Finance Charge on Retail Installment Contracts for Manufactured Homes and Motor Vehicles Subject to Federal Law; Stating of Federal Provisions in Contract

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  2. Georgia Code
  3. Banking and Finance
  4. Interest and Usury
  5. In General
  6. Finance Charge on Retail Installment Contracts for Manufactured Homes and Motor Vehicles Subject to Federal Law; Stating of Federal Provisions in Contract

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  1. Notwithstanding the provisions of subsections (a) through (c) of Code Section 10-1-33, any retail installment contract pertaining to:
    1. Any manufactured home with a cash sale price of more than $3,000.00; or
    2. Any motor vehicle where the amount financed is $5,000.00 or more

      may provide for such finance charge as the parties may agree in writing.

    1. Any retail installment contract pertaining to a manufactured home or any consumer loan secured by such a home shall contain the contract provisions required by subsection (c) of Section 501 of the Depository Institutions Deregulation and Monetary Control Act of 1980, Public Law 96-221 (12 U.S.C. Section 1735f-7, notes).
    2. Any person violating this subsection shall be subject to the liability specified in Code Section 7-4-5; but the contract or loan shall still be entitled to the benefits of the other provisions of Code Section 7-4-2.
  3. As used in this Code section, the term:
    1. "Finance charge" means the amount agreed upon between the buyer and the seller to be added to the cash sale price and, if a separate charge is made therefor, the amount, if any, included for insurance and other benefits and official fees, in determining the time sale price.
    2. "Manufactured home" means a structure, transportable in one or more sections, which, in the traveling mode, is eight body feet or more in width, or 40 body feet or more in length, or, when erected on site, is 320 or more square feet and which is built on a permanent chassis and designed to be used as a dwelling with or without a permanent foundation when connected to the required utilities and includes the plumbing, heating, air-conditioning, and electrical systems contained therein; except that such term shall include any structure which meets all the requirements of this paragraph except the size requirements and with respect to which the manufacturer voluntarily files a certification required by the secretary of Housing and Urban Development and complies with the standards established under The National Mobile Home Construction and Safety Standards Act of 1974, 42 U.S.C. Section 5401, et seq.
    3. "Retail installment contract" or "contract" means an instrument or instruments creating a purchase money security interest or any instrument evidencing an obligation secured by a purchase money security interest.

(Code 1981, §7-4-3, enacted by Ga. L. 1983, p. 1146, § 2; Ga. L. 1985, p. 698, § 4; Ga. L. 2004, p. 631, § 7.)

Editor's notes.

- Ga. L. 1983, p. 1146, § 2 repealed the former Code Section 7-4-3, relating to flexible maximum interest rates on real estate loans, and enacted the present Code Section 7-4-3, which became effective March 31, 1983.

JUDICIAL DECISIONS

Controlling nature of section as to mobile homes.

- Since the General Assembly, beginning in 1983, has distinguished between mobile home loans and motor vehicle loans, and since O.C.G.A. § 7-4-3(a)(1) and (b)(1), as amended in 1983, deal specifically with mobile home installment sales contracts, whereas O.C.G.A. § 10-1-33(d), as amended in 1985, does not, paragraphs (a)(1) and (b)(1) express the controlling legislation and legislative intent on mobile home installment sales contracts in excess of $3,000. Southern Guar. Corp. v. Doyle, 256 Ga. 790, 353 S.E.2d 510 (1987).

Retroactivity.

- The 1983 enactment of O.C.G.A. § 7-4-3(a), which provides that O.C.G.A. § 10-1-33 shall not apply to retail installment contracts pertaining to any manufactured home with a cash sales price of more than $3,000.00, does not operate retroactively so as to eliminate any cause of action a manufactured home purchaser may have acquired under O.C.G.A. § 10-1-38 by a transaction prior to the 1983 act's effective date. Southern Guar. Corp. v. Doyle, 256 Ga. 790, 353 S.E.2d 510 (1987).

Cited in Gibbs v. Green Tree Acceptance, Inc., 188 Ga. App. 633, 373 S.E.2d 637 (1988); Purser Truck Sales, Inc. v. Patrick, 201 Ga. App. 119, 410 S.E.2d 335 (1991).


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