Bill Text: CT HB05297 | 2016 | General Assembly | Comm Sub
Bill Title: An Act Concerning Interest Transparency.
Spectrum: Committee Bill
Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2016-04-19 - Tabled for the Calendar, House [HB05297 Detail]
Download: Connecticut-2016-HB05297-Comm_Sub.html
General Assembly |
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February Session, 2016 |
*_____HB05297BA____031616____* |
AN ACT CONCERNING INTEREST TRANSPARENCY.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Assembly convened:
Section 1. Section 36a-770 of the 2016 supplement to the general statutes is repealed and the following is substituted in lieu thereof (Effective from passage):
(a) The Uniform Commercial Code. A transaction subject to sections 36a-770 to 36a-788, inclusive, as amended by this act, 42-100b and 42-100c is also subject to the Uniform Commercial Code, title 42a, but in case of any conflict the provisions of sections 36a-770 to 36a-788, inclusive, as amended by this act, 42-100b and 42-100c shall control.
(b) Filing and recording. Section 42a-9-310 determines the need for filing or recording to perfect a security interest, section 42a-9-317 determines the persons who take subject to an unperfected security interest, and sections 42a-9-311 and 42a-9-501 to 42a-9-526, inclusive, determine the place for such filing or recording.
(c) Definitions. As used in sections 36a-770 to 36a-788, inclusive, as amended by this act, 42-100b and 42-100c, unless the context otherwise requires:
(1) "Boat" means any watercraft, as defined in section 22a-248, other than a seaplane, used or capable of being used as a means of transportation on water, by any power including muscular.
(2) "Cash price" means the total amount in dollars at which the seller and buyer agreed the seller would transfer unqualified title to the goods, if the transaction were a cash sale instead of a sale under a retail installment contract.
(3) "Commercial vehicle" means any domestic or foreign truck or truck tractor of ten thousand or more pounds gross vehicular weight or any trailer or semitrailer designed for use in connection with any truck or truck tractor of ten thousand or more pounds gross vehicular weight and which is not used primarily for personal, family or household use.
(4) "Filing fee" means the fee prescribed by law for filing, recording or otherwise perfecting and releasing or satisfying a security interest, as defined in subdivision (35) of subsection (b) of section 42a-1-201, retained or created by a retail installment contract or installment loan contract.
(5) "Finance charge" means the amount in excess of the cash price of the goods agreed upon by the retail seller and the retail buyer, to be paid by the retail buyer for the privilege of purchasing the goods under the retail installment contract or installment loan contract.
(6) "Finance charge markup" means the difference between the annual percentage rate of the retail seller's finance charge and the annual percentage rate offered by the sales finance company that acquires the retail installment contract.
[(6)] (7) "Goods" means (A) "consumer goods", as defined in subdivision (23) of subsection (a) of section 42a-9-102 and motor vehicles included under such definition, having an aggregate cash price of fifty thousand dollars or less, and (B) "equipment", as defined in subdivision (33) of subsection (a) of section 42a-9-102, having an aggregate cash price of sixteen thousand dollars or less, provided such consumer goods or such equipment is included in one retail installment contract or installment loan contract.
[(7)] (8) "Installment loan contract" means any agreement made in this state to repay in installments the amount loaned or advanced to a retail buyer for the purpose of paying the retail purchase price of goods and by virtue of which a security interest, as defined in subdivision (35) of subsection (b) of section 42a-1-201, is taken in the goods for the payment of the amount loaned or advanced. For purposes of this subdivision, "installment loan contract" does not include agreements to repay in installments loans made by the United States or any department, agency or instrumentality thereof.
[(8)] (9) "Lender" means a person who extends or offers to extend credit to a retail buyer under an installment loan contract.
[(9)] (10) A retail installment contract or installment loan contract is "made in this state" if: (A) An offer or agreement is made in Connecticut by a retail seller or a lender to sell or extend credit to a resident retail buyer, including, but not limited to, any verbal or written solicitation or communication to sell or extend credit originating outside the state of Connecticut but forwarded to and received in Connecticut by a resident retail buyer; or (B) an offer to buy or an application for extension of credit, or an acceptance of an offer to buy or to extend credit, is made in Connecticut by a resident retail buyer, regardless of the situs of the contract which may be specified therein, including, but not limited to, any verbal or written solicitation or communication to buy or to have credit extended, originating within the state of Connecticut but forwarded to and received by a retail seller or a lender outside the state of Connecticut. For purposes of this subdivision, a "resident retail buyer" means a retail buyer who is a resident of the state of Connecticut.
[(10)] (11) "Motor vehicle" means any device in, upon or by which any person or property is or may be transported or drawn upon a highway by any power other than muscular. For purposes of this subdivision, "motor vehicle" does not include self-propelled wheelchairs and invalid tricycles, tractors, power shovels, road machinery, implements of husbandry and other agricultural machinery, or other machinery not designed primarily for highway transportation but which may incidentally transport persons or property on a highway, or devices which move upon or are guided by a track or travel through the air.
[(11)] (12) "Retail buyer" means a person who buys or agrees to buy one or more articles of goods from a retail seller not for the purpose of resale or lease to others in the course of business and who executes a retail installment contract or an installment loan contract in connection therewith.
[(12)] (13) "Retail installment contract" means any security agreement, as defined in subdivision (74) of subsection (a) of section 42a-9-102, made in this state, including one in the form of a mortgage, conditional sale contract or other instrument evidencing an agreement to pay the retail purchase price of goods, or any part thereof, in installments over a period of time and pursuant to which a security interest, as defined in subdivision (35) of subsection (b) of section 42a-1-201, is retained or taken by the retail seller for the payment of the amount of such retail installment contract. For purposes of this subdivision, "retail installment contract" does not include a rent-to-own agreement, as defined in section 42-240.
