S-3160.1 _______________________________________________
SENATE BILL 6413
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State of Washington 57th Legislature 2002 Regular Session
By Senators Gardner, Prentice, Franklin, Winsley, Keiser, Rasmussen and Regala
Read first time 01/16/2002. Referred to Committee on Labor, Commerce & Financial Institutions.
AN ACT Relating to late payment charges; and amending RCW 63.14.090.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF WASHINGTON:
Sec. 1. RCW 63.14.090 and 1993 c 481 s 1 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)(a) Notwithstanding subsection (1) of this section, where the minimum payment is received within the ten days following the payment due date, delinquency 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, except that a minimum charge of up to two dollars shall be allowed. This subsection (3)(a) shall not apply in cases where the payment on the account is more than thirty days overdue.
(b) In no cases may delinquency charges be assessed against a new account's initial invoice until the account is forty-five days overdue.
(4)(a) In assessing delinquency charges, the holder of any retail installment contract, retail charge agreement, or lender credit card agreement must make reasonable allowances for disruption to the mail service. If the postmark on the payment indicates it was mailed within a reasonable time of the due date and the delay was due to a disruption to the mail service, the delinquency charge must be removed from the account.
(b) Delinquency charges for the late payment of a retail installment contract, retail charge agreement, or lender credit card agreement must be immediately removed from the account if the amount in delinquency is disputed by the account holder. Such charges may not be returned to the account until the dispute is resolved.
(c) Delinquency charges may not be assessed for the late payment or nonpayment of delinquency charges.
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