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Lenders that Cash Their Own Checks to Provide Loans Aren’t MSBs, FinCEN Says

Loan companies that cash only their own checks issued to customers as loan proceeds are not money services businesses, the U.S. Treasury Department's Financial Crimes Enforcement Network said. Under federal anti-money laundering regulations, check cashers generally qualify as MSBs. But cashing loan checks strictly to provide the borrower with the loan proceeds qualifies as the disbursement of loan proceeds, not check cashing, FinCEN official Jamal El-Hindi said in a letter dated Nov. 15, 2007, and issued Tuesday. FinCEN issued the ruling in response to a July 5, 2007, query from a publicly traded company engaged in consumer lending and tax...

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