Section 58-15-3 - Applicability of act; exemptions; evasions; penalty.
58-15-3. Applicability of act; exemptions; evasions; penalty.
A. A person shall not engage in the business of lending in amounts of two thousand five hundred dollars ($2,500) or less for a loan without first having obtained a license from the director. Nothing contained in this subsection shall restrict or prohibit a licensee under the New Mexico Small Loan Act of 1955 [58-15-31 NMSA 1978] from making loans in any amount under the New Mexico Bank Installment Loan Act of 1959 [58-7-1 NMSA 1978] in accordance with the provisions of Section 58-7-2 NMSA 1978.
B. Nothing in the New Mexico Small Loan Act of 1955 shall apply to a person making individual advances of two thousand five hundred dollars ($2,500) or less under a written agreement providing for a total loan or line of credit in excess of two thousand five hundred dollars ($2,500).
C. A banking corporation, savings and loan association or credit union operating under the laws of the United States or of a state shall be exempt from the licensing requirements of the New Mexico Small Loan Act of 1955, nor shall that act apply to business transacted by any person under the authority of and as permitted by any such law nor to any bona fide pawnbroking business transacted under a pawnbroker's license nor to bona fide commercial loans made to dealers upon personal property held for resale. Nothing contained in the New Mexico Small Loan Act of 1955 shall be construed as abridging the rights of any of those exempted from the operations of that act from contracting for or receiving interest or charges not in violation of an existing applicable statute of this state.
D. The provisions of Subsection A of this section apply to:
(1) a person who owns an interest, legal or equitable, in the business or profits of a licensee and whose name does not specifically appear on the face of the license, except a stockholder in a corporate licensee; and
(2) a person who seeks to evade its application by any device, subterfuge or pretense whatsoever, including but not thereby limiting the generality of the foregoing:
(a) the loan, forbearance, use or sale of credit (as guarantor, surety, endorser, comaker or otherwise), money, goods or things in action;
(b) the use of collateral or related sales or purchases of goods or services or agreements to sell or purchase, whether real or pretended;
(c) receiving or charging compensation for goods or services, whether or not sold, delivered or provided; and
(d) the real or pretended negotiation, arrangement or procurement of a loan through any use or activity of a third person, whether real or fictitious.
E. A person, copartnership, trust or a trustee or beneficiary thereof or an association or corporation or a member, officer, director, agent or employee thereof who violates or participates in the violation of a provision of Subsection A of this section is guilty of a petty misdemeanor and upon conviction shall be sentenced pursuant to the provisions of Subsection B of Section 31-19-1 NMSA 1978. A contract or loan in the making or collection of which an act is done that violates Subsection A or D of this section is void and the lender has no right to collect, receive or retain any principal, interest or charges whatsoever.