CERTIFICATION OF ENROLLMENT

                  SUBSTITUTE SENATE BILL 5686

                        53rd Legislature

                      1993 Regular Session

Passed by the Senate April 20, 1993   YEAS 37   NAYS 1 President of the Senate Passed by the House April 7, 1993   YEAS 98   NAYS 0

CERTIFICATE I, Marty Brown, Secretary of the Senate of the State of Washington, do hereby certify that the attached is SUBSTITUTE SENATE BILL 5686 as passed by the Senate and the House of Representatives on the dates hereon set forth.

Speaker of the       House of Representatives

Secretary

Approved Place Style On Codes above, and Style Off Codes below.

FILED

Governor of the State of Washington

Secretary of State                   State of Washington

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                    SUBSTITUTE SENATE BILL 5686

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                      AS AMENDED BY THE HOUSE

             Passed Legislature - 1993 Regular Session

State of Washington      53rd Legislature     1993 Regular Session

By Senate Committee on Labor & Commerce (originally sponsored by Senators Williams and Pelz)

Read first time 03/03/93.

Limiting the penalty charge for 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, 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) shall not apply in cases where the payment on the account is more than thirty days overdue.

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