Bill Text: WV SB344 | 2017 | Regular Session | Enrolled
Bill Title: Relating to application of payments on consumer credit sale and loans
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Republican 4-0)
Status: (Passed) 2017-05-23 - Chapter 37, Acts, Regular Session, 2017 [SB344 Detail]
Download: West_Virginia-2017-SB344-Enrolled.html
WEST virginia legislature
2017 regular session
ENROLLED
Committee Substitute
for
Committee Substitute
for
Senate Bill 344
Senators Trump, Gaunch, Azinger and Blair, original sponsors
[Passed April 5, 2017; in effect 90 days from passage]
AN ACT to amend and reenact §46A-2-115 of the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended; and to amend and reenact §46A-3-111, §46A-3-112 and §46A-3-113 of said code, all relating to consumer credit sales and consumer loans; specifying application of payments and partial payments on consumer credit sales and loans; modifying provisions related to delinquency charges; permitting certain payments be held in a suspense or unapplied funds account; providing requirements concerning funds held in a suspense or unapplied funds account; and assessing delinquency charges on such loans.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That §46A-2-115 of the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended, be amended and reenacted; that §46A-3-111, §46A-3-112 and §46A-3-113 of said code be amended and reenacted, all to read as follows:
ARTICLE 2. CONSUMER CREDIT PROTECTION.
§46A-2-115. Limitation on default charges.
(a) Except for reasonable expenses, including costs and fees authorized by statute incurred in realizing on a security interest, the agreements that evidence a consumer credit sale or a consumer loan may not provide for charges as a result of default by the consumer other than those authorized by this chapter.
(b) With respect to this subsection:
(1) The phrase “consumer loan” shall mean a consumer loan secured by real property: (A) Originated by a bank or savings and loan association, or an affiliate, not solicited by an unaffiliated broker; (B) held by a federal home loan bank, the federal National Mortgage Association, the federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation, the Government National Mortgage Association, the West Virginia Housing Development Fund; or (C) insured or guaranteed by the Farmers Home Administration, the Veterans Administration or the Department of Housing and Urban Development.
(2) Except as provided in subdivision (3) of this subsection, the agreements that evidence a consumer loan may permit the recovery of the following charges: (A) Costs of publication; (B) an appraisal fee; (C) all costs incidental to a title examination including professional fees, expenses incident to travel and copies of real estate and tax records; (D) expenses incidental to notice made to lienholders and other parties and entities having an interest in the real property to be sold; (E) certified mailing costs; and (F) all fees and expenses incurred by a trustee incident to a pending trustee’s sale of the real property securing the consumer loan.
(3) For purposes of the charges expressly authorized by this subsection, no charge may be assessed and collected from a consumer unless: (A) Each charge is reasonable in its amount; (B) each charge is actually incurred by or on behalf of the holder of the consumer loan; (C) each charge is actually incurred after the last day allowed for cure of the consumer’s default pursuant to section one hundred six of this article and before the consumer reinstates the consumer loan or otherwise cures the default; (D) the holder of the consumer loan and the consumer have agreed to cancel any pending trustee’s sale or other foreclosure on the real property securing the consumer loan; and (E) in the case of an appraisal fee, no appraisal fee has been charged to the consumer within the preceding six months.
(c) All payments made to a creditor in accordance with the terms of any consumer credit sale or consumer loan shall be credited upon receipt against payments due: Provided, That amounts received and applied during a cure period will not result in a duty to provide a new notice of right to cure: Provided, however, That partial amounts received during the period set forth in subdivision (3) subsection (b) of this section do not create an automatic duty to reinstate and may be returned by the creditor. Default charges shall be accounted for separately. Those recoverable charges set forth in said subsection arising during the period described therein may be added to principal.
(d) At least once every twelve months, the holder or servicer of each consumer loan secured by real property against which the creditor assesses any default charge, and: (1) Not serviced by the originating lender or its affiliate or their successors by merger; (2) not held by a federal home loan bank, the federal National Mortgage Association, the federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation, the Government National Mortgage Association, the West Virginia Housing Development Fund; or (3) not insured or guaranteed by the Farmers Home Administration, the Veterans Administration, Department of Housing and Urban Development, shall transmit to the consumer an accounting of every default charge assessed within the previous twelve months, including the date, amount and nature of the cost.
This subsection does not apply to delinquency charges permitted under sections one hundred twelve and one hundred thirteen, article three of this chapter; credit line over-the-limit fees; deferral charges permitted under section one hundred fourteen of this article; collateral protection insurance permitted under section one hundred nine-a of this article; and advances to pay taxes.
(e) A provision in violation of this section is unenforceable. The amendments to this section by acts of the Legislature in the regular session of 2003 are a clarification of existing law and shall be retroactively applied to all agreements in effect on the date of passage of the amendments, except where controversies arising under those agreements are pending prior to the date of passage of the amendments.
(f) Nothing in this section limits the expenses incidental to a trustee’s sale of real property that are recoverable pursuant to section seven, article one, chapter thirty-eight of this code.
ARTICLE 3. FINANCE CHARGES AND RELATED PROVISIONS.
§46A-3-111. Application of payments on account; rebate upon prepayment, refinancing or consolidation; judgments and interest on judgments.
