(1) If a licensee seeks to utilize a third-party payment processor, to hold, have access to, effectuate possession of, by any means, or to distribute or be in the chain of distribution of the monies of another licensee’s consumers, the licensee shall give the Department of Banking and Consumer Finance ten (10) days’ written notice.

(2) Such notice shall contain the name and address of the third-party payment processor, a description of the services, a copy of the agreement or contract between the licensee and the third-party payment processor and the highest daily amount of consumer funds to be held or transmitted. The third-party payment processor shall submit to the department, upon request, the highest daily amount held or transmitted during the previous month.

(3) Each third-party payment processor shall file with the commissioner a surety bond, issued by a bonding company or insurance company authorized to do business in the State of Mississippi, in the principal sum of Fifty Thousand Dollars ($50,000.00) and in an additional principal sum of Fifty Thousand Dollars ($50,000.00) for each additional licensee it contracts with, but in no event shall the bond be required to be in excess of One Hundred Fifty Thousand Dollars ($150,000.00). In lieu of the surety bond, a third-party payment processor may file other assets such as cash, a certificate of deposit or government bonds.

(4) A licensee shall not use a third-party payment processor until the licensee receives written notice from the department confirming that the department has received a surety bond or other assets from the third-party payment processor.

(5) Prior to performing any of its services, the third-party payment processor shall provide written authorization for the department to examine all books, records, documents and materials, including those maintained in electronic form, as they relate to the consumers’ monies held by, or distributed by the third-party payment processor to the creditors of the consumers and shall have received written confirmation from the department that the written authorization is sufficient. The cost of the examination shall be paid by the licensee.

(6) All agreements or contracts between a licensee and a third-party payment processor shall provide for a thirty-day written notice of termination to the party against whom termination is being sought. A licensee shall immediately notify the department in writing of the notice of termination.

(7) In the event a licensee elects to maintain cash, a certificate of deposit or government bonds on deposit, and utilizes the services of a third-party payment processor, there is no requirement that the third-party payment processor obtain a surety bond or maintain other assets on deposit with the department.