2023 North Carolina General Statutes › Chapter 53 - Regulation of Financial Services › Article 20 - Refund Anticipation Loan Act. › § 53-249 - Filing and posting of loan fees; disclosures.

§ 53-249. Filing and posting of loan fees; disclosures.
(a) Filing of Fee Schedule. – On or before January 2 of each year, each registrant shall file with the Commissioner a schedule of the refund anticipation loan fees for refund anticipation loans to be facilitated by the registrant during the succeeding year. Immediately upon learning of any change in the refund anticipation loan fee for that year, the registrant shall file an amendment with the Commissioner setting out the change. Filing is effective upon receipt by the Commissioner.
(b) Notice of Unconscionable Fee. – If the Commissioner finds that a refund anticipation loan fee filed pursuant to subsection (a) of this section is unconscionable, the Commissioner shall notify the registrant that (i) the fee is unconscionable and (ii) the consequences of charging a refund anticipation loan fee in an amount that the Commissioner has notified the registrant is unconscionable include liability to the debtor for three times the amount of that fee and possible revocation of registration as a facilitator after notice and a hearing.
(c) Posting of Fee Schedule. – Every registrant shall prominently display at each office where the registrant is facilitating refund anticipation loans a schedule showing the current refund anticipation loan fees for refund anticipation loans facilitated at the office and the current electronic filing fees for the electronic filing of the taxpayer's tax return. Every registrant shall also prominently display on each fee schedule a statement to the effect that the taxpayer may have the tax return filed electronically without also obtaining a refund anticipation loan. No registrant may facilitate a refund anticipation loan unless (i) the schedule required by this subsection is displayed and (ii) the refund anticipation loan fee actually charged is the same as the fee displayed on the schedule and the fee filed with the Commissioner pursuant to subsection (a) of this section.
(d) Disclosures. – At the time a debtor applies for a refund anticipation loan, the registrant shall disclose to the debtor on a form separate from the application:
(1) The refund anticipation loan fee.
(2) The fee for electronic filing of a tax return.
(3) The time within which the proceeds of the loan will be paid to the debtor if the loan is approved.
(4) That the debtor is responsible for repayment of the loan and related fees in the event the tax refund is not paid or is not paid in full.
(5) The availability of electronic filing of the taxpayer's tax return, along with the average time announced by the appropriate taxing authority within which a taxpayer can expect to receive a refund if the taxpayer's return is filed electronically and the taxpayer does not obtain a refund anticipation loan.
(6) Examples of the annual percentage rates, as defined by the Truth In Lending Act, 15 U.S.C. § 1607 and 12 C.F.R. Section 226.22, for refund anticipation loans of five hundred dollars ($500.00), seven hundred fifty dollars ($750.00), one thousand dollars ($1,000), one thousand five hundred dollars ($1,500), two thousand dollars ($2,000), and three thousand dollars ($3,000). Regardless of disclosures of the annual percentage rate required by the Truth In Lending Act, if the debtor is required to establish or maintain a deposit account with the creditor for receipt of the debtor's tax refund to offset the amount owed on the loan, the maturity of the loan for the purpose of determining the annual percentage rate disclosure under this section shall be assumed to be the estimated date when the tax refund will be deposited in the debtor's account. (1989 (Reg. Sess., 1990), c. 881, s. 2; 2021-93, s. 10.)