S-3396.2          _______________________________________________

 

                                 SENATE BILL 6477

                  _______________________________________________

 

State of Washington              52nd Legislature             1992 Regular Session

 

By Senator Williams

 

Read first time 02/04/92.  Referred to Committee on Financial Institutions & Insurance.Limiting the penalty charged for the late payment of a credit card balance.


     AN ACT Relating to delinquent payment charges on credit cards; and amending RCW 63.14.090.

 

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF WASHINGTON:

 

     Sec. 1.  RCW 63.14.090 and 1984 c 280 s 2 are each amended to read as follows:

     (1) The holder of any retail installment contract, retail charge agreement, or lender credit card agreement may not collect any delinquency or collection charges, including any attorney's fee and court costs and disbursements, unless the contract, charge agreement, or lender credit card agreement so provides.  In such cases, the charges shall be reasonable, and no attorney's fee may be recovered unless the contract, charge agreement, or lender credit card agreement is referred for collection to an attorney not a salaried employee of the holder.

     (2) The contract, charge agreement, or lender credit card agreement may contain other provisions not inconsistent with the purposes of this chapter, including but not limited to provisions relating to refinancing, transfer of the buyer's equity, construction permits, and title reports.

     (3) Notwithstanding subsection (1) of this section, delinquency charges or collection charges for the late payment of a retail charge agreement or lender credit card agreement may not be more than ten percent of the average balance of the delinquent account for the prior thirty-day period when the average balance of the account for the prior thirty-day period is less than one hundred dollars.