Rhode Island General Laws Title 19. Financial Institutions § 19-9-32. Disclosure of arson conviction

(a) Every financial institution making loans within this state secured by an interest in real estate may require applicants for loans to disclose whether or not the applicant or applicants have been convicted of any degree of the crime of arson as described in chapter 4 of title 11 within ten (10) years prior to the date of application.

(b) A financial institution may use the existence of an arson conviction within ten (10) years of the application date as a reason to deny the application.

(c) Failure to disclose the existence of an arson conviction when requested upon a mortgage application shall be a misdemeanor punishable by a sentence of not more than one year imprisonment.

(d) The mortgage application form shall indicate the existence of a criminal penalty for failure to disclose a conviction for arson.

(e) For the purpose of this section, the term “applicant” means a natural person, trust, partnership, association, corporation, or other form of business organization; provided, however, that if the applicant is a trust, the beneficiaries of the trust shall be included, and if the applicant is a partnership, association, corporation, or other form of business organization, each member, director, shareholder owning more than twenty percent (20%) of the common stock issued by the corporation, and principal officer of the organization shall be included.