Licensure required

A. (1) Unless a person has first been licensed by the commissioner as provided in this Part, he shall not engage in the business of loan brokering, and shall not advertise or solicit, whether in print, by letter, in person, or otherwise in Louisiana, that he will find lenders for consumer loans or federally related mortgage loans. The initial license and annual renewal fee shall be five hundred dollars. However, a natural person through whom a corporation brokers loans pursuant to R.S. 9:3572.4 shall pay an initial license and annual renewal fee of one hundred dollars. No portion of the fee shall be refunded if the application is denied. (2) The annual renewal application and fee are due on or before January first of each year. The form and content of renewal applications shall be determined by the commissioner of financial institutions, and a renewal application may be denied upon the same grounds as would justify denial of an initial application, or may be denied if administrative proceedings to suspend or revoke the license have begun. If the commissioner has not received the annual renewal application and fee postmarked on or before January sixteenth, he shall notify the loan broker by United States mail and assess a late fee of one hundred dollars. (3) If the commissioner has not received the annual renewal application, renewal fee and late fee postmarked on or before March thirty-first, the license shall automatically lapse without a hearing or notification, and any consumer loan or federally related mortgage loan brokered after that date shall be a violation and punishable pursuant to R.S. 9:3572.12(B). B. (1) In the event that a broker wishes to change its name, location, or mailing address, it shall notify the commissioner by written notice within thirty days prior to such change and submit a fee of fifty dollars. If the broker fails to notify the commissioner or remit the required fee within the required thirty days, the commissioner may assess the licensee one hundred dollars as a penalty. (2) If any information furnished by the broker becomes inaccurate after its filing, the broker shall correct the inaccuracy by written notice to the commissioner within thirty days after the information becomes inaccurate. No additional fee shall be required.