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In this part:
“Administrator” means the commissioner of commerce and insurance;
“Affiliate”:
With respect to an individual, means:
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, or grandnephew, 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
With respect to an entity, means:
A person that directly or indirectly controls, is controlled by or is under common control 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, the entity;
Subject to adjustment of the dollar amount pursuant to § 47-18-5532(f), a person that receives or received more than twenty-five thousand dollars ($25,000) from the entity in either the current year or the preceding year or a person that owns more than ten percent (10%) 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 ($25,000) from the entity in either the current year or the preceding year;
An officer or director of, or an individual performing similar functions with respect to, a person described in this subdivision (2)(B);
The spouse of, or an individual occupying the residence of, an individual described in subdivisions (2)(B)(i)-(v); or
An individual who has the relationship specified in subdivision (2)(A)(iv) to an individual or the spouse of an individual described in subdivisions (2)(B)(i)-(v);
“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 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 and number of a street;
“Certified counselor” means an individual certified by a training program or certifying organization, approved by the administrator, that authenticates the competence of individuals providing education and assistance to other individuals in connection with debt-management services in which an agreement contemplates that creditors will reduce finance charges or fees for late payment, default or delinquency;
“Certified debt specialist” means an individual certified by a training program or certifying organization, approved by the administrator, that authenticates the competence of individuals providing education and assistance to other individuals in connection with debt-management services in which an agreement contemplates that creditors will settle debts for less than the full principal amount of debt owed;
“Concessions” means assent to repayment of a debt on terms more favorable to an individual than the terms of the contract between the individual and a creditor;
“Day” means calendar day;
“Debt-management services” means services as an intermediary between an individual and one (1) 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 or otherwise authorized to practice law in this state;
Accounting services provided in an accountant-client relationship by a certified public accountant licensed to provide accounting services in this state; or
Financial-planning services provided in a financial planner-client relationship by a member of a financial-planning profession whose members the administrator, by rule, determines are:
Licensed by this state;
Subject to a disciplinary mechanism;
Subject to a code of professional responsibility; and
Subject to a continuing-education requirement;
“Entity” means a person other than an individual;
“Good faith” means honesty in fact and the observance of reasonable standards of fair dealing;
“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-management services 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 provide debt-management services directly or through others;
“Record” means information that is inscribed on a tangible medium or that is stored in an electronic or other medium and is retrievable in perceivable form;
“Settlement fee” means a charge imposed on or paid by an individual in connection with 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 or process;
“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; and
“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 money in the account is not the money of the provider or its designee; and
Used to hold money of one (1) or more individuals for disbursement to creditors of the individuals.