649.355 - Business ethics and practices; trust accounts.
649.355 Business ethics and practices; trust accounts.
1. Every collection agency and collection agent shall openly, fairly and honestly conduct the collection agency business and shall at all times conform to the accepted business ethics and practices of the collection agency business.
2. Every licensee shall at all times maintain a separate account in a bank or credit union in which must be deposited all money collected. Except as otherwise provided in regulations adopted by the Commissioner pursuant to NRS 649.054, the account must be maintained in a bank or credit union located in this State and bear some title sufficient to distinguish it from the licensee’s personal or general checking account and to designate it as a trust account, such as “customer’s trust fund account.” The trust account must at all times contain sufficient money to pay all money due or owing to all customers, and no disbursement may be made from the account except to customers or to pay costs advanced for those customers, except that a licensee may periodically withdraw from the account such money as may accrue to the licensee from collections deposited or from adjustments resulting from costs advanced and payments made directly to customers.
3. Every licensee maintaining a separate custodial or trust account shall keep a record of all money deposited in the account, which must indicate clearly the date and from whom the money was received, the date deposited, the dates of withdrawals and other pertinent information concerning the transaction, and must show clearly for whose account the money is deposited and to whom the money belongs. The money must be remitted to the creditors respectively entitled thereto within 30 days following the end of the month in which payment is received. The records and money are subject to inspection by the Commissioner or the Commissioner’s authorized representative. The records must be maintained at the premises in this State at which the licensee is authorized to conduct business.
4. If the Commissioner finds that a licensee’s records are not maintained pursuant to subsections 2 and 3, the Commissioner may require the licensee to deliver an audited financial statement prepared from his or her records by a certified public accountant who holds a certificate to engage in the practice of public accounting in this State. The statement must be submitted within 60 days after the Commissioner requests it. The Commissioner may grant a reasonable extension for the submission of the financial statement if an extension is requested before the statement is due.
(Added to NRS by 1963, 1141; A 1967, 956; 1969, 840; 1983, 1718; 1987, 1509, 1895; 1993, 2416; 1999, 1541)