(a) “Advance fee” means any consideration which is assessed or collected prior to the closing of a loan.

(b) “Commissioner” means the Commissioner of Banking and Consumer Finance.

(c) “Consumer loan” means a transaction by which a lender extends credit for personal, family or household purposes in the form of payment of money or of agreement to pay money, for the account of, or to a third party on behalf of, a natural person or persons and which is repayable in installments and may be unsecured or secured by real or personal property. The term “consumer loan” also includes the creation of consumer debt by a credit to an account with a lender upon which the borrower is entitled to draw immediately.

(d) “Consumer loan broker” means a person not otherwise exempt from this chapter who, for compensation from borrowers, finds and obtains consumer loans or credit cards for borrowers from third party lenders.

(e) “Department” means the Department of Banking and Consumer Finance.

(f) “Lender” means a person who makes consumer loans.

(g) “License” means a license required by this chapter.

(h) “Loan charges and fees” means amounts collected from a borrower by a consumer loan broker on behalf of a lender to defray costs of such items as appraisals, surveys, title opinions and similar other expenses.

(i) “Service charge” means the amount charged a borrower by a consumer loan broker for the service of finding and obtaining a consumer loan for the borrower from a third party lender.

(j) “Records” or “documents” means any item in hard copy or produced in a format of storage commonly described as electronic, imaged, magnetic, microphotographic or otherwise, and any reproduction so made shall have the same force and effect as the original thereof and be admitted in evidence equally with the original.