TITLE 19
Financial institutions
CHAPTER 19-14
Licensed Activities
SECTION 19-14-1

§ 19-14-1 Definitions. - For purposes of this chapter and chapters 14.1, 14.2, 14.3, 14.4 and 14.6 of this title:
(1) "Check" means any check, draft, money order, personal money order, or other instrument for the transmission or payment of money. For the purposes of check cashing, travelers checks or foreign denomination instruments shall not be considered checks. "Check cashing" means providing currency for checks;
(2) "Deliver" means to deliver a check to the first person who in payment for the check makes or purports to make a remittance of or against the face amount of the check, whether or not the deliverer also charges a fee in addition to the face amount, and whether or not the deliverer signs the check;
(3) "Electronic money transfer" means receiving money for transmission within the United States or to locations abroad by any means including, but not limited to, wire, facsimile or other electronic transfer system;
(4) "Lender" means any person who makes or funds a loan within this state with the person's own funds, regardless of whether the person is the nominal mortgagee or creditor on the instrument evidencing the loan;
(ii) A loan is made or funded within this state if any of the following conditions exist:
(A) The loan is secured by real property located in this state;
(B) An application for a loan is taken by an employee, agent, or representative of the lender within this state;
(C) The loan closes within this state; or
(D) The loan solicitation is done by an individual with a physical presence in this state.
(iii) The term "lender" shall also include any person engaged in a transaction whereby the person makes or funds a loan within this state using the proceeds of an advance under a line of credit over which proceeds the person has dominion and control and for the repayment of which the person is unconditionally liable. This transaction is not a table funding transaction. A person is deemed to have dominion and control over the proceeds of an advance under a line of credit used to fund a loan regardless of whether:
(A) The person may, contemporaneously with or shortly following the funding of the loan, assign or deliver to the line of credit lender one or more loans funded by the proceeds of an advance to the person under the line of credit;
(B) The proceeds of an advance are delivered directly to the settlement agent by the line of credit lender, unless the settlement agent is the agent of the line of credit lender;
(C) One or more loans funded by the proceeds of an advance under the line of credit is purchased by the line of credit lender; or
(D) Under the circumstances as set forth in regulations adopted by the director or the director's designee pursuant to this chapter;
(5) "Licensee" means an entity licensed under this chapter;
(6) "Loan" means any advance of money or credit including, but not limited to:
(i) Loans secured by mortgages;
(ii) Insurance premium finance agreements;
(iii) The purchase or acquisition of retail installment contracts or advances to the holders of those contracts;
(iv) Educational loans;
(v) Any other advance of money; or
(vi) Any transaction such as those commonly known as "pay day loans," "pay day advances," or "deferred presentment loans," in which a cash advance is made to a customer in exchange for the customer's personal check, or in exchange for the customer's authorization to debit the customer's deposit account, and where the parties agree either that the check will not be cashed or deposited, or that customer's deposit account will not be debited, until a designated future date.
(7) "Loan broker" means any person who, for compensation or gain, or in the expectation of compensation or gain, either directly or indirectly, solicits, processes, negotiates, places or sells a loan within this state for others in the primary market, or offers to do so. A loan broker shall also mean any person who is the nominal mortgagee or creditor in a table funding transaction. A loan is brokered within this state if any of the following conditions exist:
(i) The loan is secured by real property located in this state;
(ii) An application for a loan is taken by an employee, agent or representative of the loan broker within this state;
(iii) The loan closes within this state; or
(iv) The loan solicitation is done by an individual with a physical presence in this state.
(8) "Personal money order" means any instrument for the transmission or payment of money in relation to which the purchaser or remitter appoints or purports to appoint the seller as his or her agent for the receipt, transmission, or handling of money, whether the instrument is signed by the seller or by the purchaser or remitter or some other person;
(9) "Primary market" means the market in which loans are made to borrowers by lenders, whether or not through a loan broker or other conduit;
(10) "Principal owner" means any person who owns, controls, votes or has a beneficial interest in, directly or indirectly, ten percent (10%) or more of the outstanding capital stock of a licensee;
(11) "Sell" means to sell, to issue, or to deliver a check;
(12) "Small loan" means a loan of less than five thousand dollars ($5,000), not secured by real estate, made pursuant to the provisions of chapter 14.2 of this title;
(13) "Small loan lender" means a lender engaged in the business of making small loans within this state;
(14) "Table funding transaction" means a transaction in which there is a contemporaneous advance of funds by a lender and an assignment by the mortgagee or creditor of the loan to the lender;
(15) "Check casher" means a person or entity that, for compensation, engages, in whole or in part, in the business of cashing checks;
(16) "Deferred deposit transaction" means any transaction such as those commonly known as "pay-day loans," "pay-day advances," or "deferred presentment loans" in which a cash advance is made to a customer in exchange for the customer's personal check or in exchange for the customer's authorization to debit the customer's deposit account and where the parties agree either that the check will not be cashed or deposited, or that the customer's deposit account will not be debited until a designated future date;
(17) "Insurance premium finance agreement" means an agreement by which an insured, or prospective insured, promises to pay to an insurance premium finance company the amount advanced or to be advanced, under the agreement to an insurer or to an insurance producer, in payment of a premium or premiums on an insurance contract or contracts, together with interest and a service charge, as authorized and limited by this title;
(18) "Insurance premium finance company" means a person engaged in the business of making insurance premium finance agreements or acquiring insurance premium finance agreements from other insurance premium finance companies; and
(19) "Simple interest" means interest computed on the principal balance outstanding immediately prior to a payment for the actual number of days between payments made on a loan over the life of a loan.
CHAPTER 19-14
Licensed Activities
SECTION 19-14-2