[(13)] (14) "Retail installment sale" means any sale evidenced by a retail installment contract or installment loan contract wherein a retail buyer buys goods from a retail seller at a time sale price payable in two or more installments. The cash price of the goods, the amount, if any, included for other itemized charges which are included in the amount of the credit extended but which are not part of the finance charge under sections 36a-675 to 36a-686, inclusive, and the finance charge shall together constitute the time sale price. For purposes of this subdivision, "retail installment sale" does not include a rent-to-own agreement, as defined in section 42-240.
[(14)] (15) "Retail seller" means a person who sells or agrees to sell one or more articles of goods under a retail installment contract to a retail buyer.
[(15)] (16) "Sales finance company" means any person engaging in this state in the business, in whole or in part, of acquiring retail installment contracts from retail sellers or installment loan contracts from holders thereof, by purchase, discount or pledge, or by loan or advance to the holder of either on the security thereof, or otherwise.
Sec. 2. Subsection (a) of section 36a-772 of the 2016 supplement to the general statutes is repealed and the following is substituted in lieu thereof (Effective from passage):
(a) A retail seller of motor vehicles may charge, contract for, receive or collect a finance charge expressed as an annual percentage rate on any retail installment contract covering the retail sale of a motor vehicle in this state, which charge shall not exceed the rates indicated for the respective classifications of motor vehicles as follows: (1) On sales made prior to October 1, 1985, of (A) new motor vehicles, eighteen per cent; (B) used motor vehicles of a model designated by the manufacturer by a year not more than three years prior to the year in which the sale is made, nineteen and one-quarter per cent; and (C) used motor vehicles of a model designated by the manufacturer by a year more than three years prior to the year in which the sale is made, twenty-one and one-half per cent; (2) on sales made on or after October 1, 1985, and prior to October 1, 1987, (A) new motor vehicles, sixteen per cent; (B) used motor vehicles of a model designated by the manufacturer by a year not more than two years prior to the year in which the sale is made, eighteen per cent; (C) used motor vehicles of a model designated by the manufacturer by a year more than two years prior to the year in which the sale is made, twenty per cent; and (3) on sales made on or after October 1, 1987, (A) new motor vehicles, fifteen per cent; (B) used motor vehicles of a model designated by the manufacturer by a year not more than two years prior to the year in which the sale is made, seventeen per cent; (C) used motor vehicles of a model designated by the manufacturer by a year more than two years prior to the year in which the sale is made, nineteen per cent. A retail seller of motor vehicles who charges, contracts for, receives or collects a finance charge under this subsection shall disclose, in writing, to the retail buyer purchasing the motor vehicle: (i) The annual percentage rate of the retail seller's finance charge; (ii) the identity of the sales finance company that offers the lowest annual percentage rate and the amount of that rate; and (iii) any finance charge markup imposed by the retail seller.
Sec. 3. Subsection (a) of section 36a-679 of the 2016 supplement to the general statutes is repealed and the following is in lieu thereof (Effective from passage):
(a) The commissioner may adopt regulations, in accordance with chapter 54, to carry out the provisions of the Connecticut Truth-in-Lending Act, sections 36a-567, 36a-568, subdivision [(13)] (14) of subsection (c) of section 36a-770, as amended by this act, and sections 36a-771, 36a-774 and 36a-777. Such regulations shall be consistent with the policy of this state as provided in section 36a-677 and the Consumer Credit Protection Act.
Sec. 4. Section 36a-681 of the 2016 supplement to the general statutes is repealed and the following is in lieu thereof (Effective from passage):
Any person who wilfully and knowingly (1) gives false or inaccurate information or fails to provide information which such person is required to disclose under the provisions of sections 36a-567, 36a-568 and the Connecticut Truth-in-Lending Act, subdivision [(13)] (14) of subsection (c) of section 36a-770, as amended by this act, and sections 36a-771, 36a-774, 36a-777 and 36a-786, or any regulation adopted thereunder, (2) uses any chart or table authorized by the Federal Reserve Board or the Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection under 15 USC 1606, as amended from time to time, in such manner as to consistently understate the annual percentage rate determined under said sections, or (3) otherwise fails to comply with any requirement imposed under said sections shall be fined not more than five thousand dollars or imprisoned not more than one year or both.
Sec. 5. Subsection (a) of section 36a-684 of the 2016 supplement to the general statutes is repealed and the following is in lieu thereof (Effective from passage):
(a) The commissioner shall enforce the requirements of sections 36a-567, 36a-568, the Connecticut Truth-in-Lending Act, subdivision [(13)] (14) of subsection (c) of section 36a-770, as amended by this act, and sections 36a-771, 36a-774 and 36a-777. The commissioner shall, in addition to other powers granted by said sections or by other provisions of law, receive and act on complaints, take action designed to obtain voluntary compliance with said sections or commence proceedings on the commissioner's own initiative pursuant to sections 36a-50 to 36a-53, inclusive.
This act shall take effect as follows and shall amend the following sections: | ||
Section 1 |
from passage |
36a-770 |
Sec. 2 |
from passage |
36a-772(a) |
Sec. 3 |
from passage |
36a-679(a) |
Sec. 4 |
from passage |
36a-681 |
Sec. 5 |
from passage |
36a-684(a) |
Statement of Legislative Commissioners:
In Section 2, the effective date of "October 1, 2016" was changed to "from passage" for internal consistency and clarity, in Section 2, "as defined in section 36a-535, bank, credit union or other lender of the retail installment contract" was removed for consistency and "as defined in section 36a-770, as amended by this act," was removed to eliminate redundant language, and Sections 3, 4 and 5 of the bill were added to make conforming changes to the general statutes.
BA |
Joint Favorable Subst. |