West Virginia Code 31-17-4 – Applications for licenses; requirements; bonds; fees; renewals; waivers and reductions; per loan fee

(a) In connection with an application for licensing as a mortgage lender or mortgage broker, the applicant shall, at a minimum, furnish to the Nationwide Mortgage Licensing System and Registry information concerning the applicant's identity, including:

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Terms Used In West Virginia Code 31-17-4

Applicant: means a person who has applied for a lender or broker license. See West Virginia Code 31-17-1
Broker: means any person acting in the regular course of business who, for a fee or commission or other consideration, negotiates or arranges, or who offers to negotiate or arrange, or originates or assigns a primary or subordinate mortgage loan between a lender and a borrower. See West Virginia Code 31-17-1
Commissioner: means the Commissioner of Financial Institutions of this state. See West Virginia Code 31-17-1
Complaint: A written statement by the plaintiff stating the wrongs allegedly committed by the defendant.
Corporation: A legal entity owned by the holders of shares of stock that have been issued, and that can own, receive, and transfer property, and carry on business in its own name.
Credit report: A detailed report of an individual's credit history prepared by a credit bureau and used by a lender in determining a loan applicant's creditworthiness. ^{Source: OCC}
Fair Credit Reporting Act: A federal law, established in 1971 and revised in 1997, that gives consumers the right to see their credit records and correct any mistakes. ^{Source: OCC}
Jurisdiction: (1) The legal authority of a court to hear and decide a case. Concurrent jurisdiction exists when two courts have simultaneous responsibility for the same case. (2) The geographic area over which the court has authority to decide cases.
Lawsuit: A legal action started by a plaintiff against a defendant based on a complaint that the defendant failed to perform a legal duty, resulting in harm to the plaintiff.
Lender: means any person who makes or offers to make or accepts or offers to accept or purchases or services any primary or subordinate mortgage loan in the regular course of business. See West Virginia Code 31-17-1
Licensee: means any person duly licensed by the commissioner under the provisions of this article or article seventeen-a of this chapter as a lender, broker or mortgage loan originator. See West Virginia Code 31-17-1
Litigation: A case, controversy, or lawsuit. Participants (plaintiffs and defendants) in lawsuits are called litigants.
Mortgage: The written agreement pledging property to a creditor as collateral for a loan.
Mortgage loan: A loan made by a lender to a borrower for the financing of real property. ^{Source: OCC}
Nationwide Mortgage Licensing System and Registry: means a mortgage licensing system developed and maintained by the Conference of State Bank Supervisors and the American Association of Residential Mortgage Regulators for the licensing and registration of licensed mortgage brokers and lenders licensed under this article and mortgage loan originators licensed under article seventeen-a of this chapter. See West Virginia Code 31-17-1
Partnership: A voluntary contract between two or more persons to pool some or all of their assets into a business, with the agreement that there will be a proportional sharing of profits and losses.
Restitution: The court-ordered payment of money by the defendant to the victim for damages caused by the criminal action.
Service of process: The service of writs or summonses to the appropriate party.
State: when applied to a part of the United States and not restricted by the context, includes the District of Columbia and the several territories, and the words "United States" also include the said district and territories. See West Virginia Code 2-2-10

(1) Fingerprints for submission to the Federal Bureau of Investigation and any governmental agency or entity authorized to receive such information for a state, national and international criminal history background check; and

(2) Personal history and experience in a form prescribed by the Nationwide Mortgage Licensing System and Registry and the commissioner, including the submission of authorization for the Nationwide Mortgage Licensing System and Registry and the commissioner to obtain:

(A) An independent credit report obtained from a consumer reporting agency described in Section 603(p) of the Fair Credit Reporting Act; and

(B) Information related to any administrative, civil or criminal findings by any governmental jurisdiction.

(b) In order to reduce the points of contact which the Federal Bureau of Investigation may have to maintain for purposes of this article, the commissioner may use the Nationwide Mortgage Licensing System and Registry or its designated vendor as a channeling agent for requesting information from and distributing information to the Department of Justice or any governmental agency.

(c) In order to reduce the points of contact which the commissioner may have to maintain, for purposes of this article, the commissioner may use the Nationwide Mortgage Licensing System and Registry as a channeling agent for requesting and distributing information to and from any source so directed by the commissioner.

