G3. Kansas Attorney General Opinion 2012-11

The opinion concluded, in substance, that:

• A true sale or assignment can make the purchaser the assignee and real party in interest.
• Merely placing an account with a collection agency does not make the agency the assignee or entitle it to sue in its own name.
• An assignee collecting a supervised consumer debt requires supervised-lender authority.

The opinion is persuasive executive-branch guidance, not binding judicial precedent. Relevant pages were read from the rendered PDF; a later direct open of the same official URL returned HTTP 502, which is preserved as an access limitation rather than treated as withdrawal. Washburn Law KSA Group+2

G4. Henson, Heintz, and Obduskey

These federal Supreme Court decisions supply narrow definitional boundaries:

• Henson: ownership of purchased debt defeats only the “owed another” route; principal-purpose was not decided.
• Heintz: attorneys regularly collecting through litigation can be debt collectors.
• Obduskey: an actor doing no more than nonjudicial foreclosure receives limited FDCPA treatment.

None decides Kansas supervised-lender licensure, CCF filing, KCPA liability, or the current malformed §16a-6-201 language. Supreme Court+2

G5. Formal orders and current interpretations

A focused search of the current OSBC administrative-interpretation and guidance compilations did not locate:

• A formal interpretation resolving current §16a-6-201(2) for pure contingency agencies.
• A current order declaring all debt buyers to be supervised lenders.
• A Kansas-specific collector call-frequency or time-of-day rule.
• A formal interpretation converting Regulation F into state law.
• A current order defining when passive ownership plus servicing becomes CCF activity.

This limited negative search is not proof no consent order, unpublished examination position, trial-court decision, or differently indexed document exists. Kansas Bank Commissioner+3

H. Bounded workflows and examples

All examples are hypothetical. They do not establish an actual license, debt, collector, account balance, valid claim, consumer liability, or private remedy.

Example H1 — Original creditor collecting in its own name

Facts

• Kansas resident used a consumer installment loan for household purposes.
• Original lender owns the debt.
• Lender’s employees collect under the lender’s licensed name.
• Loan APR is 10%.

Classification

Plain text

General collection-agency license                   Not established
Supervised-loan threshold (>12% APR)                 Not met on stated APR
CCF analysis                                         Potentially applicable
KCPA supplier status                                 Potentially applicable
Federal FDCPA debt-collector status                  Generally not, on stated own-name facts

Missing facts

• Amount financed and adjusted threshold.
• Whether lender is a supervised financial organization.
• Current CCF filing or exemption.
• Exact collection representations.

The absence of supervised-loan status does not eliminate CCF or KCPA obligations.

Example H2 — Original creditor uses a fake outside agency name

Facts

• Original creditor owns the debt.
• Collection letters use “National Recovery Bureau.”
• No separate entity exists.
• Letter suggests an independent agency has been retained.

State result

The name can implicate KCPA prohibitions on false status, affiliation, and material ambiguity.

Federal result

The creditor can fall within the FDCPA definition where it uses a name other than its own that would indicate a third person is collecting the debt.

Held

• Whether the name is a registered DBA does not by itself decide how a reasonable consumer would understand the letter.
• No private remedy is calculated.

Example H3 — Debt buyer acquires a $5,000, 24% consumer loan

Facts

• Kansas household-purpose loan.
• Outstanding principal: $5,000.
• APR: 24%.
• Buyer acquires the right to payment after default.
• Buyer is not an exempt supervised financial organization.
• Buyer promptly applies for a supervised-lender license.
• Application has not been denied.

Classification

Plain text

APR                                         24%
Supervised-loan threshold                   >12%
Supervised loan                             Yes, subject to all other definitions
Assignee licensing trigger                  Yes
Temporary collection/enforcement bridge     Up to 3 months while application not denied

The three-month bridge does not establish that the application is complete, will be approved, or authorizes collection after the period expires.

Federal status remains separate: Henson does not resolve the principal-purpose definition.

Example H4 — Passive portfolio owner hires a servicer

Facts

• Owner buys supervised loans.
• Owner has no consumer-facing staff.
• Independent servicer receives payments and sends collection letters.
• Owner claims it is “passive.”

Kansas result

K.S.A. 16a-2-301 expressly reaches an assignee that directly or indirectly, including through servicing contracts, collects or enforces supervised loans. Passive ownership plus outsourced servicing is therefore not an automatic licensing exemption.

Still required

• Owner’s and servicer’s separate legal identities.
• Assignment and servicing documents.
• Debt APR and consumer purpose.
• License and filing status of each entity.
• Authority to receive payments.

