(a)        Necessity for License; Prerequisites to Issuance. – No person shall engage in or offer to engage in the business regulated by this Article unless and until a license has been issued by the Commissioner of Banks, and the Commissioner shall not issue any such license unless and until the Commissioner finds:

(1)        That authorizing the applicant to engage in such business will promote the convenience and advantage of the community in which the applicant proposes to engage in business; and

(2)        That the financial responsibility, experience, character and general fitness of the applicant are such as to command the confidence of the public and to warrant the belief that the business will be operated lawfully and fairly, within the purposes of this Article; and

(3)        That the applicant has available for the operation of such business at the specified location loanable assets of at least fifty thousand dollars ($50,000).

(b)        Investigation of Applicants. – Upon the receipt of an application, the Commissioner shall investigate the facts. If the Commissioner determines from such preliminary investigation that the applicant does not satisfy the conditions set forth in subsection (a), the Commissioner shall so notify the applicant who shall then be entitled to an informal hearing thereon provided he so requests in writing within 30 days after the Commissioner has caused the above-referred to notification to be mailed to the applicant. In the event of a hearing, to be held in the offices of the Commissioner of Banks in Raleigh, the Commissioner shall reconsider the application and, after the hearing, issue a written order granting or denying such application. At the time of making such application, the applicant shall pay the Banking Department the sum of two hundred fifty dollars ($250.00) as a fee for investigating the application, which shall be retained irrespective of whether or not a license is granted the applicant.

(c)        Repealed by Session Laws 2001-519, s. 2.

(d)       Required Assets Available. – Each licensee shall continue at all times to have available for the operation of the business at the specified location loanable assets of at least fifty thousand dollars ($50,000). The requirements and standards of this subsection and subsection (a)(2) of this section shall be maintained throughout the period of the license and failure to maintain such requirements or standards shall be grounds for the revocation of a license under the provisions of N.C. Gen. Stat. § 53-171 of this Article.

(e)        License, Posting, Continuing. – Each license shall state the address at which the business is to be conducted and shall state fully the name of the licensee, and if the licensee is a copartnership, or association, the names of the members thereof, and if a corporation, the date and place of its incorporation. Transfer or assignment of a license by one person to another by sale or otherwise is prohibited without the prior approval of the Commissioner. Each license shall be kept posted in the licensed place of business. Each license shall remain in full force and effect until surrendered, revoked, or suspended as hereinafter provided. (1961, c. 1053, s. 1; 1969, c. 1303, s. 15; 1973, c. 1042, s. 2; 1981, c. 671, s. 15; 1987, c. 827, s. 12; 2001-519, s. 2.)