Current through Register Vol. XLI, No. 50, December 13, 2024
Section 142-22-2 - Definitions2.1. "Consumer" -- To be a consumer for the purposes of the definition of "consumer" in the West Virginia Consumer Goods Rental Protection Act, W. Va. Code '46B-1-5(2), the consumer does not have to have entered into a rent-to-own agreement.2.2. "Financial Organization" -- The term "financial organization" in the West Virginia Consumer Goods Rental Protection Act, W. Va. Code '46B-1-5(8), is limited to banks or savings and loan associations.2.3. "Market area" means the geographic are around the dealer's place of business at which the dealer enters into rent-to- own agreements with consumers from which consumers usually travel for the purpose of doing business with a dealer or other retailer of consumer goods and is presumed to include the county in which the dealer is located and any contiguous counties.2.4. "Price" -- The term "price" in the disclosure provisions of the West Virginia Consumer Goods Rental Protection Act, W. Va. Code '46B-3-7(c)(4) means the amount of the periodic payment.2.5. "Increased Periodic Payments" -- The prohibition in the West Virginia Consumer Goods Rental Protection Act against charging a fee other than a fee specifically allowed by the code at the time ownership of the goods passes to the consumer W. Va. Code '46B-3-8(2) means that a rent-to-own transaction is prohibited from having one or more periodic payments either at the end of the transaction or at any time after the first regular periodic payment which is larger than any other periodic payment.2.6. "Limitation on Re-Signed Agreement" -- The limitation on the total of payments in any rent-to-own transaction in the West Virginia Consumer Goods Rental Protection Act, W. Va. Code '46B-3-9(d) means that the total of payments of a rent-to-own agreement between the same consumer, or one of the same consumers, and the same dealer, or the dealer's successor, for the same goods as in a previous agreement shall not be greater than A) The unpaid total of payments for the previous transaction; plus B) Any other charges due as lawfully provided by the previous agreement and unpaid; plus C) The amount of one additional periodic payment as provided in the previous agreement.2.7. "Retailer" -- The term "retailer" means a person or firm in the business of making substantial bona fide sales of goods to consumers for cash, check, or other legal tender, or for which the purchaser uses a credit card of a firm which is not a person related to the retailer and which is not an individual who is a person related to the retailer: Provided, That a person or firm is not a "retailer" if the person or firm is a person related to a dealer or an individual related to a person related to a dealer as the term "person related to" is defined in W. Va. Code '46B-1-5(13).W. Va. Code R. § 142-22-2