Example H5 — Consumer Credit Filer fee arithmetic

Assumptions

• Entity is legally required to file as a CCF.
• It operates from two reportable locations.
• Average unpaid balance is $250,000.
• No other assignment-based fee applies.
• Stable displayed fee schedule controls.

Calculation

Plain text

Location charge:
2 locations × $30                         = $60

Average-unpaid-balance units:
ceil($250,000 ÷ $100,000)                 = 3 units

Balance charge:
3 units × $15                             = $45

Illustrative total:
$60 + $45                                 = $105

Result: $105, under the stated assumptions.

This arithmetic does not determine whether the actor must file, whether a remote home counts as a location, or whether another fee category applies. Exact late or reinstatement amounts remain held because the official PDF parse and rendered pages conflict. Kansas Bank Commissioner+2

Example H6 — Outside collection-cost ceiling

Facts

• Covered UCCC consumer-credit agreement expressly authorizes reasonable outside collection costs.
• Unpaid debt after default: $8,000.
• Actual reasonable outside agency invoice: $900.
• No attorney fee is also sought.
• No salaried employee cost is included.

Calculation

Plain text

Statutory percentage ceiling:
$8,000 × 15%                              = $1,200

Actual reasonable outside cost             $900

Potential collectible amount:
min($1,200, $900)                          = $900

Result: The maximum supported by the stated facts is $900, not an automatic $1,200.

If the actual outside cost were $1,500:

Plain text

min($1,200, $1,500)                        = $1,200

Contract authorization, reasonableness, default, and the no-double-fee rule remain necessary. Kansas Legislature

Example H7 — Remote third-party agency contacts consumer at work

Facts

• Out-of-state contingency agency collects a Kansas household debt owed another.
• Agency calls the consumer’s workplace at 7:30 a.m.
• Employer prohibits personal calls.
• Agency knows both facts.

Kansas result

No collector-specific Kansas 8 a.m. rule or workplace-contact rule was located. KCPA and the general harassment statute may apply depending on deception, unconscionability, intent, frequency, and actual conduct.

Federal result

If the agency is an FDCPA debt collector, Regulation F’s time, known-inconvenience, and workplace provisions can apply.

Practical records

• Call logs and timestamps.
• Time-zone basis.
• Employer policy and notice.
• Collector’s knowledge.
• Debt purpose and ownership.
• Consumer consent or revocation.

Example H8 — Attorney receives forwarded accounts versus buys debt

Branch A — Forwarded contracts

A Kansas attorney is forwarded creditor contracts for collection and does not buy the receivables.

• Narrow supervised-lender exemption may apply.
• KCPA and federal FDCPA analysis remain separate.
• Litigation conduct may be covered by Heintz.

Branch B — Attorney-owned company buys the accounts

The company purchases the right to payment and collects for itself.

• The forwarded-contract exemption is not established.
• Supervised-lender or CCF duties depend on the debt and assignment.
• Attorney ownership alone is not an exemption.
• Henson affects only one federal definitional prong.

Example H9 — False legal threat and added 20% fee

Facts

• Unpaid UCCC debt: $4,000.
• Collector adds a flat 20% collection charge: $800.
• Actual outside collection cost: $300.
• Collector threatens immediate garnishment without a judgment.

Collection-cost calculation

Plain text

UCCC 15% ceiling:
$4,000 × 15%                              = $600

Actual reasonable cost                     $300

Potentially supportable amount:
min($600, $300)                            = $300

The proposed $800 exceeds both the percentage ceiling and actual cost on the stated facts.

The garnishment threat can also implicate KCPA if the collector lacks the present legal right to garnish. This example does not calculate damages or penalties.

Example H10 — Medical debt versus corporate commercial debt

Medical debt

A hospital permits a Kansas patient to pay personal medical charges in installments and later assigns the balance.

• Hospital services are not categorically outside UCCC/KCPA.
• Consumer-credit and assignment rules depend on finance charge, installment structure, amount, and purpose.
• The assignee’s supervised-lender or CCF status must be evaluated.

Corporate invoice

A corporation owes a vendor on a commercial invoice.

• The corporation ordinarily is not a UCCC consumer or FDCPA consumer.
• It ordinarily is not a KCPA “consumer” merely because a collection agency is involved.
• General contract, fraud, harassment, and litigation rules can still apply, but are outside this pass.

