2019 New Mexico Statutes
Chapter 58 - Financial Institutions and Regulations
Article 15 - Small Loan Business
Section 58-15-3 - Applicability of act; exemptions; evasions; penalty. (Effective January 1, 2020.)
A. A person shall not engage in the business of lending in amounts of five thousand dollars ($5,000) or less for a loan without first having obtained a license from the director. Nothing contained in this subsection shall restrict or prohibit a licensee under the New Mexico Small Loan Act of 1955 from making loans in any amount under the New Mexico Bank Installment Loan Act of 1959 in accordance with the provisions of Section 58-7-2 NMSA 1978.
B. Nothing in the New Mexico Small Loan Act of 1955 shall apply to a person making individual advances of five thousand dollars ($5,000) or less under a written agreement providing for a total loan or line of credit in excess of five thousand dollars ($5,000).
C. A banking corporation, savings and loan association or credit union operating under the laws of the United States or of a state shall be exempt from the licensing requirements of the New Mexico Small Loan Act of 1955, nor shall that act apply to business transacted by any person under the authority of and as permitted by any such law nor to any bona fide pawnbroking business transacted under a pawnbroker's license nor to bona fide commercial loans made to dealers upon personal property held for resale. Nothing contained in the New Mexico Small Loan Act of 1955 shall be construed as abridging the rights of any of those exempted from the operations of that act from contracting for or receiving interest or charges not in violation of an existing applicable statute of this state.
D. The provisions of Subsection A of this section apply to:
(1) a person who owns an interest, legal or equitable, in the business or profits of a licensee and whose name does not specifically appear on the face of the license, except a stockholder in a corporate licensee; and
(2) a person who seeks to evade its application by any device, subterfuge or pretense whatsoever, including but not thereby limiting the generality of the foregoing:
(a) the loan, forbearance, use or sale of credit (as guarantor, surety, endorser, comaker or otherwise), money, goods or things in action;
(b) the use of collateral or related sales or purchases of goods or services or agreements to sell or purchase, whether real or pretended;
(c) receiving or charging compensation for goods or services, whether or not sold, delivered or provided; and
(d) the real or pretended negotiation, arrangement or procurement of a loan through any use or activity of a third person, whether real or fictitious.
E. A person, copartnership, trust or a trustee or beneficiary thereof or an association or corporation or a member, officer, director, agent or employee thereof who violates or participates in the violation of a provision of Subsection A of this section is guilty of a petty misdemeanor and upon conviction shall be sentenced pursuant to the provisions of Subsection B of Section 31-19-1 NMSA 1978. A contract or loan in the making or collection of which an act is done that violates Subsection A or D of this section or Section 58-15-17 or 58-15-20 NMSA 1978 is void and the lender has no right to collect, receive or retain any principal, interest or charges whatsoever.
F. A loan in an amount equal to five thousand dollars ($5,000) or less shall be made only pursuant to the New Mexico Bank Installment Loan Act of 1959 or the New Mexico Small Loan Act of 1955.
G. A violation of a provision of the New Mexico Small Loan Act of 1955 that constitutes either an unfair or deceptive trade practice or an unconscionable trade practice pursuant to Section 57-12-2 NMSA 1978 is actionable pursuant to the Unfair Practices Act.
History: 1953 Comp., § 48-17-32, enacted by Laws 1955, ch. 128, § 3; 1973, ch. 18, § 1; 1977, ch. 245, § 61; 1983, ch. 95, § 1; 1987, ch. 127, § 1; 1993, ch. 210, § 4; 2007, ch. 86, § 3; 2017, ch. 110, § 12; 2019, ch. 201, § 9.
ANNOTATIONSThe 2019 amendment, effective January 1, 2020, provided penalties for violations of the certain provisions of the New Mexico Small Loan Act of 1955, and provided that certain violations of the New Mexico Small Loan Act of 1955 are also actionable pursuant to the Unfair Practices Act; in Subsection E, after "of this section", added "or Section 58-15-17 or 58-15-20 NMSA 1978"; and in Subsection G, after "1955", deleted "which violation consists of a false or misleading oral or written representation of any kind knowingly made in the extension of credit that may, tends to or does deceive or mislead any person to whom the extension of credit is made" and added "that", after "constitutes", added "either", after "trade practice", added "or an unconscionable trade practice pursuant to Section 57-12-2 NMSA 1978 is actionable".
Applicability. — Laws 2019, ch. 201, § 17 provided that the provisions of this act apply to loans subject to the New Mexico Small Loan Act of 1955 and the New Mexico Bank Installment Loan Act of 1959 that are executed on or after January 1, 2020.
