NRS676A.730. Powers of Commissioner: Enforcement; investigation; regulations; fees; cooperative agreements.

      1.  The Commissioner may act on his or her own initiative or in response to complaints and may receive complaints, take action to obtain voluntary compliance with this chapter, refer cases to the Attorney General and seek or provide remedies as provided in this chapter.

      2.  The Commissioner may investigate and examine, in this State or elsewhere, by subpoena or otherwise, the activities, books, accounts and records of a person that provides or offers to provide debt-management services, or a person to which a provider has delegated its obligations under an agreement or this chapter, to determine compliance with this chapter. Information that identifies individuals who have agreements with the provider must not be disclosed to the public. In connection with the investigation, the Commissioner may:

      (a) Charge the person the reasonable expenses necessarily incurred to conduct the examination;

      (b) Require or permit a person to file a statement under oath as to all the facts and circumstances of a matter to be investigated; and

      (c) Seek a court order authorizing seizure from a bank at which the person maintains a trust account required by NRS 676A.570, any or all money, books, records, accounts and other property of the provider that is in the control of the bank and relates to individuals who reside in this State.

      3.  The Commissioner may adopt regulations to implement the provisions of this chapter.

      4.  The Commissioner may enter into cooperative arrangements with any other federal or state agency having authority over providers and may exchange with any of those agencies information about a provider, including, without limitation, information obtained during an examination of the provider.

      5.  The Commissioner, by regulation, shall establish reasonable fees to be paid by providers for the expense of administering this chapter. The Commissioner may, in his or her discretion, establish a reduced fee schedule for providers that are qualified nonprofit entities.

      6.  The Commissioner, by regulation, shall adopt dollar amounts instead of those specified in NRS 676A.030, 676A.310, 676A.350, 676A.390, 676A.580, 676A.740 and 676A.760 to reflect inflation, as measured by the Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers, published by the United States Department of Labor, or, if that Index is not available, another index adopted by regulation by the Commissioner. The Commissioner shall adopt a base year and adjust the dollar amounts, effective on July 1 of each year, if the change in the index from the base year, as of December 31 of the preceding year, is at least 10 percent. The dollar amount must be rounded to the nearest $100, except that the amounts in NRS 676A.580 must be rounded to the nearest dollar.

      7.  The Commissioner shall notify registered providers of any change in dollar amounts made pursuant to subsection 6 and make that information available to the public.

      8.  The Commissioner, by regulation, may:

      (a) Require a provider to make additional disclosures before an individual assents to an agreement, including, without limitation, disclosures that:

             (1) Nothing in the agreement requires the individual’s creditors to accept payments pursuant to a plan.

             (2) Nothing in the agreement prevents creditors of the individual from pursuing collection efforts, including, without limitation, telephone calls for the purpose of collecting a debt, and that creditors may sue the individual for any debt that remains unpaid.

             (3) The provider cannot provide legal services or advice and, if the individual is sued, the individual should seek legal services or advice.

            (4) The provider is not a credit repair organization and does not claim that the plan will have a positive impact on the credit score of the individual.

             (5) If an agreement contemplates that a provider will develop and implement a debt-management plan, a creditor may be included in the debt-management plan even if the creditor does not make a contribution.

      (b) Establish any requirements and prohibitions with respect to advertising by providers which do not violate the Nevada Constitution or the Constitution of the United States. Such regulations may include, without limitation, a requirement that a provider submit all advertising used by the provider to the Commissioner within 30 days after the first publication of the advertisement.

      (Added to NRS by 2009, 1993)