Cal. Fin. Code § 23001 — Construction and Definitions

As used in this division, the following terms have the following meanings:

(a) “Deferred deposit transaction” means a transaction whereby a person defers depositing a customer’s personal check until a specific date, pursuant to a written agreement for a fee or other charge, as provided in Section 23035.

(b) “Commissioner” means the Commissioner of Financial Protection and Innovation.

(c) “Department” means the Department of Financial Protection and Innovation.

(d) “Licensee” means any person who offers, originates, or makes a deferred deposit transaction, who arranges a deferred deposit transaction for a deferred deposit originator, who acts as an agent for a deferred deposit originator, or who assists a deferred deposit originator in the origination of a deferred deposit transaction. However, “licensee” does not include a state or federally chartered bank, thrift, savings association, industrial loan company, or credit union. “Licensee” also does not include a retail seller engaged primarily in the business of selling consumer goods, including consumables, to retail buyers that cashes checks or issues money orders for a minimum fee not exceeding two dollars ($2) as a service to its customers that is incidental to its main purpose or business. “Licensee” also does not include an employee regularly employed by a licensee at the licensee’s place of business. An employee, when acting under the scope of the employee’s employment, shall be exempt from any other law from which the employee’s employer is exempt.

(e) “Person” means an individual, a corporation, a partnership, a limited liability company, a joint venture, an association, a joint stock company, a trust, an unincorporated organization, a government entity, or a political subdivision of a government entity.

(f) “Deferred deposit originator” means a person who offers, originates, or makes a deferred deposit transaction.