Chapter 255D

Section 1. In this chapter, unless the context otherwise requires, the following words shall have the following meanings: ''Commissioner'', the commissioner of banks. ''Down payment'', includes all amounts paid, in cash, credits, or the agreed value of goods, by or for the instal…

Section 10. No seller, sales finance company or holder shall at any time take or receive any retail installment sale agreement from a buyer or from any surety or guarantor for the buyer which contains: (1) Blank spaces for terms required by this chapter or for terms upon which th…

Section 10A. No retail establishment offering goods and services for sale shall discriminate against a cash buyer by requiring the use of credit by a buyer in order to purchase such goods and services. All such retail establishments must accept legal tender when offered as paymen…

Section 11. A. No fee, expense or other charge whatsoever shall be taken, received, reserved or contracted for, except as provided in this section and in sections sixteen to twenty-two, inclusive, and except for official fees, and for the items expressly provided for in the retai…

Section 11A. The buyer shall have the right to return to the seller at any time all merchandise certificates or coupons which have not been exchanged for goods or services, and the seller shall thereupon credit the buyer with the full face amount thereof and all finance charges a…

Section 11B. Any written agreement for the purchase of a merchandise certificate or coupon, any newly printed merchandise certificate or coupon, and any cover or envelope containing a merchandise certificate or coupon shall contain the following statement appearing conspicuously …

Section 12. A. When any payment is made on account of any retail installment sale agreement, the person receiving such payment shall, if the payment is made in cash, give the buyer a complete written receipt therefor. If the buyer specifies that the payment is made on one of seve…

Section 13. A. Notwithstanding the provisions of any retail installment sale agreement to the contrary, a buyer may pay it in full at any time before the maturity of the final installment thereof, and, if he does so, shall receive and be entitled to receive a refund credit thereo…

Section 14. A. The buyer shall have the right to cancel the retail installment sale agreement for other than the seller's breach: (1) Until the seller has signed and delivered to the buyer, or mailed to him at his address shown on the agreement a copy of the agreement signed by t…

Section 15. No retail installment sale agreement shall provide for or create a security interest in (a) personal property other than the goods sold or worked on under a retail installment sale agreement unless such goods become affixed to such personal property; (b) after-acquire…

Section 16. A. A holder may by agreement with the buyer extend the due date of all or any part of one or more installments under an existing retail installment sale agreement, a refinancing agreement or a consolidation agreement. B. Except as provided in paragraph C, an extension…

Section 17. A. A holder may by agreement with the buyer refinance the unpaid balance of a single retail installment sale agreement, refinancing agreement or consolidation agreement to provide for a new schedule of the times or amounts of the payments or both. B. A refinancing agr…

Section 18. A. If a buyer purchases goods or services from a seller from whom he has previously purchased goods or services under one or more retail installment sale agreements, and the amounts due under any such previous agreement have not been fully paid, any such subsequent pu…

Section 18A. (1) No retail installment sale agreement may be modified in any way by the parties or by a holder, nor shall the amount financed or unpaid balance as defined in chapter one hundred and forty D, or any other amount owing under any retail installment sale agreement eve…

Section 19. A. Within six months after the execution of the retail installment sale agreement or revolving credit agreement and within every six-month period thereafter until the buyer has discharged all his obligations under the agreement, the holder shall send to the buyer upon…

Section 2. No person, other than a bank as defined in section one of chapter one hundred and sixty-seven or a national banking association, federal savings bank, federal savings and loan association or federal credit union, shall engage in the business of a sales finance company …

Section 20. The holder of a retail installment sale agreement may, if the agreement so provides, collect a delinquency and collection charge on each installment in default for a period of not less than fifteen days in an amount not in excess of five percent of each installment or…

Section 21. (a) An agreement of the parties in a retail installment contract defining default is enforceable only to the extent that the default is material and consists of the buyer's failure to make one or more installments as required by the agreement; or occurrence of an even…

Section 22. (a) Subject to the provisions of this section and section twenty-one, on default by the buyer a secured creditor under a consumer credit transaction may take possession of collateral. In taking possession the secured creditor under a consumer credit transaction may pr…

Section 22A. No seller shall directly or indirectly in connection with the retail sale of goods or services, and for the purpose of evading any of the provisions of this chapter, arrange for a loan or aid or assist any buyer in obtaining a loan from any person, the proceeds of wh…

Section 24. No act, agreement or statement of any buyer in any retail installment sale agreement or revolving credit agreement shall constitute a valid waiver of any benefit or protection afforded by the provisions of this chapter.

