§ 533A.2 — Licenses required — exceptions

Iowa § 533A.2

• Jurisdiction: Iowa
• Title XIII: COMMERCE
• Ch. 533A: DEBT MANAGEMENT

Text

1. A person shall not engage in the business of debt management in this state without a
license as provided for in this chapter unless exempt under subsection 2. A person engages
in the business of debt management in this state if the person solicits on behalf of the person
or another person to provide, or enters into a contract with one or more debtors to provide,
debt management to a debtor who resides in this state.
2. The following persons, including employees of such persons, shall not be required to
be licensed or to otherwise comply with the provisions of this chapter:
a. A licensed attorney admitted to practice in this state acting solely as an incident to the
practice of law.
b. Banks, federally chartered savings and loan associations, credit unions, mortgage
bankers and mortgage brokers licensed or registered under chapter 535B, insurance
companies and similar fiduciaries, regulated loan companies licensed under chapter 536,
and industrial loan companies licensed under chapter 536A, authorized and admitted to
transact business in this state and performing credit and financial adjusting in the regular
course of their principal business, or while performing an escrow function.
c. Abstract companies, while performing an escrow function.
d. Employees of licensees under this chapter, while performing services for the
employee’s licensed employer.
e. Judicial officers or others acting under court orders.
f. Nonprofit religious, fraternal, or cooperative organizations offering to debtors
gratuitous debt-management service.
g. Those persons whose principal business is the origination of first mortgage loans on
real estate for their own portfolios or for sale to institutional investors.
h. A person licensed under chapter 533C, including that person’s authorized delegates as
definedinsection533C.102, orapersonexemptfromlicensingundersection533C.103, when
engaging in money transmission as defined in section 533C.102.
3. The application for a license shall be in the form prescribed by the superintendent. If
the applicant is not a natural person, a copy of the legal documents creating the applicant
shall be filed with the application. The application shall contain all of the following:
a. The name of the applicant.
b. If the applicant is not a natural person, the type of business entity of the applicant and
the date the entity was organized.
c. If the applicant is a foreign corporation, both of the following:
(1) Anirrevocableconsent,dulyacknowledged,thatsuitsandactionsmaybecommenced
against the licensee in the courts of this state by service of process performed as provided in
section 617.3 or as provided in the Iowa rules of civil procedure.
(2) Proof of authorization to do business in this state.
d. The address where the business is to be conducted, including information as to any
branch office of the applicant.
e. Thenameandresidentaddressoftheapplicant’sownerorpartners, or, ifacorporation,
association, or agency, of the members, shareholders, directors, trustees, principal officers,
managers, and agents.
f. The name, physical address, and telephone number of the licensee’s agent for service
of process.
3 DEBT MANAGEMENT, §533A.3
g. Other pertinent information as the superintendent may require, including a credit
report.
4. Each application shall be accompanied by a bond to be approved by the superintendent
in favor of the people of the state of Iowa in the penal sum of twenty-five thousand dollars
for each office, and conditioned that the obligor will not violate any law pertaining to such
business and upon the faithful accounting of all moneys collected upon accounts entrusted to
such person engaged in debt management, and their employees and agents for the purpose
of indemnifying debtors for loss resulting from conduct prohibited by this chapter. The
aggregate liability of the surety to all debtors doing business with the office for which the
bond is filed shall, in no event, exceed the penal sum of such bond. The surety on the bond
shall have the right to cancel such bond upon giving thirty days’ notice to the superintendent
and thereafter shall be relieved of liability for any breach of condition occurring after
the effective date of the cancellation. A person shall not engage in the business of debt
management until a good and sufficient bond is filed in accordance with the provisions of
this chapter.
5. Each applicant shall furnish with the application a description of its proposed debt
management program, a copy of the disclosures it will be providing debtors pursuant to
section533A.8, subsection3, andacopyofthecontracttheapplicantproposestousebetween
the applicant and the debtor pursuant to section 533A.8, subsection 4.
6. At the time of making the application the applicant shall pay to the superintendent the
sum of two hundred fifty dollars as a license fee for each of the applicant’s offices and an
investigation fee in the sum of one hundred dollars. A separate application shall be made for
each office maintained by the applicant.
7. The superintendent may authorize applicants and licensees to be licensed through
a nationwide licensing system and to pay the corresponding system processing fees. The
superintendent may establish by rule or order new requirements as necessary, including but
not limited to requirements that applicants, including officers and directors and those who
have control of the applicant, submit to fingerprinting and criminal history checks.
8. For the purposes of this section and in order to reduce the points of contact which the
federal bureau of investigation may be required to maintain for purposes of subsection 7, the
superintendentmayusethenationwidelicensingsystemasachannelingagentforrequesting
information from and distributing information to the United States department of justice or
other governmental agency, or to or from any other source so directed by the superintendent.

Legislative History

[C71, 73, 75, 77, 79, 81, §533A.2]