§ 19-14-2 Licenses required. - No person shall engage within this state in the business of: (1) making or funding loans or acting as a lender or small loan lender; (2) brokering loans or acting as a loan broker; (3) selling checks for a fee or other consideration; (4) cashing checks for a fee or other consideration which includes any premium charged for the sale of goods in excess of the cash price of the goods; or (5) providing electronic money transfers for a fee or other consideration without first obtaining a license from the director or the director's designee. Special exemptions from licensing for each activity are contained in other chapters in this title.
CHAPTER 19-14.1
Lenders and Loan Brokers
SECTION 19-14.1-1

§ 19-14.1-1 Confessions of judgment - Incomplete instruments prohibited. - No lender or loan broker shall take any confession of judgment, or any power of attorney, except a power of attorney or power of sale authorizing the lender or loan broker in case of default in payment of interest or principal, to enforce the provisions of any chattel mortgage or pledge. No lender or loan broker shall take any note, promise to pay, or security that does not accurately disclose the actual amount of the loan, the time for which it is made, and the agreed rate of interest nor any instrument in which blanks are left to be filled in after execution. The provisions of this section related to confessions of judgment and power of attorney shall not apply to real estate secured loans.
CHAPTER 19-14.2
Small Loan Lenders
SECTION 19-14.2-11

§ 19-14.2-11 Maximum term of small loans. - No small loan lender shall enter into any contract of loan under this chapter of one thousand dollars ($1,000) or less, excluding charges, under which the borrower agrees to make any scheduled repayment of cash advance or principal more than twenty-five (25) months from the date of making the contract, nor, any contract of small loan exceeding one thousand dollars ($1,000) but not exceeding five thousand dollars ($5,000), excluding charges, under which the borrower agrees to make any scheduled repayment of cash advance or principal more than sixty (60) months from the date of making the contract. Every contract of small loan shall provide for repayment of the loan in substantially equal installments at approximately equal periodical intervals of time.
CHAPTER 19-14.2
Small Loan Lenders
SECTION 19-14.2-8

§ 19-14.2-8 Maximum loan and interest rate. - Every small loan lender may lend up to five thousand dollars ($5,000) in the aggregate to one borrower and may charge, contract for, and receive on the loan interest on the unpaid principal balance on a loan at a rate not exceeding the following:
(1) Loans up to and including three hundred dollars ($300), three percent (3%) per month;
(2) Loans exceeding three hundred dollars ($300) but not exceeding eight hundred dollars ($800), two and one-half percent (2.5%) per month; and
(3) Loans exceeding eight hundred dollars ($800), but not exceeding five thousand dollars ($5,000), two percent (2%) per month.
CHAPTER 19-14.2
Small Loan Lenders
SECTION 19-14.2-10

§ 19-14.2-10 Computation of interest. - (a) Interest on loans made under this chapter shall not be paid, deducted, or received in advance, or compounded, and shall be computed and paid only on unpaid principal balances and on the basis of the number of days actually elapsed. For the purpose of these computations a month shall be any period of thirty (30) consecutive days.
(b) If part or all of the consideration for a contract of a small loan is the unpaid balance of a prior loan with the same licensee, then the principal of the new contract of loan shall not include any unpaid interest on the prior loan, except interest which has accrued within sixty (60) days before the making of the new contract of loan; provided, however, that unpaid interest on a prior loan may not be so included in the principal of a new loan more than once in any period of twelve (12) months.