Without limitation, the functions, powers, and duties of the commissioner include the following:

issued under this division.

honesty, truthfulness, integrity, and competency of the license applicant for financial transactions involving primary or subordinate mortgage financing, and if the license applicant is an entity other than an individual, in ascertaining the honesty, truthfulness, integrity, and competency of an officer or director of the corporation, association, or other entity, or the members of a partnership.

licensee, and may examine the licensee’s officers, directors, employees, or agents under oath regarding the licensee’s operations. The commissioner may cooperate with any agency of the state or federal government, other states, agencies, the Federal National Mortgage Association, or the Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation. The commissioner may accept an examination conducted by one of these entities in place of an examination by the commissioner under this law, unless the commissioner determines that the examination does not provide information necessary to enable the commissioner to fulfill his or her responsibilities under this division.

enforcement. Reports required of licensees by the commissioner under this division and results of examinations performed by the commissioner under this division are the property of the commissioner.

Neither the commissioner nor any employee of the Department of Financial Protection and Innovation shall be precluded from obtaining a residential mortgage loan from a lender licensed under this division, subject to the rules that may be adopted hereunder or pursuant to other proper authority.

The commissioner may, from time to time, make, amend, and rescind the rules, forms, and orders that are necessary to carry out the provisions of this law, including rules and forms governing applications and reports, and defining any terms, whether or not used in this law, provided that the definitions are consistent with the provisions of this law. For the purposes of rules and forms, the commissioner may classify loans, persons, and matters within the jurisdiction of

the commissioner, and may prescribe different requirements for different classes. The commissioner may, in his or her discretion, waive a requirement of a rule or form if, in the opinion of the commissioner, the requirement is not in the public interest or necessary for the protection of borrowers or investors.

Upon written request from the commissioner, a licensee shall forward authorization to release workpapers of the licensee’s independent auditor to the commissioner within two business days of receiving the request.

The commissioner may order a licensee that opens a branch office in this state or changes its business location or its locations from which activities subject to this law are conducted, without first notifying the commissioner in writing, as required by Section 50124, to forfeit to the people of the state up to one hundred dollars ($100) each day for the first 10 days and ten dollars ($10) for each day thereafter during which the branch office or changed location is

maintained without notifying the commissioner.

The commissioner may, as the commissioner deems necessary, require licensees to provide reports concerning their residential mortgage loan servicing activities, including, but not limited to, information similar to that collected in connection with the Mortgage Servicers Survey, first published by the Department of Financial Protection and Innovation in December 2007. The commissioner is additionally authorized to seek and accept information provided on a voluntary basis by residential mortgage loan servicers not subject to the commissioner’s jurisdiction. The commissioner shall post only aggregated survey results on the department’s internet website, and shall note the number of loan servicers submitting data included in the aggregated totals and the estimated percentage of outstanding mortgage loans to Californians that are serviced by these loan

servicers, to the extent information on the number of outstanding loans is available from a reliable source. Nothing in this section is intended to reduce or change the commissioner’s authority to request and demand reports under Section 50307.

The commissioner may require a licensee that employs one or more mortgage loan originators to submit to the Nationwide Mortgage Licensing System and Registry reports of condition, which shall be in such form and shall contain such information as the Nationwide Mortgage Licensing System and Registry may require.

If any person engaged in the business regulated by this division refers in any advertising to rates of interest, charges, or costs of loans, the commissioner shall require that they are stated fully and clearly in the manner that he or she deems necessary to give adequate information to prospective borrowers. If the rates or costs advertised do not apply to loans of all classes made or negotiated by that person, this fact shall be clearly indicated in the

advertisement. Compliance with the requirements of the federal Truth in Lending Act and Regulation Z promulgated thereunder is presumed to satisfy the requirements of this section.

The commissioner may require licensees to maintain a file of all advertising copy for a period of 90 days from the date of its use. The file shall be available to the commissioner upon request.

Nothing in this law shall preclude a person, other than a mortgage loan originator, whose license has been suspended or revoked, summarily or otherwise, from continuing to service residential mortgage loans pursuant to servicing contracts in existence at the time of the suspension for a reasonable transition period, as determined by the commissioner, after the date of the entry of the final decision in the case suspending or

revoking the license.

Nothing in this law shall preclude a person whose license has been suspended or revoked, summarily or otherwise, from making a residential mortgage loan pursuant to a commitment issued by that person prior to the suspension or revocation. A prospective borrower who received a commitment issued by a person whose license has been suspended or revoked may, prior to the closing of the loan, terminate the commitment and receive a refund of all money paid to that

person.

The commissioner, in his or her discretion, may honor requests from interested persons for interpretive opinions.

In any proceeding under this law, the burden of proving an exemption or an exception from a definition is upon the person claiming it.

the licensee or person examined, and the commissioner may maintain an action for the recovery of these costs in any court of competent jurisdiction. In determining the cost of any inspection or examination, the commissioner may use the estimated average hourly cost, including overhead, for all persons performing inspections or examinations of licensees or other persons subject to this division for the fiscal year.

assist the district attorney in presenting the law or facts at the trial.

government, or another country shall be conclusive evidence of the events related therein.

Notwithstanding any other law, any application for licensure, amendment to the application or registration document or notice filed under any of the laws administered by the Department of Financial Protection and Innovation, or record otherwise required to be filed in this state as an electronic record pursuant to a nationwide central depository for information regarding licensees, including mortgage loan originators, or any electronic record filed through the Nationwide Mortgage Licensing System and Registry, shall be deemed to be a valid original document upon reproduction to paper form by the Department of Financial Protection and Innovation.

10 percent or more of the ownership interests, trustee, or employee of a residential mortgage lender or residential mortgage loan servicer. This subdivision shall not apply to any person whose office, employment, ownership interest, or other participation in the business of a licensed residential mortgage lender or residential mortgage loan servicer commenced prior to January 1, 1995, or whose criminal conviction, plea, or judgment occurred prior to January 1, 1995.

specified in Section 502 of the Penal Code. For the purpose of this section, but not Section 50318, an offense does not include a conviction for which the person has obtained a certificate of rehabilitation from a court of competent jurisdiction under Section 1203.4 or 4852.13 of the Penal Code or a similar certificate of rehabilitation obtained in a foreign jurisdiction.

specified in subdivision (b).

construed to permit the reinstatement of any person barred by the commissioner pursuant to Section 50320 nor to prohibit the commissioner from bringing any action pursuant to Section 50320.