Section 58-15-2 - Definitions.
58-15-2. Definitions.
The following words and terms when used in the New Mexico Small Loan Act of 1955 [58-15-31 NMSA 1978] have the following meanings unless the context clearly requires a different meaning. The meaning ascribed to the singular form applies also to the plural:
A. "consumer" means a person who enters into a loan agreement and receives the loan proceeds in New Mexico;
B. "debit authorization" means an authorization signed by a consumer to electronically transfer or withdraw funds from the consumer's account for the specific purpose of repaying a loan;
C. "department" or "division" means the financial institutions division of the regulation and licensing department;
D. "director" means the director of the division;
E. "installment loan" means a loan that is to be repaid in a minimum of four successive substantially equal payment amounts to pay off a loan in its entirety with a period of no less than one hundred twenty days to maturity. "Installment loan" does not mean a loan in which a licensee requires, as a condition of making the loan, the use of post-dated checks or debit authorizations for repayment of that loan;
F. "license" means a permit issued under the authority of the New Mexico Small Loan Act of 1955 to make loans and collect charges therefor strictly in accordance with the provisions of that act at a single place of business. It shall constitute and shall be construed as a grant of a revocable privilege only to be held and enjoyed subject to all the conditions, restrictions and limitations contained in the New Mexico Small Loan Act of 1955 and lawful regulations promulgated by the director and not otherwise;
G. "licensee" means a person to whom one or more licenses have been issued pursuant to the New Mexico Small Loan Act of 1955 upon the person's written application electing to become a licensee and consenting to exercise the privilege of a licensee solely in conformity with the New Mexico Small Loan Act of 1955 and the lawful regulations promulgated by the director under that act and whose name appears on the face of the license;
H. "payday loan" means a loan in which the licensee accepts a personal check or debit authorization tendered by the consumer and agrees in writing to defer presentment of that check or use of the debit authorization until the consumer's next payday or another date agreed to by the licensee and the consumer and:
(1) includes any advance of money or arrangement or extension of credit whereby the licensee, for a fee, finance charge or other consideration:
(a) accepts a dated personal check or debit authorization from a consumer for the specific purpose of repaying a payday loan;
(b) agrees to hold a dated personal check or debit authorization from a consumer for a period of time prior to negotiating or depositing the personal check or debit authorization; or
(c) pays to the consumer, credits to the consumer's account or pays another person on behalf of the consumer the amount of an instrument actually paid or to be paid pursuant to the New Mexico Small Loan Act of 1955; but
(2) does not include:
(a) an overdraft product or service offered by a banking corporation, savings and loan association or credit union; and
(b) installment loans;
I. "payday loan product" means a payday loan or a payment plan pursuant to Section 58-15-35 NMSA 1978;
J. "person" includes an individual, copartner, association, trust, corporation and any other legal entity;
K. "renewed payday loan" means a loan in which a consumer pays in cash the administrative fee payable under a payday loan agreement and refinances all or part of the unpaid principal balance of an existing payday loan with a new payday loan from the same licensee. A "renewed payday loan" includes a transaction in which a consumer pays off all or part of an existing payday loan with the proceeds of a payday loan from the same licensee; and
L. "simple interest" means a method of calculating interest in which the amount of interest is calculated based on the annual interest rate disclosed in the loan agreement and is computed only on the outstanding principal balance of the loan.