(1) Savings and loan associations are authorized:

(a) To make such loans and advances of credit and purchases of obligations representing loans and advances of credit as are eligible for insurance by the federal housing administrator and to obtain such insurance;

(b) To make such loans, secured by real property or leasehold, as the federal housing administrator insures or makes a commitment to insure and to obtain such insurance.

(2) Associations may sell any loans authorized by this section, and each such loan sold by an association shall be sold without recourse and, if under a contract to service the same, on a basis which will reimburse the association adequately for the cost of such servicing. All sale and servicing agreements shall be in writing and on file in the association.

(3) It shall be lawful for savings and loan associations to invest their funds and the moneys in their custody or possession which are eligible for investment in notes or bonds secured by mortgage or trust deed insured by the federal housing administrator, and in obligations of national mortgage associations or similar credit institutions organized under Title III of the "National Housing Act", and in debentures issued by the federal housing administrator.

(4) No laws of this state requiring security upon which loans or investments may be made, or prescribing the nature, amount, or form of such security, or prescribing or limiting the period for which loans or investments may be made, or affecting the negotiability of the loan instrument shall be deemed to apply to loans or investments made pursuant to this section.

(5) An association may make loans for the purpose of mobile home financing, subject to any limitation as to maximum loan amounts which may be prescribed from time to time by the commissioner for all associations. For the purposes of this subsection (5), "mobile home" means a mobile accommodation used or designed for use as living quarters.

(6) An association may make loans for the repair, equipping, alteration, or improvement of any real property, including mobile homes, subject to such restrictions, limitations, prohibitions, conditions, and provisions as the commissioner may from time to time, by rule or regulation duly adopted, prescribe.

(7) An association may make loans or invest in obligations and advances of credit, referred to in this article as "loans", for the payment of expenses for postsecondary school education; but the total aggregate principal amount of an association's investment in such loans, exclusive of any investment which is or which at the time of its making was otherwise authorized, shall not exceed five percent of its invested capital.

(8) An association may issue letters of credit, subject to regulation by the commissioner pursuant to section 11-44-103.