Section 10133.1.

(a) Subdivisions (d) and (e) of Section 10131, Section 10131.1, Article 5 (commencing with Section 10230), and Article 7 (commencing with Section 10240) of this code and Section 1695.13 of the Civil Code do not apply to any of the following:

(1) Any person or employee thereof doing business under any law of this state, any other state, or the United States relating to banks, trust companies, savings and loan associations, industrial loan companies, pension trusts, credit unions, or insurance companies.

(2) Any nonprofit cooperative association organized under Chapter 1 (commencing with Section 54001) of Division 20 of the Food and Agricultural Code, in loaning or advancing money in connection with any activity mentioned therein.

(3) Any corporation, association, syndicate, joint stock company, or partnership engaged exclusively in the business of marketing agricultural, horticultural, viticultural, dairy, livestock, poultry, or bee products on a cooperative nonprofit basis, in loaning or advancing money to the members thereof or in connection with any business of that type.

(4) Any corporation securing money or credit from any federal intermediate credit bank organized and existing pursuant to the provisions of an act of Congress entitled the "Agricultural Credits Act of 1923," in loaning or advancing money or credit so secured.

(5) Any person licensed to practice law in this state, not actively and principally engaged in the business of negotiating loans secured by real property, when that person renders services in the course of his or her practice as an attorney at law, and the disbursements of that person, whether paid by the borrower or other person, are not charges or costs and expenses regulated by or subject to the limitations of Article 7 (commencing with Section 10240), and the fees and disbursements are not shared, directly or indirectly, with the person negotiating the loan or the lender.

(6) Any person licensed as a finance lender when acting under the authority of that license.

(7) Any cemetery authority as defined by Section 7018 of the Health and Safety Code, that is authorized to do business in this state or its authorized agent.

(8) Any person authorized in writing by a savings institution to act as an agent of that institution, as authorized by Section 6520 of the Financial Code or comparable authority of the Office of Thrift Supervision of the United States Department of the Treasury by its regulations, when acting under the authority of that written authorization.

(9) Any person who is licensed as a securities broker or securities dealer under any law of this state, or of the United States, or any employee, officer, or agent of that person, if that person, employee, officer, or agent is acting within the scope of authority granted by that license in connection with a transaction involving the offer, sale, purchase, or exchange of a security representing an ownership interest in a pool of promissory notes secured directly or indirectly by liens on real property, which transaction is subject to any law of this state or the United States regulating the offer or sale of securities.

(10) Any person licensed as a residential mortgage lender or servicer when acting under the authority of that license.

(11) Any organization that has been approved by the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development pursuant to Section 106(a)(1)(iii) of the federal Housing and Urban Development Act of 1968 (12 U.S.C. Sec. 1701x), to provide counseling services, or an employee of such an organization, when those services are provided at no cost to the borrower and are in connection with the modification of the terms of a loan secured directly or collaterally by a lien on residential real property containing four or fewer dwelling units.

(b) Persons described in paragraph (1), (2), or (3), as follows, are exempt from the provisions of subdivisions (d) and (e) of Section 10131 or Section 10131.1 with respect to the collection of payments or performance of services for lenders or on notes of owners in connection with loans secured directly or collaterally by liens on real property:

(1) The person makes collections on 10 or less of those loans, or in amounts of forty thousand dollars ($40,000) or less, in any calendar year.

(2) The person is a corporation licensed as an escrow agent under Division 6 (commencing with Section 17000) of the Financial Code and the payments are deposited and maintained in the escrow agent's trust account.

(3) An employee of a real estate broker who is acting as the agent of a person described in paragraph (4) of subdivision (b) of Section 10232.4.

For purposes of this subdivision, performance of services does not include soliciting borrowers, lenders, or purchasers for, or negotiating, loans secured directly or collaterally by a lien on real property.

(c) (1) Subdivision (d) of Section 10131 does not apply to an employee of a real estate broker who, on behalf of the broker, assists the broker in meeting the broker's obligations to its customers in residential mortgage loan transactions, as defined in Section 50003 of the Financial Code, where the lender is an institutional lender, as defined in Section 50003 of the Financial Code, provided the employee does not participate in any negotiations occurring between the principals.

(2) A broker shall exercise reasonable supervision and control over the activities of nonlicensed employees acting under this subdivision, and shall comply with Section 10163 for each location where the nonlicensed persons are employed.

This section does not restrict the ability of the commissioner to discipline a broker or corporate broker licensee or its designated officer, or both the corporate broker licensee and its designated officer, for misconduct of a nonlicensed employee acting under this subdivision, or, pursuant to Section 10080, to adopt, amend, or repeal rules or regulations governing the employment or supervision of an employee who is a nonlicensed person as described in this subdivision.

(Amended by Stats. 2009, Ch. 630, Sec. 6. Effective October 11, 2009.)