I. Source register

J. Claim register

K. Granular coverage and gap table

L. Researcher self-check

Actually read or inspected in PASS-07

• Current Kansas UCCC scope, jurisdiction, exclusions, and material definitions.
• Current supervised-lender licensing trigger, temporary assignee bridge, lifecycle, discipline, conduct, and attorney exemption.
• Current Consumer Credit Filer statute, notice timing, annual fee provision, and fee-setting authority.
• The 2024 session-law amendment to K.S.A. 16a-6-201.
• Current K.A.R. 75-6-31, 75-6-32, and 75-6-35 in the official 2026 UCCC compilation.
• Current OSBC applications/forms, complaint-jurisdiction, online-help, CCF-roster, fee-summary, remote-work guidance, administrative-interpretation, and guidance materials.
• Current Kansas KCPA definitions and deceptive/unconscionable conduct provisions.
• Current Kansas payment-credit, collection-cost, default, cure, and general telecommunication-harassment provisions.
• Current K.S.A. 50-1121 CSO/collection boundary, without rerunning the CSO passes.
• Midwest Service Bureau, Independent Financial v. Wanna, Kansas AG Opinion 2012-11, Henson, Heintz, and Obduskey to the scopes described.
• Current federal FDCPA definitions, state-law preservation clause, and selected Regulation F communication provisions.
• Focused official-source searches for Kansas-specific collector call-time, frequency, workplace, represented-consumer, third-party, cease-request, and electronic opt-out rules.

Preserved rather than regenerated

• Prior P1/P2 CSO provider-access and fee conclusions and source histories.
• The P3–P5 imported work, without treating its new conclusions as accepted premises.
• The submitted PASS-06 remedies work, without relying on it as reviewed authority.
• Prior OSBC source-access limitations and corrected PDF page systems.

Not read, obtained, or established

• A complete Kansas municipal-code search for local collection-agency permits.
• Every profession- or sector-specific collection statute.
• A complete NMLS Kansas supervised-lender checklist.
• Any named collection agency, debt buyer, servicer, attorney, affiliate, or creditor record.
• Any private license file, application, examination, complaint, or account record.
• A formal OSBC interpretation resolving current K.S.A. 16a-6-201(2).
• A complete Kansas appellate, federal, unpublished, or trial-court citator.
• A complete OSBC administrative-order or consent-order docket.
• Detailed Kansas and federal validation-notice requirements.
• Account-level assignment and chain-of-title proof.
• FCRA/Reg V furnishing and dispute duties.
• Debt-specific limitation, revival, acknowledgment, choice-of-law, or repose rules.
• Litigation pleading, venue, service, standing, default-judgment, attorney-affidavit, or evidence rules.
• Judgment liens, garnishment, exemptions, wage limits, bank levies, or post-judgment interest.
• Complete repossession, collateral-sale, deficiency, or breach-of-peace rules.
• Bankruptcy-stay, discharge, probate, decedent, military, medical, utility, tax, student-loan, secured, local, or tribal collection rules.
• Full private remedies, standing, damages, penalties, and limitations for collection violations.
• Any filing, application, account change, contact, purchase, provider lookup, private record request, website work, publication, Chrome control, other Chat, or CAPTCHA workaround.

Method limits

• “No general collection-agency license established” was not converted into “Kansas does not regulate collectors.”
• OSBC’s operational use of “CCF license” was not substituted for the statute’s notice language.
• The malformed current CCF provision was not silently rewritten.
• A debt buyer was not assumed to be a federal debt collector solely because it bought defaulted debt.
• An attorney was not assumed exempt merely because the collection was conducted through a law firm.
• Federal Regulation F communication rules were not recast as Kansas law.
• A public roster or license entry was not treated as proof of account ownership, consumer liability, or current compliance.
• A Kansas cure notice was not treated as an FDCPA validation notice.
• A 15% collection-cost ceiling was not treated as an automatic fee.
• Search silence was not treated as proof that no unpublished order, sector rule, or local law exists.
• No actual provider authorization, consumer liability, recovery, operational clearance, component acceptance, Kansas acceptance, parent-dossier acceptance, A066 acceptance, or publication readiness is supplied.

PASS-07 conclusion

Kansas does not use a single collection-agency licensing and conduct statute. Ordinary third-party agencies do not appear to receive a general OSBC collection license, but debt ownership, assignment, servicing, APR, consumer purpose, and Kansas nexus can activate the supervised-lender or Consumer Credit Filer regimes. Original creditors, debt buyers, agencies, attorneys, servicers, and affiliates therefore require separate model-specific classification.

Kansas’s principal substantive collection controls are KCPA deception and unconscionability, UCCC licensing and consumer-credit duties, collection-cost limits, payment-credit and cure rules, and general telecommunication-harassment law. The detailed communication architecture familiar from the FDCPA and Regulation F remains a conditional federal overlay rather than independently enacted Kansas law. Current CCF treatment of a pure contingency collection agency remains unresolved because of the amended statute’s awkward wording, and the complete validation, documentation, reporting, limitations, litigation, garnishment, sector, local, tribal, and remedies dimensions remain open.

END S_KS PASS-07.