WEST virginia legislature
2017 regular session
Committee Substitute
for
Senate Bill 601
By Senator Gaunch
[Originating in the Committee on Banking and Insurance; reported on March 21, 2017]
A BILL to amend and reenact §46A-4-101 and §46A-4-107 of the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended, all relating to requirements for making consumer loans in West Virginia; modifying authority to make loans; and adjusting limits on consumer loans for which certain finance charges can be imposed.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That §46A-4-101 and §46A-4-107 of the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended, be amended and reenacted, all to read as follows:
ARTICLE 4. REGULATED CONSUMER LENDERS.
§46A-4-101. Authority to make loans.
Unless a person has first obtained a license from the
commissioner authorizing him or her to make regulated consumer loans, he
shall or she may not engage in the business of:
(1) Making regulated consumer loans; or
(2) Taking assignments of and or undertaking
direct collection of payments from or enforcement of rights against consumers
arising from regulated consumer loans.
§46A-4-107. Loan finance charge for regulated consumer lenders.
(1) With respect to a regulated consumer loan, including a revolving loan account, a regulated consumer lender may contract for and receive a loan finance charge not exceeding that permitted by this section.
(2) On a loan of $2,000
$3,500 or less which is unsecured by real property, the loan finance
charge, calculated according to the actuarial method, may not exceed thirty-one
percent per year on the unpaid balance of the principal amount.
(3) On a loan of greater
than $2,000 $3,500 to a loan of $15,000 or which is secured by
real property, the loan finance charge, calculated according to the actuarial
method, may not exceed twenty-seven percent per year on the unpaid balance of the
principal amount: Provided, That the loan finance charge on any loan
greater than $10,000 $15,000 may not exceed eighteen percent per
year on the unpaid balance of the principal amount. Loans made by regulated
consumer lenders shall be subject to the restrictions and supervision set forth
in this article irrespective of their rate of finance charges.
(4) Where the loan is
nonrevolving and is greater than $2,000 $3,500, the permitted
finance charge may include a charge of not more than a total of two percent of
the amount financed for any origination fee, points or investigation fee: Provided,
That where any loan, revolving or nonrevolving, is secured by real estate, the
permitted finance charge may include a charge of not more than a total of five
percent of the amount financed for any origination fee, points or investigation
fee. In any loan secured by real estate, the charges may not be imposed again
by the same or affiliated lender in any refinancing of that loan made within
twenty-four months thereof, unless these earlier charges have been rebated by
payment or credit to the consumer under the actuarial method, or the
total of the earlier and proposed charges does not exceed five percent of the
amount financed. Charges permitted under this subsection shall be included in
the calculation of the loan finance charge. The financing of the charges may
be is permissible and may does not constitute charging
interest on interest. In a revolving home equity loan, the amount of the credit
line extended shall is, for purposes of this subsection, constitute
the amount financed. Other than herein provided, no points, origination fee,
investigation fee or other similar prepaid finance charges attributable to the
lender or its affiliates may be levied. Except as provided for by section one
hundred nine, article three of this chapter, no additional charges may be made;
nor may any charge permitted by this section be assessed unless the loan is
made. To the extent that this section overrides the preemption on limiting points
and other charges on first lien residential mortgages contained in Section 501
of the United States Depository Institutions Deregulation and Monetary Control
Act of 1980, the state law limitations contained in this section shall
apply. If the loan is precomputed:
(a) The loan finance charge may be calculated on the assumption that all scheduled payments will be made when due; and
(b) The effect of prepayment, refinancing or consolidation is governed by the provisions on rebate upon prepayment, refinancing or consolidation contained in section one hundred eleven, article three of this chapter.
(5) For the purposes of this section, the term of a loan commences on the date the loan is made. Differences in the lengths of months are disregarded and a day may be counted as one thirtieth of a month. Subject to classifications and differentiations the licensee may reasonably establish, a part of a month in excess of fifteen days may be treated as a full month if periods of fifteen days or less are disregarded and if that procedure is not consistently used to obtain a greater yield than would otherwise be permitted.
(6) With respect to a revolving loan account:
(a) A charge may be made by a regulated consumer lender in each monthly billing cycle which is one twelfth of the maximum annual rates permitted by this section computed on an amount not exceeding the greatest of:
(i) The average daily balance of the debt; or
(ii) The balance of the
debt at the beginning of the first day of the billing cycle, less all payments
on and credits to such the debt during such the
billing cycle and excluding all additional borrowings during the billing cycle.
For the purpose of this subdivision, a billing cycle is monthly if the billing statement dates are on the same day each month or do not vary by more than four days therefrom.
(b) If the billing cycle is not monthly, the maximum loan finance charge which may be made by a regulated consumer lender is that percentage which bears the same relation to an applicable monthly percentage as the number of days in the billing cycle bears to thirty.
(c) Notwithstanding subdivisions (a) and (b) of this subsection, if there is an unpaid balance on the date as of which the loan finance charge is applied, the licensee may contract for and receive a charge not exceeding 50¢ if the billing cycle is monthly or longer or the pro rata part of 50¢ which bears the same relation to 50¢ as the number of days in the billing cycle bears to thirty if the billing cycle is shorter than monthly, but no charge may be made pursuant to this subdivision if the lender has made an annual charge for the same period as permitted by the provisions on additional charges.
(7) As an alternative to
the loan finance charges allowed by subsections (2) and (4) of this section, a
regulated consumer lender may on a loan not secured by real estate of $2,000
$3,500 or less contract for and receive interest at a rate of up to
thirty-one percent per year on the unpaid balance of the principal amount,
together with a nonrefundable loan processing fee of not more than two percent
of the amount financed: Provided, That no other finance charges are
imposed on the loan. The processing fee permitted under this subsection shall
be included in the calculation of the loan finance charge and the financing of
the fee shall be permissible and may not constitute charging interest on
interest.
(8) Notwithstanding any contrary provision in this section, a licensed regulated consumer lender who is the assignee of a nonrevolving consumer loan unsecured by real property located in this state, which loan contract was applied for by the consumer when he or she was in another state, and which was executed and had its proceeds distributed in that other state, may collect, receive and enforce the loan finance charge and other charges, including late fees, provided in the contract under the laws of the state where executed: Provided, That the consumer was not induced by the assignee or its in-state affiliates to apply and obtain the loan from an out-of-state source affiliated with the assignee in an effort to evade the consumer protections afforded by this chapter. Such charges may not be considered to be usurious or in violation of the provisions of this chapter or any other provisions of this code.
NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to adjust limits on consumer loans in West Virginia for which certain finance charges may be imposed.
Strike-throughs indicate language that would be stricken from a heading or the present law and underscoring indicates new language that would be added.