§ 28-1-29-10.5 — Record keeping and retention; examinations and investigations; payment of costs; court order compelling compliance; confidentiality; department's investigatory and enforcement authority; cooperative regulatory agreements; examination of vendors

Indiana § 28-1-29-10.5

• Jurisdiction: Indiana
• Art. 1: DEPARTMENT OF FINANCIAL INSTITUTIONS
• Ch. 29: Debt Management Companies

Text

5. (a) A licensee shall maintain in the
licensee's business any books, accounts, and records that enable the
department to determine whether the licensee is complying with this
chapter. The books, accounts, and records shall be preserved for at
least two (2) years after making the final entry of any agreement
recorded in the books, accounts, and records. A licensee is subject to
IC 28-1-2-30.5 with respect to any records maintained by the licensee.
(b) In administering this chapter and in order to determine whether
this chapter is being complied with by a person engaging in acts subject
to this chapter, the department may examine the records of a person
and may make investigations of a person as necessary to determine
compliance. Records subject to examination under this section include
the following:
(1) Training, operating, and policy manuals.
(2) Minutes of:
(A) management meetings; and
(B) other meetings.
(3) Other records that the department determines are necessary to
perform the department's investigation or examination.
(c) The department may also administer oaths or affirmations,
subpoena witnesses, compel a witness's attendance, adduce evidence,
and require the production of any matter that is relevant to the
investigation. The department shall determine whether:
(1) the records maintained are sufficient; and
(2) the person has made the required information reasonably
available.
(d) If the department:
(1) investigates; or
(2) examines the books and records of;
a person that is subject to this chapter, the person shall pay all
reasonably incurred costs of the investigation or examination in
accordance with the fee schedule adopted by the department under IC 28-11-3-5. Any costs required to be paid under this subsection shall be
paid not later than sixty (60) days after the person receives a notice
from the department of the costs being assessed. The department may
impose a fee, in an amount fixed by the department under IC 28-11-3-5, for each day that the assessed costs are not paid, beginning
on the first day after the sixty (60) day period described in this
subsection.
(e) The department shall be given free access to the records
wherever located. If the person's records are located outside Indiana, at
the discretion of the director, the records shall be made available to the
department at a convenient location within Indiana, or the person shall
pay the reasonable and necessary expenses for the department or the
department's representative to examine the records where the records
are maintained.
(f) If a person fails to:
(1) obey a subpoena without a lawful excuse; or
(2) give testimony;
the department may apply to a civil court for an order compelling
compliance.
(g) The department shall not make public the name or identity of a
person whose acts or conduct the department investigates under this
section or the facts disclosed in the investigation. However, this
subsection does not apply to disclosures of enforcement proceedings
under this chapter.
(h) To discover violations of this chapter or to secure information
necessary for the enforcement of this chapter, the department may
investigate any:
(1) licensee; or
(2) person that the department suspects to be operating:
(A) without a license, when a license is required under this
chapter; or
(B) otherwise in violation of this chapter.
The department has all investigatory and enforcement authority under
this chapter that the department has under IC 28-11 with respect to
financial institutions. If the department conducts an investigation under
this section, the licensee or other person investigated shall pay all
reasonably incurred costs of the investigation in accordance with the
fee schedule adopted under IC 28-11-3-5.
(i) The department may:
(1) enter into a cooperative arrangement with another federal or
state agency having authority over debt management companies;
and
(2) exchange with the agency information about a person subject
to this chapter, including information obtained during an
examination of the person.
(j) If a person doing business as a debt management company
contracts with an outside vendor to provide a service that would
otherwise be undertaken internally by the person doing business as a
debt management company and be subject to the department's routine
examination procedures, the person that provides the service to the
person doing business as a debt management company shall, at the
request of the director, submit to an examination by the department. If
the director determines that an examination under this subsection is
necessary or desirable, the examination may be made at the expense of
the person to be examined. If the person to be examined under this
subsection refuses to permit the examination to be made, the director
may order any person doing business as a debt management company
that receives services from the person refusing the examination to:
(1) discontinue receiving one (1) or more services from the person
refusing the examination; or
(2) otherwise cease conducting business with the person refusing
the examination.

Legislative History

As added by P.L.35-2010, SEC.134. Amended by P.L.137-2014, SEC.25; P.L.5-2015, SEC.61.