Section 5-19-22

License to engage in business of making consumer loans or taking assignments of consumer credit contracts - Required; exceptions; application; investigation of applicant; investigation fee; standards for issuance; hearing on qualifications of applicant; effect of holding license under Small Loan Act; form; posting; nontransferable; license fee; penalty for late payment of license fee; disposition of license fee.

(a) No creditor having a place of business in Alabama, or having a resident employee in Alabama whose employment includes making consumer loans or taking assignments of consumer credit contracts shall engage in the business of making consumer loans or taking assignments of consumer credit contracts without first having obtained a license for each location in Alabama from the administrator; provided, however, that a creditor having no place of business in Alabama but having a resident employee in Alabama whose employment includes making consumer loans or taking assignments of consumer credit contracts shall obtain a license for the location where the creditor maintains its records regarding Alabama loans or Alabama consumer credit contracts; and provided further, that, banks chartered by this state or any other state, banks chartered by the United States, trust companies, savings or building and loan associations, savings banks and other thrift institutions, credit unions, life insurance companies, and federally constituted agencies shall be exempt from licensing. A seller, with respect to consumer credit sale transactions and the financing of charges permitted by this chapter, is not required to be licensed under this chapter.

(b) The license application shall be in writing, under oath, in the form prescribed by the administrator, and be accompanied by an investigation fee of one hundred dollars ($100).

(c) Upon receipt of the application and investigation fee, the administrator shall investigate the applicant and determine whether the license should be issued or denied.

(d) No license shall be issued unless the administrator determines that the financial responsibility, character, and fitness of the applicant, and of the members thereof if the applicant is a partnership or association, officers and directors thereof if the applicant is a corporation are such as to warrant belief that the business will be operated honestly and fairly within the purpose of this chapter and finds that the applicant has assets available for the operation of business under this chapter of at least twenty-five thousand dollars ($25,000).

(e) Upon written request, the applicant is entitled to a hearing on the question of his qualifications for a license if:

(1) The administrator has notified the applicant in writing that the application has been denied; or

(2) The administrator has not issued a license within 60 days after the application for the license was filed.

A request for a hearing may not be made more than 15 days after the administrator has mailed by certified mail a writing to the applicant notifying him that the application has been denied stating in substance the administrator's findings supporting denial of the application.

(f) Any person licensed under the Alabama Small Loan Act may engage in business under the Alabama Small Loan Act, but shall not make loans in excess of seven hundred forty-nine dollars ($749) unless such person is also licensed under this chapter. The payment of the license and examination fees required by this chapter shall be in lieu of the license and examination fees required by the Alabama Small Loan Act when the licensee is also licensed under the Alabama Small Loan Act.

(g) The license shall be in the form prescribed by the administrator, posted conspicuously in the place of business of the licensee, and shall not be assignable or transferable or removed to another location without permission of the administrator.

(h) The annual license fee shall be five hundred dollars ($500) for each office, branch, or place of business of the licensee, which shall be due on October 1 of each year, and shall be for a one-year period ending September 30 following, and shall be delinquent on November 1 of each year, and there shall be a penalty of 10 percent for each month or part thereof that the licensee is delinquent in the payment of such license fee. All license fees and investigation fees collected shall be paid into the special fund provided by Section 5-2A-20 and used in the supervision and examination of licensees.

(Acts 1971, No. 2052, p. 3920, §18; Acts 1983, No. 83-747, p. 1244, §1; Acts 1996, No. 96-576, p. 887, §2.)