As used in this part 2, unless the context otherwise requires:
"Administrator" means the assistant attorney general designated by the attorney general pursuant to section 5-6-103.
"Affiliate":
(A) With respect to an individual, means: (i) The spouse of the individual;
A sibling of the individual or the spouse of a sibling;
An individual or the spouse of an individual who is a lineal ancestor or lineal descendant of the individual or the individual's spouse;
An aunt, uncle, great aunt, great uncle, first cousin, niece, nephew, grandniece, orgrandnephew, whether related by the whole or the half blood or adoption, or the spouse of any of them; or
Any other individual occupying the residence of the individual; and(B) With respect to an entity, means:
A person that directly or indirectly controls, is controlled by, or is under commoncontrol with, the entity;
An officer of, or an individual performing similar functions with respect to, the entity;
A director of, or an individual performing similar functions with respect to, theentity;
A person that receives or received more than twenty-five thousand dollars from theentity in either the current year or the preceding year or a person that owns more than ten percent of, or an individual who is employed by or is a director of, a person that receives or received more than twenty-five thousand dollars from the entity in either the current year or the preceding year;
An officer or director of, or an individual performing similar functions with respectto, a person described in subsection (2)(B)(i) of this section;
The spouse of, or an individual occupying the residence of, an individual describedin subsections (2)(B)(i) to (2)(B)(v) of this section; or
An individual who has the relationship specified in subsection (2)(A)(iv) of thissection to an individual or the spouse of an individual described in subsections (2)(B)(i) to (2)(B)(v) of this section.
"Agreement" means an agreement between a provider and an individual for the performance of debt-management services.
"Bank" means a financial institution, including a commercial bank, savings bank,savings and loan association, credit union, mortgage bank, and trust company, engaged in the business of banking, chartered under federal or state law, and regulated by a federal or state banking regulatory authority.
"Business address" means the physical location of a business, including the name andnumber of a street.
"Concessions" means assent to repayment of a debt on terms more favorable to anindividual than the terms of the contract between the individual and a creditor.
"Day" means calendar day.
(A) "Debt-management services" means services as an intermediary between an individual and one or more creditors of the individual for the purpose of obtaining concessions, but does not include:
Legal services provided in an attorney-client relationship by an attorney licensed topractice law in this state;
Accounting services provided in an accountant-client relationship by a certified public accountant certified or authorized by the state board of accountancy to provide accounting services in this state; or
Representative services provided before the internal revenue service, the departmentof revenue, or the department of labor and employment in an enrolled agent-client relationship for tax purposes by an enrolled agent who is authorized by and in good standing with the United States department of treasury, if the enrolled agent is not engaging in other debt management services.
(B) The exemptions in subsection (8)(A) of this section do not apply to any person who directly or indirectly provides any debt management services on behalf of a licensed attorney, certified public accountant, or enrolled agent if that person is not an employee of the licensed attorney, certified public accountant, or enrolled agent.
"Entity" means a person other than an individual.
"Good faith" means honesty in fact and the observance of reasonable standards offair dealing.
"Individual" means a natural person.
"Person" means an individual, corporation, business trust, estate, trust, partnership,limited liability company, association, joint venture, or any other legal or commercial entity. The term does not include a public corporation, government, or governmental subdivision, agency, or instrumentality.
"Plan" means a program or strategy in which a provider furnishes debt-managementservices to an individual and that includes a schedule of payments to be made by or on behalf of the individual and used to pay debts owed by the individual.
"Principal amount of the debt" means the amount of a debt at the time of an agreement.
"Provider" means a person that provides, offers to provide, or agrees to providedebt-management services directly or through others.
"Record" means information that is inscribed on a tangible medium or that is storedin an electronic or other medium and is retrievable in perceivable form.
"Settlement fee" means a charge imposed on or paid by an individual in connectionwith a creditor's assent to accept in full satisfaction of a debt an amount less than the principal amount of the debt.
"Sign" means, with present intent to authenticate or adopt a record:
To execute or adopt a tangible symbol; or
To attach to or logically associate with the record an electronic sound, symbol, orprocess.
"State" means a state of the United States, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico,the United States Virgin Islands, or any territory or insular possession subject to the jurisdiction of the United States.
(A) "Trust account" means an account held by a provider that is:
Established in an insured bank;
Separate from other accounts of the provider or its designee;
Designated as a trust account or other account designated to indicate that the moneyin the account is not the money of the provider; and
Used to hold money of one or more individuals for disbursement to creditors of theindividuals.
(B) For a plan under which creditors will settle debts for less than the principal amount of the debt, nothing in this part 2 prohibits a provider from requesting or requiring an individual to place funds in an account, separate from the individual's then-existing bank account, to be used for the provider's fees and for payments to creditors or debt collectors in connection with the debt management services, if:
The funds are held in an account at an insured financial institution;
The individual owns the funds held in the account and is paid accrued interest on theaccount, if any;
The entity administering the account is not owned, controlled by, or in any wayaffiliated with the provider;
The entity administering the account does not give or accept any money or othercompensation in exchange for referrals of business involving the debt management provider or plan; and
The individual may withdraw from the debt management plan at any time withoutpenalty, and immediately receives all funds in the account, other than fees earned in compliance with section 5-19-223, as required by section 5-19-226.
Source: L. 2017: Entire article added with relocations, (HB 17-1238), ch. 260, p. 1137, § 4, effective August 9.
Editor's note: This section is similar to former § 12-14.5-202 as it existed prior to 2017.