In the United States, is there a limit on the quantity of loans which one person could give out to other people before they would be recognized by federal regulations as a "bank" or forced to file returns, paperwork, or any documentation labeling them as a Financial Institution, and not just an average person?
To operate as a bank, an entity must be properly licensed/chartered. This is a cumbersome process, but lending money isn't enough to be a bank. Banks accept deposits and loan money. If a person were doing this and people assumed this was a bank, there would be consequences. Banking regulators recognize situations like this and notify real banks that this may be an unauthorized bank.
Robert Arant of Des Moines, Washington, was arrested because he operated a "warehouse bank" out of his home. He had approximately $28 million in deposits and offered his couple of hundred customers anonymity similar to that enjoyed with Swiss bank accounts. He took their money and deposited it in one of his several bank accounts. His customers could have been concealing assets for the purpose of evading income taxes. Arant now faces a civil complaint charging him with promoting abusive tax shelters and unlawfully interfering with internal revenue laws. He faces a fine of $1,000 per false statement which is usually the equivalent of one statement per customer.
If a person is lending money routinely, they may not be a bank, but could technically fall under state regulations as a lender. Your state rules would have to be known for this.
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To operate as a bank, an entity must be properly licensed/chartered. This is a cumbersome process, but lending money isn't enough to be a bank. Banks accept 