§ 2101. Definitions

Except as otherwise provided in this part:

(1) "Commercial loan" means a loan or extension of credit that is described in 9 V.S.A. § 46(1), (2), or (4). The term does not include a loan or extension of credit secured in whole or in part by an owner occupied one- to four-unit dwelling.

(2) "Commissioner" means the Commissioner of Financial Regulation.

(3) "Control" means the possession, direct or indirect, of the power to direct or cause the direction of the management or policies of a person, whether through the ownership of voting securities, by contract other than a commercial contract for goods or nonmanagement services, or otherwise, unless the power is the result of an official position with or corporate office held by the person. Control is presumed to exist if a person, directly or indirectly, owns, controls, holds with the power to vote, or holds proxies representing 10 percent or more of the voting securities or other interest of any other person.

(4) "Depository institution" has the same meaning as in 12 U.S.C. § 1813 and includes any bank and any savings association as defined in 12 U.S.C. § 1813. The term also includes a credit union organized and regulated as such under the laws of the United States or any state.

(5) "Dwelling" has the same meaning as in 15 U.S.C. § 1602.

(6) "Federal banking agencies" means the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, the Comptroller of the Currency, the National Credit Union Administration, and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation or any successor of any of these.

(7) "Holder" means:

(A) the person in possession of a negotiable instrument that is payable either to bearer or to an identified person that is the person in possession;

(B) the person in possession of a negotiable tangible document of title if the goods are deliverable either to bearer or to the order of the person in possession; or

(C) the person in control of a negotiable electronic document of title.

(8) "Immediate family member" means a spouse, child, sibling, parent, grandparent, or grandchild, aunt, uncle, nephew, niece, including stepparents, stepchildren, stepsiblings, step grandparents, step grandchildren, and adoptive relationships. The term also includes former spouses dividing property in connection with a divorce or separation.

(9) "Individual" means a natural person.

(10) "Insurance company" means an institution organized and regulated as such under the laws of any state.

(11) "Licensee" means a person required to be licensed or registered under this part.

(12) "Material litigation" means a litigation that according to generally accepted accounting principles is deemed significant to an applicant's or a licensee's financial health and is required to be disclosed in the applicant's or licensee's annual audited financial statements, report to shareholders, or similar records.

(13) "Mortgage loan" means a loan secured primarily by a lien against real estate.

(14) "Nationwide Multistate Licensing System and Registry" or "Nationwide Mortgage Licensing System and Registry" or "NMLS" means a multistate licensing system developed by the Conference of State Bank Supervisors and the American Association of Residential Mortgage Regulators and operated by the State Regulatory Registry LLC for the licensing and registration of non-depository financial service entities in participating state agencies, or any successor to the Nationwide Multistate Licensing System and Registry.

(15) "Person" has the same meaning as in 1 V.S.A. § 128.

(16) "Record" means information that is inscribed on a tangible medium or that is stored in an electronic or other medium and is retrievable in perceivable form.

(17) "Residential mortgage loan" means a loan primarily for personal, family, or household use that is secured by a mortgage, deed of trust, or other equivalent consensual security interest on either a dwelling or residential real estate, upon which is constructed or intended to be constructed a dwelling.

(18) "Residential real estate" means real property located in this State, upon which is constructed or intended to be constructed a dwelling.

(19) "Responsible individual" means an individual who is employed by a licensee and has principal, active managerial authority over the provision of services in this State.

(20) "State" means a state of the United States, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands, or any territory or insular possession subject to the jurisdiction of the United States, except that when capitalized the term means the State of Vermont.

(21) "Unique identifier" means a number or other identifier assigned by protocols established by the Nationwide Multistate Licensing System and Registry.

(22) "Unsafe or unsound practice" means a practice or conduct by a person licensed to do business in this State that creates the likelihood of material loss, insolvency, or dissipation of the licensee's assets, or otherwise materially prejudices the interests of its customers. (Added 2019, No. 20, § 2.)