TITLE 7 BANKING AND FINANCE

Section 1. Financial Institutions, 7-1-1 through 7-1-1021.

ARTICLE 4A CASHING OF PAYMENT INSTRUMENTS

7-1-700. Definitions.

As used in this article, the term:

1. "Cash payment instruments" or "cashing payment instruments" means to accept a payment instrument from a person in exchange for monetary value less a fee.
2. "Check" means any check, money order, draft, or negotiable demand instrument.
3. "Check casher" means an individual, partnership, association, or corporation engaged in cashing payment instruments for a fee.
4. "Closed-loop transaction" means a transaction where the value or credit is primarily intended to be redeemed for a limited universe of goods, intangibles, services, or other items provided by the issuer of the payment instrument, its affiliates or agents, or others involved in the transaction functionally related to the issuer or its affiliates or agents.
5. "Commissioner" means the commissioner of banking and finance.
6. "Control," "controlling," "controlled by," and "under common control with" means the direct or indirect possession of power to direct or cause the direction of management and policies of a person.
7. "Covered employee" means any employee of a licensee engaged in any function related to cashing payment instruments.
8. "Department" means the Department of Banking and Finance.
9. "Executive officer" means the chief executive officer, president, chief financial officer, chief operating officer, each vice president with responsibility involving policy-making functions for a significant aspect of a person's business, secretary, treasurer, or any other person performing similar managerial or supervisory functions with respect to any organization, whether incorporated or unincorporated.
10. "Fee" means a service charge, benefit, or other consideration, which includes, but is not limited to, cash, the exchange of value in excess of regular retail value, mandatory purchase of goods or services by patrons, or the purchase of catalogue items or coupons or other items indicating the ability to receive goods, services, or catalogue items.
11. "Individual" means a natural person.
12. "Licensee" means a person, including, but not limited to, a check casher, duly licensed under this article to accept payment instruments and exchange them for monetary value for a fee.
13. "Misrepresent" means to make a false statement of a substantive fact. The term may also mean to engage in any conduct which leads to a false belief which is material to the transaction.
14. "Monetary value" means a medium of exchange, whether or not redeemable in money.
15. "Nation-wide Multistate Licensing System and Registry" means a licensing system developed and maintained by the Conference of State Bank Supervisors and the American Association of Residential Mortgage Regulators for the licensing and registration of certain persons engaged in nondepository activities.
16. "Open-loop transaction" means a transaction using a payment instrument with stored value to redeem for goods or services at any location that accepts such payment instrument.
17. "Payment instrument" means any instrument, order, or device for the payment or transmission of money or monetary value, whether or not it is a negotiable instrument under the terms of Article 3 of Title 11, relating to negotiable instruments. The term includes, but is not limited to, checks, money orders, drafts, stored value cards, and open-loop transactions. The term does not include closed-loop transactions, credit card vouchers, letters of credit, or any instrument that is redeemable by the issuer only in specific goods or services of the issuer.
18. "Person" means any individual, sole proprietorship, corporation, limited liability company, partnership, trust, or any other group of individuals, however organized.
19. "Stored value" means monetary value that is evidenced by an electronic record.
20. "Ultimate equitable owner" means a person that:
    1. Owns, directly or indirectly, a 10 percent or more interest in a corporation or any other form of business organization;
    2. Owns, directly or indirectly, 10 percent or more of the voting shares of any corporation or any other form of business organization; or
    3. Exerts control, directly or indirectly, over a corporation or any other form of business organization, regardless of whether such person owns or controls such interest through one or more natural persons or one or more proxies, powers of attorney, nominees, corporations, associations, limited liability companies, partnerships, trusts, joint stock companies, other entities or devices, or any combination thereof.
21. "Unique identifier" means a number or other identifier assigned by protocols established by the Nation-wide Multistate Licensing System and Registry.

(Code 1981, §7-1-700, enacted by Ga. L. 2014, p. 251, § 2/HB 982.)