(a) No person may engage in business as a mortgage lender or mortgage broker, or both, or hold himself out to the public to be a mortgage lender or mortgage broker unless such person has first obtained a license under this chapter.
(b) To qualify for a license, an applicant must satisfy the Banking Board that the applicant, including its members, officers, directors, and principals, is of good moral character and has sufficient financial responsibility, business experience, and general fitness to:
(1) engage in business as a mortgage lender or mortgage broker;
(2) warrant the belief that the business will be conducted lawfully, honestly, fairly, and efficiently; and
(3) in the case of an applicant for license to act as a mortgage lender, capitalize the business by maintaining at least $500,000 of funds available, and in the ease of an applicant for a license to act as a mortgage broker, capitalize the business by maintaining at least $25,000 of funds available.
(c) The Banking Board may deny an application for a license to any person who has committed any act prior to the granting of the license that would be a ground for suspension or revocation of a license under this chapter.
(d) To apply for a license an applicant shall:
(1) complete, sign and submit to the Banking Board an application made under oath on the form that the Banking Board requires; and
(2) comply with all conditions and provisions of the application for licensure.
(e) The application must include:
(1) If the applicant is an individual, the applicant's name, business address and telephone number, and residential address and telephone number;
(2) If the applicant is a partnership, limited liability company, or other unincorporated business association, the business name, business address and telephone number, and the residential address and telephone number of each.
(A) general partner, if the applicant is a limited partnership;
(B) general partner who holds an interest in the partnership of more than 10%, if the applicant is a general partnership; or
(C) member, if the applicant is a limited liability company or a non-corporate business association;
(3) If the applicant is a corporation:
(A) the name, address, and telephone number of the corporate entity; and
(B) the name, business telephone number, and residential address and telephone number of the president, senior vice presidents, secretary, treasurer, and each director and each stockholder owning or controlling 10% or more of any class of stock in the corporation;
(4) The name under which the mortgage lender or mortgage broker business is to be conducted;
(5) The name and address of the applicant's registered agent;
(6) The address of the location of the business to be licensed;
(7) Whether the applicant seeks a license to act as a mortgage lender, mortgage broker, or both; and
(8) Such other information concerning the financial responsibility, background, experience, and activities of the applicant and its members, officers, directors, and principals as the Banking Board may require.
(f) With each application, the applicant shall pay such fees as promulgated by the Banking Board.
(g) For each license for which an applicant applies, the applicant shall:
(1) submit a separate application;
(2) pay a separate license fee; and
(3) file a separate surety bond or other financial guaranty under subsection (i) of this section.
(h) An applicant for an original license or for the renewal of a license shall file a surety bond with each original application and any renewal application for the license.
(1) The surety bond shall:
(A) run to the Government of the Virgin Islands for the benefit of any person who has been damaged by a licensee as a result of violating any law or regulation governing the activities of mortgage lenders or mortgage brokers;
(B) be issued by a surety company authorized to do business in the Virgin Islands;
(C) be conditioned upon the applicant's complying with all of the Territory's laws regulating the activities of mortgage lenders and mortgage brokers, performing all written agreements with borrowers or prospective borrowers and accounting for all funds received by the licensee in conformity with a consistently applied standard system of accounting; and
(D) be continuously maintained thereafter for as long as any license issued under this chapter remains in force.
(2) If an applicant has not conducted business as a mortgage lender or mortgage broker in the Virgin Islands in any of the three calendar years preceding the year in which an original application for a license is filed, the surety bond required under this subsection shall be in the amount of $25,000.
(3) If an applicant has conducted business as a mortgage lender or mortgage broker in the Virgin Islands in any of the three calendar years preceding the year in which an original or renewal application is filed, the applicant shall provide a sworn statement setting forth the total dollar amount of mortgage loans applied for and accepted or mortgage loans applied for, procured, and accepted by the mortgage lender or mortgage broker during the latest calendar year such business was conducted. The bond required in this circumstance is determined as follows:
(A) Where the total dollar amount of stated loans was $1,000,000 or less, the bond shall be in the amount of $25,000;
(B) Where the total dollar amount of stated loans was more than $1,000,000 but not more than $2,000,000, the bond shall be in the amount of $30,000;
(C) Where the total dollar amount of stated loans was more than $2,000,000 but not more than $3,000,000, the bond shall be in the amount of $40,000; and
(D) Where the total dollar amount of stated loans was more than $3,000,000, the bond shall be in the amount of $50,000.
(4) Subject to approval by the Banking Board, if an applicant files four or more original or renewal applications at the same time, the applicant may provide a blanket surety bond for all licensed offices in the amount of $200,000.
(5) Any person who may be damaged by noncompliance of a licensee with any condition of such bond may proceed on such bond against the principal or surety thereon, or both, to recover damages. The aggregate liability under the bond may not exceed the penal sum of the bond.