Consumer Credit FAQ

The New Hampshire Banking Department does not provide general guidance as we do not serve as your counsel or your client's counsel. You will need to provide the company name, business model and funds flow chart in order for the Department to respond. For information on specific license types please see consumer credit licensees and registrants

• During the 6-month period beginning on April 1 of each year, interest shall be paid at a rate of not less than the National Deposit Rate for Savings Accounts as published in the month of January of the same year by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation.  
• During the 6-month period beginning on October 1 of each year, interest shall be paid at a rate of not less than the National Deposit Rate for Savings Accounts as published in the month of July of the same year by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation.

The Banking Department points out that this interest rate is the floor, not the required interest rate.

A mortgage loan originator is not prohibited from working out of their home or another alternative work location under RSA 397-A:1, IV (b) provided they comply with the requirements in RSA 397-A:1, IV (b) and (2). These requirements include that the location be within 100 miles of a supervisory office. 

Every licensee shall be subject at any time to such periodic, special, regular, or other examination by the Banking Department with or without notice to the licensee.

At a minimum, every licensee must be examined every 24 months. Generally, the first examination is conducted within the first 12 months. All licensees are required to make freely available to the examiners, the accounts, records, documents, files, information, assets and matters in their possession or control relating to the subject of the examination and must facilitate the examination.

Information Requests have different timing requirements for when they are due to the Department. When a loan list is requested, you have 7 calendar days to provide the list. When  the list is received and a loan selection has been made, you have 21 calendar days to provide the files. All  other initial Information Requests are to be provided to the Department within 21 calendar days of the request.

Yes, the Department is conducting an examination on the licensee as a whole, which includes more than just loan file or client file review. You will still need to respond to all of the Information Request and any other information requested by Department Examiners.

The Department is conducting Consumer Credit examinations through the State Examination System (SES), an online platform that allows an examination to be conducted electronically.

You will receive an Enrollment Request, with instructions on how to enroll, from the Department prior to notification of your examination. This video explains the enrollment process and will also be included in the instructions the Department sends.

Once you are enrolled, your examiner will send you the examination notification and all requests for information through SES. You will in turn provide all requested information through the system.

There are currently five standard loan lists in an Excel format that can be found on our website. The lists should be filled out as complete as possible depending on the licensee’s business activities. If more detail is needed on what a specific field means, please contact your Examiner-in-Charge. 

• Standard Loan List for Mortgage Bankers and Mortgage Brokers
• Standard Loan List for Mortgage Servicers and Mortgage Bankers that Service Loans
• Standard Loan List for Sales Finance Companies (Motor Vehicles)
• Standard Client List for Debt Adjusters
• Standard Loan List for Small Loan Lenders

You are required to maintain all documents related to the loan. The loan file should tell the complete story of the brokering, lending and/or servicing process, starting with the first contact with the potential borrower through the closing and/or servicing of the loan.

This also includes information that may be kept solely electronically in a processing or servicing system. If needed, screen prints of that system may be provided if that is the only way that the material is maintained. If the examination is conducted on site, Department Examiners may review the system itself in lieu of or in addition to providing the information.

You are required to maintain all documents related to the file. The client file should tell the complete story of the debt adjustment process, starting with the first contact with the potential client through the completion or cancelation of the program and documentation of the payments made.

This also includes information that may be kept solely electronically in a processing or servicing system. If needed, screen prints of that system may be provided if that is the only way that the material is maintained. If the examination is conducted on site, Department Examiners may review the system itself in lieu of or in addition to providing the information.

Licensee are entitled to contract fees and cancellation fees.  Enrollment fees are no longer allowed as of January 1, 2017.

The licensee’s fees shall be based on the total indebtedness as stated in the contract and shall not exceed: 
(a)    10 percent when the plan of payment is for a period of 10 months or less; or
(b)    12 ½ percent when the plan of payment is for a period of more than 10 months but less than 18 months; or
(c)    15 percent when the plan of payment is for a period of 18 months or more.
Fees cannot be collected until the 30 days after the contract has been signed by the debtor and the licensee. Additionally, fees are to be amortized over the length of the contract and collected monthly. (see NH RSA 399-D: 15, V)

If the debtor gives the licensee 30 days’ written notice of cancellation or if the debtor willingly defaults by failing to pay the contractually obligated payments for a period of 30 days, and such licensee performed all of its contractually required services, such licensee shall be entitled to a cancellation fee of the lesser of:

(a)    5 percent of the remaining services charges that would have been collected over the term of the debt adjustment contract; or
(b)    $50
(see NH RSA 399-D:15, VI and VII)
 

The licensee’s fees shall be based on the total indebtedness as stated in the contract and shall not exceed 15 percent.
Fees cannot be collected until there has been an agreement with a creditor and an initial payment has been paid to such creditor. The licensee is only entitled to collect a fee for the creditors that have been successfully negotiated with and payments have been made to. (see NH RSA 399-D:16, II)  

The licensee and the debtor must agree to the total charges for services provided in a written contract prior to any fees being collected.