(a) All payments made to a creditor in accordance with the terms of a precomputed consumer credit sale or consumer loan shall be applied to installments in the order in which they fall due.
(b) All payments made to a creditor which do not comply with the terms of a precomputed consumer credit sale or consumer loan may be held in a suspense or unapplied funds account. The creditor must disclose to the consumer the total amount of funds held in a suspense or unapplied funds account. On accumulation of funds sufficient to cover a full payment in accordance with terms of the precomputed consumer credit sale or consumer loan agreement, the creditor shall apply the payment in accordance with subsection (a) of this section.
(c) When the total amount is payable in substantially equal consecutive monthly installments, the portion of the sales finance charge or loan finance charge attributable to any particular monthly installment period shall be that proportion of the sales finance charge or loan finance charge originally contracted for, as the balance scheduled to be outstanding on the last day of the monthly installment period before deducting the payment, if any, scheduled to be made on that day bears to the sum of all the monthly installment balances under the original schedule of payments. This method of allocation is the sum of the digits method, commonly referred to as the “Rule of 78”.
(d) Upon prepayment in full of a precomputed consumer credit sale or consumer loan by cash, a new loan, refinancing, consolidation or otherwise, the creditor shall rebate to the consumer that portion of the sales finance charge or loan finance charge in the manner specified in section five-d, article six, chapter forty-seven of this code: Provided, That no rebate of less than $1 need be made.
(e) Upon prepayment in full of a precomputed or nonprecomputed consumer credit sale or consumer loan by cash, execution of a new loan, refinancing, consolidation or otherwise, except where the loan is a purchase money loan secured by a first lien mortgage on residential property, or is made by a federally insured depository institution, the creditor shall rebate to the consumer that portion of the unearned prepaid finance charges attributable to loan or credit investigations fees, origination fees or points in the manner specified in subsection (c), section five-d, article six, chapter forty-seven of this code: Provided, That no rebate of less than $1 need be made: Provided, however, That if the loan was made in furtherance of aiding or abetting a person to whom the loan is assigned to evade this rebate, then the rebate required herein shall apply.
(f) If the maturity of a precomputed consumer credit sale or consumer loan is accelerated for any reason and judgment is obtained, the debtor is entitled to the same rebate as if the payment had been made on the date judgment is entered and such judgment shall bear interest until paid at the rate of ten percent per annum.
§46A-3-112. Delinquency charges on precomputed consumer credit sales or consumer loans.
(1) With respect to a precomputed consumer credit sale or consumer loan, refinancing or consolidation, the parties may contract for a delinquency charge on any installment not paid in full within ten days after its scheduled due date in an amount not exceeding the greater of:
(a) Five percent of the unpaid amount of the installment, not to exceed $30; or
(b) An amount equivalent to the deferral charge that would be permitted to defer the unpaid amount of the installment for the period that it is delinquent.
(2) A delinquency charge under subdivision (a), subsection (1) of this section may be collected only once on an installment however long it remains in default. No delinquency charge may be collected with respect to a deferred installment unless the installment is not paid in full within ten days after its deferred due date. A delinquency charge may be collected at the time it accrues or at any time thereafter.
(3) No delinquency charge may be collected on an installment which is paid in full within ten days after its scheduled or deferred installment due date, even though a delinquency or deferral charge on an earlier installment may not have been paid in full.
(4) If two installments, or parts thereof, of a precomputed consumer credit sale or consumer loan are in default for ten days or more, the creditor may elect to convert such sale or loan from a precomputed sale or loan to one in which the sales finance charge or loan finance charge is based on unpaid balances. In such event, the creditor shall make a rebate pursuant to the provisions on rebate upon prepayment, refinancing or consolidation as of the maturity date of any installment then delinquent and thereafter may make a sales finance charge or loan finance charge as authorized by the appropriate provisions on sales finance charges or loan finance charges for consumer credit sales or consumer loans. The amount of the rebate may not be reduced by the amount of any permitted minimum charge. If the creditor proceeds under this subsection, any delinquency or deferral charges made with respect to installments due at or after the maturity date of the delinquent installments shall be rebated and no further delinquency or deferral charges shall be made.
(5) The commissioner shall prescribe by rule the method or procedure for the calculation of delinquency charges consistent with the other provisions of this chapter where the precomputed consumer credit sale or consumer loan is payable in unequal or irregular installments.
§46A-3-113. Delinquency charges on nonprecomputed consumer credit sales or consumer loans repayable in installments.
(1) In addition to the continuation of the sales finance charge or loan finance charge on a delinquent installment with respect to a nonprecomputed consumer credit sale or consumer loan, refinancing or consolidation, repayable in installments, the parties may contract for a delinquency charge on any installment not paid in full within ten days after its scheduled due date of five percent of the unpaid amount of the installment, not to exceed $30.
(2) A delinquency charge under subsection (1) of this section may be collected only once on an installment however long it remains in default. A delinquency charge may be collected at the time it accrues or at any time thereafter.
(3) No delinquency charge may be collected on an installment which is paid in full within ten days after its scheduled or deferred installment due date, even though a delinquency or deferral charge on an earlier installment may not have been paid in full.
