33-14-201. License required -- fee -- renewal of license. (1) Except as provided in subsection (4), a person may not engage in the business of financing insurance premiums without first having obtained a license as a premium finance company from the commissioner. Any person who engages in the business of financing insurance premiums in the state without obtaining a license as provided under this chapter is, upon conviction, guilty of a misdemeanor.

(2) The annual license fee is $100. A license may be renewed as of January 1 each year, upon payment of the fee of $100. The license fee must be paid to the commissioner.

(3) The person to whom the license or the renewal of the license is issued shall file sworn answers, subject to the penalties of perjury, to any interrogatories as the commissioner may require. The commissioner may, at any time, require the applicant fully to disclose the identity of all stockholders, partners, officers, and employees, and the commissioner may, in the commissioner's discretion, refuse to issue or renew a license in the name of any firm, partnership, or corporation if not satisfied that any officer, employee, stockholder, or partner who may materially influence the applicant's conduct meets the standards of this chapter.

(4) This section does not apply to and a license is not required of:

(a) savings and loan associations, banks, trust companies, licensed finance companies, credit unions, and resident insurance producers; or

(b) a person who, within 15 days after entering into an insurance premium finance agreement, transfers the agreement to a licensee or to any of the organizations exempt under this subsection (4).

History: En. Sec. 3, Ch. 360, L. 1981; amd. Sec. 1, Ch. 713, L. 1989; amd. Sec. 16, Ch. 451, L. 1993.