If the debtor gives the licensee 30 days’ written notice of cancellation or if the debtor willfully defaults by failing to pay the contractually obligated payments for a period of 30 days, and such licensee performed all of its contractually required services, such licensee shall be entitled to a cancellation fee of the lesser of:
(a)    5 percent of the remaining services charges that would have been collected over the term of the debt adjustment contract; or
(b)    $50
(See NH RSA 399-D:17, I and II)

No, NH RSA 399-D does not have restrictions on how often a debtor can make a payment to the licensee.  NH RSA 399-D: 15, IX states “The licensee shall remit funds to creditors, less the licensee’s prorated fees within 10 calendar days of receipt of a complete monthly payment.”
NH RSA 399-D: 16, III, states “The licensee shall remit funds to creditors, less the licensee’s prorated fees within 10 calendar days or receipt of a negotiated settlement.”

There are many different Information Requests that may be selected based on your license type.  A list of different possibilities includes:

• Loan lists, Client lists, or Transaction lists
• Loan files, Client files, Transaction histories
• GLBA / Privacy /Information Technology (IT) and Information Security (IS)
• BSA / AML USA Patriot Act / OFAC Recordkeeping
• EFTA
• Advertising
• Origination
• Underwriting
• Loan Servicing
• Payoff, Repossession, Foreclosure
• Risk Assessments and Audit Reports
• Due Diligence and Ongoing Monitoring
• Annual Report work papers
• Call Report work papers
• Financial Information
• Management
• Prepaid Access
• Foreign Exchange

For more detailed possibilities per license type, please see the attached:

• Debt Adjusters: ccd-exam-irs-da.pdf
• Money Transmitters: ccd-exam-irs-mt.pdf
• Mortgage Bankers, Brokers, and Services: SES Information Requests are similar to other states and are based on the activity conducted by the licensee.
• Sales Finance Companies: ccd-exam-irs-sf.pdf
• Small Loan Lenders: ccd-exam-irs-sm.pdf

You are required to file in NMLS an "Annual Report" each year before April 1, "concerning the operations for the preceding year…""

This may be a spreadsheet in which you have listed each loan/transaction similar to the loan list provided for examination or a report generated by the software that you use. You are required to maintain the documentation you used to generate the information listed on the annual report. The work papers are those documents.

No. The licensee shall under no circumstances publish, or make public in any manner, the Report of Examination or any portion thereof. The examination remains the property of the New Hampshire Banking Department.

Other regulatory agencies requesting any information pertaining to the Report of Examination must be directed to contact the Department in order to obtain that information. The findings of an examination cannot by published by the licensee on the NMLS system.

Licensees are charged a per diem rate per day, per examiner. The formula for that rate is determined by statute. The invoice lists the number of days in aggregate that each examiner spent on the examination. For example, two (2) examiners for five (5) days would be ten (10) billable examiner days. This is then multiplied by the per diem. Additional expenses may also be included for travel.

The examination consists of a number of factors, including work done before the licensee is aware than an examination is taking place in order to prepare for the examination that includes reviewing information both currently on file and found independently of the licensee, any time while on site or off-site reviewing the information provided by the licensee, travel time for certain locations, and time for the completion and submission of the Report of Examination.

*In January 2023, the New Hampshire Banking Department reviewed its position with respect to whether RSA 361-A:8-a, including whether the limitation on disposition fees set forth in RSA 361-A:8-a, III(c), applies to a motor vehicle lease, as defined in RSA 361-D:1, VII (“Motor Vehicle Lease”).  Based on that review, the Department’s position is that a Motor Vehicle Lease does not automatically qualify as a “balloon retail installment contract” or “balloon contract” for purposes of RSA 361-A:8-a; consequently, a Motor Vehicle Lease is not automatically subject to the limitation on disposition fees set forth in RSA 361-A:8-a, III(c).  If a Motor Vehicle Lease has a balloon payment feature, it may be subject to the limitation on disposition fees set forth in RSA 361-A:8-a, III(c), depending on the terms of the lease agreement.