(a) Except as provided in Sections 18205.5 and 18209 and subject to subdivisions (b) and (c), an industrial loan company shall not make any loan or purchase or discount any note secured primarily by real property unless the loan or other obligation is repayable in substantially equal weekly, semimonthly, monthly, or quarterly installments during its term, which shall not exceed 30 years and 30 days from the date the loan or other obligation is made or acquired by the company. Equal installment requirements shall not apply to adjustable or variable rate loans or obligations made or purchased by the industrial loan company in accordance with Title VIII of the Garn-St. Germaine Depository Institutions Act of 1982 and any applicable regulations, guidelines, and policies adopted thereunder. However, an industrial loan company may make loans secured by first trust deeds on real property containing single family, or one to four residential, units provided that the repayment period for each loan does not exceed 40 years and 30 days from the date the loan is made by the company. All loans with repayment periods in excess of 30 years and 30 days shall not exceed in the aggregate 5 percent of all outstanding loans and obligations of the company.

(b) Any consumer loan or any purchase or discount of any consumer obligation having a term in excess of three years from the date the loan or other obligation is made or acquired by the company shall be secured solely by real property or solely by personal property. However, if the original principal amount of the consumer loan or obligation is twenty thousand dollars ($20,000) or more, then the loan or obligation shall be secured solely by real property or solely by personal property, or by both real property and personal property. All loans and obligations made and purchased pursuant to this subdivision shall be repayable in installments and within a term not to exceed the limitations set forth in subdivision (a), except that consumer loans or obligations secured solely by personal property shall have a term not to exceed the term provided for in Section 18205 and except as otherwise may be provided for in Sections 18207, 18208, and 18209. The equal installment requirements set forth in subdivision (a) shall not apply to loans or obligations made or purchased by the industrial loan company in accordance with Title VIII of the Garn-St. Germaine Depository Institutions Act of 1982 and any applicable regulations, guidelines, and policies adopted thereunder.

(c) In order to ensure the safety and soundness of industrial loan companies and to avoid an unreasonable concentration of loans and obligations that could result in balloon payments, all loans and obligations with a term in excess of 15 years and 30 days shall be repaid in substantially equal weekly, semimonthly, monthly, or quarterly installments during their term.

(Amended by Stats. 2000, Ch. 135, Sec. 61. Effective January 1, 2001.)