TITLE 6.1. BANKING AND FINANCE.
§ 6.1-1.1 amended.
Banking and finance; confidentiality of information. Authorizes the State Corporation Commission or its employees to release examination reports regarding financial institution and personal financial information to other persons as required by grand jury subpoenas. SB 163; CH. 165.
§§ 6.1-2.25 and 6.1-2.27 amended.
Consumer Real Estate Settlement Protection Act; summonses and subpoenas; orders have force and effect of circuit court decrees. Authorizes licensing authorities to issue summonses and subpoenas and to issue orders restraining a person from engaging in an act or practice. The bill also gives orders of the licensing authorities imposing penalties or requiring restitution the force and effect of circuit court decrees. SB 509; CH. 597.
§ 6.1-2.25. See § 17.1-223; SB 587.
§§ 6.1-32.3, 6.1-32.11, 6.1-32.19, and 6.1-32.20 amended.
Banking and finance; subsidiary trust companies and trust company holding companies. Permits companies other than banks and bank holding companies to own nonvoting stock of trust subsidiaries. The requirement that a trust company holding company also control a securities-related company is eliminated. "Control" is defined as ownership of 25 percent or more of the voting stock of a trust company. The bill also authorizes acquisition of a Virginia trust company by any bank holding company or any company having a trust subsidiary as permitted by federal law or the law of another state. SB 542; CH. 781.
§ 6.1-62 amended.
Banks; loans and other extensions of credit to executive officers and directors. Requires that Federal Reserve Board Regulations govern the maximum amount of loans and other extensions of credit a bank may make to any of its executive officers or directors, and the conditions and procedures for approval of such extensions of credit, regardless of whether the bank is a member of the Federal Reserve System. HB 1269; CH. 320.
§§ 6.1-330.53, 6.1-330.54, and 8.01-382 amended.
Rates of interest. Provides that the legal and judgment rates of interest both are lowered from the current rate of eight and nine percent respectively to six percent, to reflect current market realities. Clarifies that where the relevant contract or instrument is silent and the court or jury has not set the interest rate, the same rate is applied for prejudgment and post-judgment interest. HB 1460; CH. 646.
§§ 54.1-3905, 57-60, and 59.1-200 amended; §§ 6.1-363.2 through 6.1-363.26 added; § 6.1-363.1 repealed.
Nonprofit credit counseling. Requires credit counseling agencies to obtain a license from the State Corporation Commission in order to provide or offer to provide to consumers debt management plans. Under consumer debt management plans, an agency agrees to engage in debt settlement or debt pooling and distribution services on behalf of a consumer with the consumer's creditors, and the consumer gives money or control of his funds to the agency for distribution to the consumer's creditors. Licensees shall provide to consumers a statement that providing debt management plan services on behalf of the consumer may have a derogatory effect upon the consumer's credit report. The SCC's Bureau of Financial Institutions may investigate and examine the affairs, business, premises, and records of any person licensed or required to be licensed. The SCC may impose a fine or penalty on violators not exceeding $1,000. Any person operating without a license shall be guilty of a Class 1 misdemeanor. Any person who suffers loss by reason of a violation may bring a civil action. The SCC may request the Attorney General to investigate a suspected violation. Any violation constitutes a prohibited practice under the Virginia Consumer Protection Act. The measure does not apply to a person licensed to practice law in the Commonwealth. An agency that had been licensed under the current statutes regulating non-profit debt counseling agencies, which laws are repealed by this measure, is required to reapply for the new license by October 1, 2004. HB 471; CH. 790.
§§ 6.1-453, 6.1-459, and 6.1-461 amended.
Payday Loan Act; requirements; charges. Requires payday lenders to retain their borrowers' checks. The bill prohibits application of post-maturity interest to loan fees and limits borrowers' right to make partial payments to the period prior to loan maturity. Payday lenders are required to return paid loan agreements to borrowers marked "paid" or "canceled" and to keep copies of such agreements. The measure also provides that the Payday Loan Act's provisions exclusively control the post-judgment interest and other charges and expenses payday lenders may recover from borrowers. HB 688; CH. 295.
§§ 6.1-472 and 6.1-473 added.
Asset-Backed Securities Facilitation Act. Provides that any property, assets, or rights purported to be transferred in a securitization transaction shall be deemed to no longer be the property, assets, or rights of the transferor. A transferor in a securitization transaction, its creditors or a bankruptcy trustee, receiver, debtor, debtor in possession, or similar person shall have no rights to reacquire, reclaim, recover, repudiate, disaffirm, redeem, or recharacterize as property of the transferor any property, assets, or rights purported to be transferred by the transferor. In a bankruptcy, receivership, or other insolvency proceeding governed by the laws of the Commonwealth, the property, assets, and rights shall not be deemed to be part of the transferor's property, assets, rights, or estate. SB 536; CH. 600.