Licensed Lenders

(non-real estate consumer loans)

The Non-depository Division of the Office of Financial Institutions regulates the licensing of license lenders (finance companies), insurance premium finance companies, and deferred presentment and small loan lenders (payday lenders) operating within the state of Louisiana. Persons who wish to engage in the business of making consumer loans must hold a consumer loan license issued by this Office before they can begin to make loans. Consumer loan is defined as “a loan of money or its equivalent made by a supervised financial organization, a license lender, or lender in which the debtor is a consumer, and the loan is entered into primarily for personal, family, or household purposes and includes debts created by the use of a lender credit card, revolving loan account, or similar arrangement, as well as insurance premium financings. A ‘consumer loan’ further includes a loan of money or its equivalent to a consumer entered into primarily for personal, family, or household purposes, which is secured by a second or junior lien or mortgage on owner-occupied one-to-four family residential immovable property, or which is secured by a first lien or mortgage on owner-occupied one-to-four family residential immovable property to the extent that the loan does not qualify as a federally related mortgage loan.”

The “applicant” is the person or entity that will be the holder of the license. This applicant may be an individual, partnership, association, Business Corporation, Limited Liability Corporation, Subchapter S Corporation or any other group of individuals however organized. Requirements for licensure as a licensed lender/insurance premium finance company include:

  1. Register corporate trade names with Secretary of State. Other entities should register assumed names with their local clerk of court.
  2. Inclusion of the actual physical location where the business of making consumer loans will be located.
    LOANS MAY ONLY BE MADE FROM THIS LOCATION. Any additional location requires licensure.
  3. The name and location of the banking facility that will be used by the licensee in the conduct of its daily business affairs.
  4. Financial statement on the applicant or “license holder.”
  5. A letter from the applicant’s bank certifying that the applicant has at least $25,000 unencumbered cash in the bank.

Additional and more detailed requirements are included in the license application.

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