Section 25. Any holder of a retail installment sale agreement, or of a note evidencing indebtedness arising out of such agreement, shall be subject to the provisions of this chapter.

Section 25A. The holder of a retail installment sale agreement, or other person acting in his behalf, shall be subject to all defenses, real and personal, which the installment buyer may have against the installment seller thereof.

Section 26. A. Where a seller or sales finance company undertakes to provide or supply insurance on the goods sold, or on which services were rendered, under a retail installment sale agreement or revolving credit agreement, at the buyer's expense, the amount charged any buyer fo…

Section 27. A. Every revolving credit agreement shall contain the following notice appearing conspicuously directly above the space reserved in the agreement for the signature of the buyer: Notice of Buyer: (1) Do not sign this agreement if any of the spaces intended for the agre…

Section 28. After payment of all sums for which the buyer is obligated under a retail installment sale agreement, if the notice of the security interest has been filed or recorded or if the buyer so requests, the holder of such contract shall mail to the buyer, at his last known …

Section 29. A. The violation of sections nine, ten, eleven, thirteen, fifteen, sixteen, seventeen, eighteen, twenty-six or twenty-seven by any person shall bar his recovery of any finance charge, delinquency or collection charge or refinancing charge on the retail installment sal…

Section 3. The commissioner may prescribe from time to time such rules and regulations as he deems necessary and proper for carrying out the provisions of this chapter including, but not limited to, the granting of licenses and the renewal thereof, the conduct of examinations and…

Section 30. Whoever violates any provision of this chapter shall be punished by a fine of not more than five hundred dollars or by imprisonment for not more than six months, or both.

Section 31. A transaction subject to the provisions of this chapter shall also be subject to the provisions of chapter one hundred and forty D and a retail seller or holder subject to the provisions of this chapter shall be subject to the provisions of said chapter one hundred an…

Section 32. Any notice required to be given under this chapter shall be deemed delivered when it is mailed by certified mail to the buyer.

Section 4. The commissioner, or such of his assistants as he may designate, may summon a licensee, or any of his agents or employees, and such other witness as he deems necessary, and examine them relative to their transactions, may require the production of books and papers and,…

Section 5. If the commissioner refuses to issue a license, he shall notify the applicant of the denial, and within twenty days thereafter he shall enter upon his records a written decision and findings containing the reasons supporting the denial, and shall forthwith give written…

Section 6. The commissioner, if he has reason to believe that any person other than a licensee has violated any of the provisions of this chapter, shall have the power to make such investigations as he shall deem necessary, and, to the extent necessary for this purpose he may exa…

Section 7. A license may be suspended or revoked by the commissioner on the following grounds: (1) material misstatement in application for license; (2) failure to comply with the provisions of this chapter; (3) defrauding any retail buyer to the buyer's damage; (4) fraudulent mi…

Section 8. No license shall be suspended or revoked except after hearing thereon by the commissioner or such of his assistants as he may designate. The commissioner shall give the licensee at least ten days' written notice, in the form of an order to show cause, of the time and p…

Section 9. A. The printed terms of every retail installment sale agreement shall be set in at least eight point type, except as otherwise required herein. If the terms of a retail installment sale agreement are contained on both sides of a page, there shall appear on the first pa…

Section 9A. In any transaction involving the modernization, rehabilitation, repair, alteration, improvement or construction of real property, a writing signed by the buyer that such work has been satisfactorily completed shall not be valid unless the work to be performed by the s…