§ 34-39-270 — Prohibited deferred presentment transactions; eligibility inquiries; notification of transactions.

(A) A licensee may not enter into a deferred presentment transaction with a person: (1) who has an outstanding deferred presentment transaction; (2) who has repaid a previous deferred presentment transaction with any licensee on the same business day; (3) who has repaid a previous deferred presentment transaction with any licensee on the same business day or the previous business day if the transaction being requested would be the customer's eighth or more transaction within a calendar year; or (4) who has entered into an extended payment plan agreement with any licensee as provided in Section 34-39-280 which has not been paid in full or terminated. (B) No eighth or subsequent deferred presentment transaction within a calendar year may be entered into on the same or subsequent business day of the repayment of the previous deferred presentment transaction. (C) Before entering into a deferred presentment transaction with a person, a licensee shall verify whether the person is eligible to enter into the transaction by accessing the deferred presentment transaction database established pursuant to subsection (D). (D) The board shall contract with a single third party database provider that is SAS 70 certified to establish and operate a deferred presentment transaction database for the purpose of verifying whether a person is eligible to enter into a deferred presentment transaction. The board should give full consideration to Section 11-35-5210 when selecting the third-party database provider to establish and operate the deferred presentment transaction database required by this chapter. The board shall supervise the establishment and operation of the database and shall ensure that the database provider establishes and operates the database pursuant to the provisions of this section. The board shall have full access to the database and all records related to the database for purposes of supervising the establishment and operation of the database. If the database provider violates a provision of this section, the board shall terminate the contract and immediately substitute another qualified third party database provider. The database must have real-time access through an internet connection and be accessible at all times to the board and licensees. The database provider shall establish and maintain a process for responding to transaction verification requests when technical difficulties prevent the licensee from accessing the database through the internet including, but not limited to, verification by telephone. The database must be established and operated so as to prevent a licensee from entering into a transaction that violates the provisions of this section. (E) To conduct an inquiry as to whether a person is eligible to enter into a deferred presentment transaction, a licensee shall submit to the database provider such information as the board may require. The response to an inquiry to the database provider by a licensee must state only that a person is eligible or ineligible to enter into a transaction and describe the reason for that determination. The person seeking to enter into the transaction may make a direct inquiry to the database provider to request a more detailed explanation of the basis for the database provider's determination that the person is ineligible to enter into the transaction. (F) A licensee shall notify the database provider immediately when the licensee enters into a deferred presentment transaction with a person. The licensee shall submit to the database provider such information as the board requires. When the transaction is paid in full, the licensee shall designate the transaction as closed and immediately notify the database provider. When the database provider receives notification that the transaction is paid in full, the database provider immediately shall designate the transaction as paid in full in the database. For purposes of this subsection, an item is paid in full when the payor bank makes final payment on the customer's check pursuant to Section 36-4-215 or the customer has redeemed the check with a cash payment in full. (G) A licensee shall notify a person seeking to enter into a deferred presentment transaction that the licensee shall access the database to verify whether the person is eligible to enter into a transaction. The licensee also shall notify the person that information related to a new transaction must be entered into the database. (H) The database provider may charge a database verification fee to a licensee for an inquiry as to whether a person is eligible to enter into a deferred presentment transaction, if that transaction is consummated by the licensee. The fee must be established by the board as the actual cost of verifying a person's eligibility, not to exceed one dollar. A licensee may charge a person seeking to enter into a deferred presentment transaction one-half of the actual cost of the verification fee. (I) Except as otherwise provided in this section, all personally identifiable information regarding a person contained within or obtained by way of the database is strictly confidential and is exempt from disclosure under the Freedom of Information Act. The database provider and licensees shall use the information collected pursuant to this section only as prescribed in this section and for no other purpose. (J) A licensee may rely on the information contained in the database as accurate and is not subject to an administrative penalty or civil liability as a result of relying on inaccurate information contained in the database. (K) A licensee will give a customer the right to rescind, at no cost, a deferred presentment transaction on or before the close of the following business day.

Legislative History

HISTORY: 2009 Act No. 78, SECTION 2, [see Editor's Note]. Editor's Note 2009 Act No.78, SECTION 11 provides as follows: "SECTIONS 2 [adding this section], 3, and 4 of this act take effect upon implementation of the common database as required in SECTION 1 [SECTION 34-39-175]. The remaining SECTIONS of this act take effect upon approval by the Governor.