(1) No person shall engage in the business of financing insurance premiums in the state without first having obtained a license as a premium finance company from the commissioner. Any person who shall engage in the business of financing insurance premiums in the state without obtaining a license as provided hereunder shall, upon conviction, be guilty of a misdemeanor and shall be subject to the penalties provided in this chapter.
(2)(a) Application to the commissioner for the license shall be made on forms furnished by the commissioner. As part of, or in connection with, this application, the applicant and, at the commissioner's discretion, any or all stockholders, directors, partners, officers, and employees of the business shall furnish information concerning his or her identity, including fingerprints for submission to the Washington state patrol, the federal bureau of investigation, and any governmental agency or entity authorized to receive this information for a state and national criminal history background check; personal history; experience; business records; purposes; and other pertinent information, as the commissioner may reasonably require.
(b) The annual license fee shall be one hundred dollars. Licenses may be renewed from year to year as of the first day of May of each year upon payment of the fee of one hundred dollars. The fee for the license shall be paid to the insurance commissioner.
(3) The person to whom the license or the renewal may be issued shall file sworn answers, subject to the penalties of perjury, to such interrogatories as the commissioner may require. The commissioner shall have authority, at any time, to require the applicant to disclose fully the identity of all stockholders, directors, partners, officers, and employees and may, in his or her discretion, refuse to issue or renew a license in the name of any firm, partnership, or corporation if he or she finds that any officer, employee, stockholder, or partner who may materially influence the applicant's conduct does not meet the standards of this chapter.
(4) This section shall not apply to any savings and loan association, bank, trust company, consumer loan company, industrial loan company or credit union authorized to do business in this state but RCW
48.56.080 through
48.56.130 and any rules adopted by the commissioner pertaining to such sections shall be applicable to such organizations, if otherwise eligible, under all premium finance transactions wherein an insurance policy, other than a life or disability insurance policy, or any rights thereunder is made the security or collateral for the repayment of the debt, however, neither this section nor the provisions of this chapter shall be applicable to the inclusion of insurance in a retail installment transaction or to insurance purchased in connection with a real estate transaction, mortgage, deed of trust, or other security instrument or an insurance company authorized to do business in this state unless the insurance company elects to become a licensee.
(5) If in the process of verifying fingerprints under subsection (2) of this section, business records, or other information the commissioner's office incurs fees or charges from another governmental agency or from a business firm, the amount of the fees or charges shall be paid to the commissioner's office by the applicant.