Terms Used In Maryland Code, FINANCIAL INSTITUTIONS 11-204

  • Contract: A legal written agreement that becomes binding when signed.
  • Person: includes an individual, receiver, trustee, guardian, personal representative, fiduciary, representative of any kind, corporation, partnership, business trust, statutory trust, limited liability company, firm, association, or other nongovernmental entity. See
  • Real property: Land, and all immovable fixtures erected on, growing on, or affixed to the land.
(a) A person may not:

(1) Receive any application for a loan or allow any note or contract for a loan to be signed at any place of business for which the person does not have a license;

(2) Conduct any business under the Maryland Consumer Loan Law under a name different from the name that appears on the person’s license; or

(3) Evade the application of this section by any device, subterfuge, or pretense of any kind.

(b) This section does not prohibit a licensee from accommodating a borrower, at the borrower’s request, by making a loan by mail because of the borrower’s sickness or hours of employment or for similar reasons.

(c) Notwithstanding subsections (a) and (b) of this section, for a loan that is to be secured by residential real property:

(1) A licensee may solicit and accept an application for a loan:

(i) By mail;

(ii) By telephone or other electronic means; or

(iii) At any location requested by the prospective borrower;

(2) Except as provided in item (3) of this subsection, the loan closing shall be conducted at:

(i) The lender’s licensed location;

(ii) The office of an attorney representing the licensee, the borrower, the title company, or title insurer in connection with the loan; or

(iii) The office of the title insurer or title agency performing closing services in connection with the loan; and

(3) A licensee may conduct the loan closing at another location at the written request of the borrower or the borrower’s designee to accommodate the borrower because of the borrower’s sickness.