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among the statutes in Tew v. Dixieland Finance, Inc., 527 So. 2d
665 (Miss. 1988).
Tew involved a small loan company which, like petitioner,
sold credit life insurance through licensed employees. Like
petitioner, the loan company itself was not licensed to sell
insurance. The loan company brought suit against a borrower who
had defaulted on his loan. The borrower counterclaimed,
asserting that the loan company’s receipt of commissions on his
purchase of credit life insurance from the loan company was in
violation of Miss. Code Ann. sec. 83-17-105--as the loan company
was not a licensed agent--and in violation of Miss. Code Ann.
sec. 75-67-121.
In Tew, before deciding the issue of whether the loan
company violated section 83-17-105, the court noted that it was
common practice in the industry for unlicensed creditors to
receive commissions for the sale of credit insurance. Id. at
670. Furthermore, the court cited Miss. Code Ann. sec. 83-53-25
and Ins. Dept. Reg. 82-102 as evidence that the Mississippi
Legislature and Department of Insurance have recognized that
unlicensed creditors may receive commissions. Id. at 670-671.
However, the court emphasized that these “regulations ignore the
inconsistency of these provisions with Miss. Code Ann. �83-17-105
(Supp. 1987) which prohibits the payment of any commission to any
person who is not a licensed agent”. Id. at 671. Accordingly,
the court held “that the receiving of * * * [the] commission by
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