Title of Regulation: 10VAC5-200. Payday Lending (adding 10VAC5-200-115).

Statutory Authority: §§ 6.1-453.1, 6.1-460 and 12.1-13 of the Code of Virginia.

Effective Date: January 1, 2009.

Agency Contact: E. J. Face, Jr., BFI Commissioner, State Corporation Commission, P. O. Box 640, Richmond, VA 23218, telephone (804) 371-9659, FAX (804) 371-9416, or email joe.face@scc.virginia.gov.

Summary:

The State Corporation Commission is adopting a regulation to establish the amount of the database inquiry fee that licensed payday lenders will be required to pay to the database provider in connection with every consummated payday loan. The final regulation is identical to the proposed regulation.

AT RICHMOND, SEPTEMBER 25, 2008

COMMONWEALTH OF VIRGINIA, ex rel.

STATE CORPORATION COMMISSION

CASE NO. BFI-2008-00309

Ex Parte: In re: payday lending
database inquiry fee

ORDER ADOPTING A REGULATION

By Order entered in this case on July 10, 2008, the State Corporation Commission ("Commission") directed that notice be given of its proposal, acting pursuant to § 6.1-458 of the Payday Loan Act, to promulgate a regulation to establish the amount of the database inquiry fee that each licensee will be required to pay to the database provider in connection with each consummated payday loan to defray the cost of submitting a database inquiry. Notice of the proposed regulation was published in the Virginia Register on August 4, 2008, posted on the Commission's website, and sent by the Commissioner of Financial Institutions to all licensed payday lenders and other interested persons. Licensees and other interested persons were afforded the opportunity to file written comments or request a hearing on or before August 20, 2008.

The Commission received comment letters from Ms. Joyce Hann, who supported the proposed regulation, and Mr. Sanjiv Shah, President of Checks Mate, Inc., who objected to the requirement that licensees remit the database inquiry fees to the database provider on a weekly basis. However, this requirement comes directly from § 6.1‑453.1 B 4 of the Code of Virginia. The Commission did not receive any requests for a hearing.

THE COMMISSION, having considered the proposed regulation and comments, is of the opinion that the attached regulation should be adopted as final. The Commission further concludes that the regulation should have a delayed effective date of January 1, 2009, to coincide with the date that licensees are required to begin submitting inquiries to the payday lending database.

THEREFORE IT IS ORDERED THAT:

(1) The new regulation at 10VAC5-200-115, which is attached hereto and made a part hereof, should be, and it is hereby, ADOPTED effective January 1, 2009;

(2) The Commission's Division of Information Resources shall forthwith cause a copy of this Order, including a copy of the final regulation, to be forwarded to the Virginia Registrar of Regulations for publication in the Virginia Register of Regulations;

(3) This Order and the attached regulation shall be posted on the Commission's website at www.scc.virginia.gov/case; and

(4) This case is dismissed from the Commission's docket of active cases.Commissioner Dimitri did not participate in this matter.

AN ATTESTED COPY hereof shall be sent by the Clerk of the Commission to the Commissioner of Financial Institutions, who shall forthwith mail a copy of this Order and the final regulation to all licensed payday lenders and such other interested persons as he may designate.

10VAC5-200-115. Database inquiry fee.

Pursuant to subdivision B 4 of § 6.1-453.1 of the Code of Virginia, a licensed payday lender shall pay a database inquiry fee to the database provider in connection with every payday loan consummated by the licensee. The amount of the database inquiry fee shall not exceed $5.00 per loan, which shall be remitted by each licensee directly to the database provider on a weekly basis.