(d) Application for a lender's or broker's license shall each year be submitted under oath, in the form prescribed by the commissioner, and shall contain the full name and address of the applicant and, if the applicant is a partnership, limited liability company or association, of every member thereof, and, if a corporation, of each officer, director and owner of ten percent or more of the capital stock thereof and further information as the commissioner may reasonably require. Background and credit checks shall be conducted in accordance with this section for any officer, director or owner, directly or indirectly, of ten percent or more of the capital stock of a corporation or any member of a limited liability or partnership with, directly or indirectly, a ten percent or greater ownership interest. Any application shall also disclose the location at which the business of lender or broker is to be conducted.

(e) At the time of making application for a lender's license, the applicant therefor shall:

(1) If a foreign corporation, submit a certificate from the Secretary of State certifying that the applicant is registered with the Secretary of State to transact business in this state;

(2) Submit proof that he or she has available for the operation of the business at the location specified in the application net worth of at least $250,000;

(3) File with the commissioner a bond in favor of the state for the benefit of consumers or for a claim by the commissioner for an unpaid civil administrative penalty or an unpaid examination invoice in the amount of $100,000 for licensees with West Virginia annual loan originations of $0 to $3 million, $150,000 for West Virginia annual loan originations greater than $3 million and up to $10 million, and $250,000 for West Virginia annual loan originations over $10 million in a form and with conditions as the commissioner may prescribe and executed by a surety company authorized to do business in this state: Provided, That lender licensees who service West Virginia mortgage loans shall file with the commissioner a bond under the same conditions listed above in the amount of $200,000;

(4) Pay to the commissioner a license fee of $1,250 plus the actual cost of fingerprint processing and the processing fees assessed by the Nationwide Mortgage Licensing System and Registry. If the commissioner shall determine that an investigation outside this state is required to ascertain facts or information relative to the applicant or information set forth in the application, the applicant may be required to advance sufficient funds to pay the estimated cost of the investigation. An itemized statement of the actual cost of the investigation outside this state shall be furnished to the applicant by the commissioner and the applicant shall pay or shall have returned to him or her, as the case may be, the difference between his or her payment in advance of the estimated cost and the actual cost of the investigation; and

(5) Submit a full and complete disclosure of any litigation or unresolved complaint filed by a governmental authority or class action lawsuit on behalf of consumers relating to the operation of the license applicant.

(f) At the time of making application for a broker's license, the applicant therefor shall:

(1) If a foreign corporation, submit a certificate from the Secretary of State certifying that the applicant is registered with the Secretary of State to transact business in this state;

(2) Submit proof that he or she has available for the operation of the business at the location specified in the application net worth of at least $10,000;

(3) File with the commissioner a bond in favor of the state for the benefit of consumers or for a claim by the commissioner for an unpaid civil administrative penalty or an unpaid examination invoice in the amount of $50,000 for licensees with West Virginia loan originations of $0 to $3 million, $75,000 for West Virginia loan originations greater than $3 million and up to $10 million, and $100,000 for West Virginia loan originations over $10 million in a form and with conditions as the commissioner may prescribe and executed by a surety company authorized to do business in this state: Provided, That the bond must be in the amount of $150,000 before a broker may participate in a table-funded residential mortgage loan;

(4) Pay to the commissioner a license fee of $350 plus the actual cost of fingerprint processing and the processing fees assessed by the Nationwide Mortgage Licensing System and Registry; and

(g) The aggregate liability of the surety on any bond given pursuant to the provisions of this section shall in no event exceed the amount of the bond.

(h) Nonresident lenders and brokers licensed under this article by their acceptance of the license acknowledge that they are subject to the jurisdiction of the courts of West Virginia and the service of process pursuant to section one hundred thirty-seven, article two, chapter forty-six-a of this code and section thirty-three, article three, chapter fifty-six of this code.

(i) The commissioner may elect to reduce or waive the application fees, bond amounts and net worth requirements imposed by this section for bona fide nonprofit corporations or other bona fide nonprofit business entities, including community housing development organizations, whose residential mortgage lending or brokering activities provide housing primarily to households or persons below the HUD-established median income for their area of residence. Any waiver of fees or other costs under this paragraph shall not be construed as a waiver of the duty to comply with all other provisions of this article.

(j) Every broker and lender licensee shall pay a fee of $5 for each residential mortgage loan originated, made or brokered in a calendar year. This fee shall be paid annually for the benefit of the Division of Banking and remitted with the report required pursuant to subsection (b), section eleven of this article for loans made, brokered or originated during the previous calendar year. If a licensee ceases operation, it shall remit any fees due since the last reporting period when it relinquishes its license.

(k) If a claim for a consumer restitution is pending on a bond required pursuant to this section when the commissioner makes a claim for a civil administrative penalty or an unpaid examination invoice, the consumer claim shall be resolved before any payments may be made for an unpaid penalty or examination invoice.

Article 17 Contents