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Best Practices
FiSCWA member locations follow industry Best Practices
- Licensing. A member will hold an active Check Cashers and Sellers License with a Small Loan endorsement when offering the products regulated by these licenses either directly or as an agent in the state of Washington.
- Compliance. A member will comply with all applicable state and federal laws governing money services businesses and offering financial products.
- Privacy. A member will take reasonable steps to protect its customers’ non-public personal information.
- Truthful advertising. A member will not advertise any service in a false, misleading, or deceptive manner.
- Disclosure of fees. A member will post its fees in a conspicuous manner and provide every customer with a
printed receipt showing the transaction details.
- Appropriate collection practices. A member will collect past due accounts in a professional, fair and lawful
manner. A member will not use threats, intimidation or unlawful harassment to collect accounts.
- Self-policing of the industry. A member will participate in self-policing of the industry by reporting violations.
- Consumer Hotline. A member will maintain and post its own consumer hotline number in each of its branches.
- Payday Loans/Small Loans
- Encourage consumer responsibility. A member will, in its written promotional materials, inform
consumers of the intended use of small loans, including notifying consumers that a small loan is a short-term cash flow tool not designed as a solution for longer-term financing.
- Full disclosure. A member will comply with all applicable state and federal disclosure requirements.
Notwithstanding the absence of specific state disclosure regulations, a member will fully disclose to the
customer all material details of any small loan transaction. A contract between a member and the
customer must fully outline the material terms of the transaction, including but not limited to disclosing
the cost of the service fee both as a dollar amount and as an annual percentage rate (APR).
- Compliance. A member will not charge a fee nor engage in any practice that has the effect of imposing
a fee in association with providing or collecting small loans when such fee is not authorized by state law.
- Prohibit roll-overs. A member will require customers to repay a small loan in full prior to taking out a
subsequent loan. A member will not use loan proceeds from a subsequent loan to repay a current loan.
- No criminal action. A member will not threaten or pursue criminal actions against a customer as a result
of a default on a loan payment.
- Right to rescind. A member will give its customers the right to rescind, at no cost, a payday loan
transaction on or before the close of the following business day.
- Payment Plan. When requested by the borrower, a member will provide a Loan Payment Plan to each
borrower who has made four successive loans with that member. A member shall make information about
payment plans readily available to consumers.
- Repayment Agreements. A member will accept and enter into reasonable repayment agreements with
customers in default and will honor the terms of repayment agreements negotiated by third party credit
counselors.
- Military borrowers. A member will defer collections on small loans by military borrowers during periods
of deployment, will not garnish military wages and will refrain from contacting a military borrower’s chain
of command for collection assistance.
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