Tenn. Code Ann. § 45-5-302 (2026)

No registrant under this chapter has the power to:

• (1) Receive deposits of money subject to check, payable on demand, or payable unconditionally at a fixed time; or to use the word "bank" or "banking," "trust company" or other term commonly used to describe a banking corporation in its name; or to accept trusts or act as administrator, executor, testamentary or judicial trustee in any form;

• (2) Make any loan for an original principal sum of three hundred dollars ($300) or less for a term in excess of twenty-four (24) months, or make any loan for an original principal sum of more than three hundred dollars ($300) but less than one thousand dollars ($1,000) for a term in excess of thirty-six (36) months, but the term of any other loan shall be as the parties may contract, but not for a term in excess of one hundred eighty-one (181) months with respect to any loan subject to the limitations provided in this chapter as to interest and loan charges;

• (3) Make any loan to one (1) person, firm or corporation for more than ten percent (10%) of the amount of the stated capital and surplus of the registrant, except that this limitation shall not apply to loans made pursuant to § 45-5-301(7); nor shall this limitation apply to a registrant that does not issue, sell and have outstanding investment or thrift certificates;

• (4) Require the purchase of its investment or thrift certificates by a borrower simultaneously with a loan transaction;

• (5) Deposit any of its funds with any other corporation unless the corporation has been designated as the depository by a vote of the majority of the directors, exclusive of any director who is an officer, director or trustee of the depository so designated, present at a meeting duly called at which a quorum is in attendance; provided, that this subdivision (5) shall not apply to proprietorships or partnerships;

• (6) Move an office until five (5) days' notice of the registrant's intention to move has been given to the commissioner, who shall endorse the new address on the certificate of registration;

• (7) Take an instrument in which blanks are left to be filled in after the loan is made;

• (8) Accept or procure willfully and knowingly a false financial statement from a borrower;

• (9) Use any unreasonable collection tactics, which include, but are not limited to, any conduct by the registrant or any employee or agent of the registrant that:
  • (A) Causes the borrower or any member of the borrower's family to suffer bodily injury or physical harm;
  • (B) Constitutes a willful or intentional trespass by force of the borrower's home or the borrower's personal property therein, without process of law;
  • (C) Holds up the borrower to public ridicule or unreasonably degrades the borrower in the presence of the borrower's neighbors or business associates;
  • (D) Uses, distributes, employs or mails any document, paper or instrument purporting to be a summons, warrant, notice or other process, or copy thereof, issued by a court or other public authority; or
  • (E) Although otherwise lawful, occurs at an unreasonable hour of the night. Attempts to make collections by means of personal visits, telephone calls and the like shall be deemed to occur at an unreasonable hour of the night if they occur between the hours of ten o'clock p.m. (10:00 p.m.) and five o'clock a.m. (5:00 a.m.);

• (10) Publish or distribute or cause to be published or distributed any false or misleading advertising; or

• (11) Use multiple agreements, including those with affiliated lenders, with the intent to obtain a higher effective rate of interest or greater charges than would otherwise be authorized by this chapter.

Acts 1979, ch. 204, § 13; T.C.A., § 45-2013; Acts 1983, ch. 274, § 16; 1986, ch. 576, § 1; 1991, ch. 87, § 2.