“Charges” do not include any of the following:

(a) Commissions received as a licensed insurance agent or broker in connection with insurance written as provided in Section 22313.

(b) Amounts not in excess of the amounts specified in subdivision (c) of Section 3068 of the Civil Code paid to holders of possessory liens, imposed pursuant to Chapter 6.5 (commencing with Section 3067) of Title 14 of Part 4 of Division 3 of the Civil Code, to release motor vehicles that secure loans subject to this division.

(c) Court costs, excluding attorney’s fees, incurred in a suit and recovered against a debtor who defaults on the debtor’s loan.

(d) Amounts received by a licensee from a seller, from whom the borrower obtains money, goods, labor, or services on credit, in connection with a transaction under an open-end credit program that are paid or deducted from the loan proceeds paid to the seller at the direction of the borrower and that are an obligation of the seller to the licensee for the privilege of allowing the seller to participate in the licensee’s open-end credit program. Amounts received by a licensee from a seller pursuant to this subdivision may not exceed 6 percent of the loan proceeds paid to the seller at the direction of the borrower.

(e) Actual and necessary fees not exceeding five hundred dollars ($500) paid in connection with the repossession of a motor vehicle to repossession agencies licensed pursuant to Chapter 11 (commencing with Section 7500) of Division 3 of the Business and Professions Code provided that the licensee complies with Sections 22328 and 22329, and actual fees paid to a licensee in conformity with Sections 26751 and 41612 of the Government Code in an amount not exceeding the amount specified in those sections of the Government Code.

(f) Moneys paid to, and commissions and benefits received by, a licensee for the sale of goods, services, or insurance, whether or not the sale is in connection with a loan, that the buyer by a separately signed authorization acknowledges is optional, if sale of the goods, services, or insurance has been authorized pursuant to Section 22154.

(Amended by Stats. 2019, Ch. 708, Sec. 2. (AB 539) Effective January 1, 2020.)