(1) The administrator shall receive and act on all applications for licenses to make supervised loans under this code. Applications shall be filed in the manner prescribed by the administrator and shall contain such information as the administrator may reasonably require. No license shall be issued without payment of a nonrefundable license fee. The license year shall be the calendar year.

(2) No license shall be issued unless the administrator, upon investigation, finds that the financial responsibility, character, and fitness of the applicant and of the members, managers, partners, officers, and directors thereof are such as to warrant belief that the business will be operated honestly and fairly within the purposes of this code. In determining financial responsibility of an applicant proposing to engage in making consumer insurance premium loans, the administrator shall consider the liabilities the lender may incur for erroneous cancellation of insurance. The administrator may deny an application for licensure for any of the grounds provided in section 5-2-303.

(3) (a) Upon written request, the applicant is entitled to a hearing on the question of the applicant's qualifications for a license if:

(I) The administrator has notified the applicant in writing that his or her application has been denied; or

(II) The administrator has not issued a license within sixty days after the application for the license was filed.

(b) A request for a hearing may not be made more than sixty days after the administrator has mailed a writing to the applicant notifying the applicant that the application has been denied and stating in substance the administrator's findings supporting denial of the application.

(4) If a supervised lender has more than one place of business, it must obtain a master license. The administrator may authorize the addition of branch locations to the master license. A separate license fee and proof of financial responsibility shall be required for each authorized branch location. Each master license and branch location license shall remain in full force and effect until surrendered, suspended, or revoked.

(5) (a) The application for approval of a branch location license may be more abbreviated than the application for a new or master supervised lender's license. An application for a branch location license may be filed by any means, including facsimile or electronic filing, followed by the license fee required by this section.

(b) Upon receipt of a completed branch location license application and the required license fee, the branch location is automatically licensed for a temporary period not to exceed one hundred twenty days. If the administrator does not deny the branch location application on or before the end of that period, the temporary branch location license shall become permanent. The administrator may deny an application for a branch location for any of the grounds provided in subsection (2) of this section and section 5-2-303.

(c) The administrator's approval of an additional branch location license may be provided by letter. No license certificate need be issued for a licensed branch location. All provisions of this part 3 relating to licenses apply equally to branch location licenses.

(6) No licensee shall change the location of any place of business or license without giving the administrator at least fifteen days prior written notice. The administrator may by rule promulgated in accordance with article 4 of title 24, C.R.S., establish an administrative fee for such a change of address.

(7) A licensee shall not engage in the business of making supervised loans at any place of business for which the licensee does not hold a license, nor shall a licensee engage in business under any other name than that in the license. The administrator may by rule establish an administrative fee for such a change of name. For the purposes of this subsection (7), a consumer insurance premium loan is made at the lender's business office.

(8) Each license shall be renewed by payment of a nonrefundable license fee and the filing of a renewal form. The fee and renewal form shall be due each January 31. If a licensee fails to pay the prescribed fee on or before March 1, it shall pay a penalty of five dollars per day per license from March 2 to the date the payment is postmarked. However, if a licensee fails to pay the appropriate renewal and penalty fees by March 15, its license shall automatically expire.

(9) (Deleted by amendment, L. 2009, (HB 09-1141), ch. 41, p. 157, § 3, effective January 1, 2010.)