N.H. Rev. Stat. § 361-A:1

Current through Chapter 381 of the 2024 Legislative Session

Section 361-A:1 - Definitions

The following terms as used in this chapter shall have the following meanings, unless the context otherwise requires:

I. "Balloon payment" means any retail installment contract repayment option under which:

(a) The retail buyer is required to repay the entire amount of any outstanding balance as of a specified date or at the end of a specified period of time, as determined in accordance with the terms of the retail installment contract pursuant to which the credit is extended;

(b) The aggregate amount of the minimum periodic payments required would not fully amortize such outstanding balance by such date or at the end of such period; and

(c) The final payment is at least twice the amount of one periodic installment payment under a payment plan that provides for equal periodic installment payments during the term of the retail installment contract that precedes the due date of the final payment.

II. "Balloon retail installment contract" or "balloon contract" means a retail installment contract that contains a balloon payment feature.

III. "Branch office" means a business location within this state of a person required to be licensed under this chapter. "Branch office" does not include a person's principal office location.

IV. "Cash sale price" means the price at which the retail seller offers in the ordinary course of business to sell for cash the motor vehicle that is the subject of the retail installment contract.

V. "Control" means the power to exercise, directly or indirectly, a controlling influence over the management or policies of a licensee or company, whether through ownership of securities, by contract, or otherwise.

(a) Any person is presumed to control a licensee or company if such person:

(1) Is a director, general partner, or executive officer;

(2) Directly or indirectly has the right to vote 10 percent or more of a class of voting securities or membership interests, or has the power to sell or direct the sale of 10 percent or more of a class of voting securities or membership interests;

(3) In the case of a limited liability company, is a managing member; or

(4) In the case of a partnership, has the right to receive upon dissolution, or has contributed, 10 percent or more of the capital.

(b) For purposes of determining the percentage of a person controlled by any other person, the person's interest shall be aggregated with the interest of any other immediate family member, including the person's spouse, parents, children, siblings, mothers- and fathers-in-law, sons- and daughters-in-law, brothers- and sisters-in-law, and any other person who shares such person's home.

VI. "Commissioner" means the commissioner of the state of New Hampshire banking department.

VII. "Department" means the state of New Hampshire banking department.

VIII. "Direct loan" means a retail installment contract that is financed directly by a sales finance company with a New Hampshire consumer without a retail seller involved, including for the purchase of a motor vehicle or the refinancing of a motor vehicle.

IX. "Direct owner" means any person, including individuals, that owns, beneficially owns, has the right to vote, or has the power to sell or direct the sale of 10 percent or more of the applicant or licensee.

X. "Finance charge" means the cost of consumer credit as a dollar amount. It includes any charge payable directly or indirectly by the retail buyer and imposed directly or indirectly by the lender as an incident to or a condition of the extension of credit. It does not include any charge of a type payable in a comparable cash transaction.

XI. "Financial services" or "financial services-related" means securities, commodities, banking, insurance, consumer lending, money transmission, debt adjustment, or real estate, including, but not limited to, acting as, or being associated with, a bank or savings association, credit union, mortgage lender, mortgage broker, mortgage servicer, real estate salesperson or agent, closing agent, title company, or escrow agent.

XII. "Holder" of a retail installment contract means the retail seller of the motor vehicle under or subject to the contract or, if the contract is purchased by a sales finance company or other assignee or transferee, the sales finance company or other assignee or transferee, including any person who holds the servicing rights to a retail installment contract.

XIII. "Indirect loan" means a retail installment contract that is purchased by a sales finance company from a retail seller.

XIV. "Indirect owner" means, with respect to direct owners and other indirect owners in a multilayered organization:

(a) In the case of an owner that is a corporation, each of its shareholders that beneficially owns, has the right to vote, or has the power to sell or direct the sale of, 25 percent or more of that corporation.

(b) In the case of an owner that is a partnership, all general partners and those limited and special partners that have the right to receive upon dissolution, or have contributed, 25 percent or more of the partnership's capital.

(c) In the case of an owner that is a trust, the trust, each trustee and each beneficiary of 25 percent or more of the trust.

(d) In the case of an owner that is a limited liability company:

(1) Those members that have the right to receive upon dissolution, or have contributed, 25 percent or more of the limited liability company's capital; and

(2) If managed by elected managers, all elected managers.

(e) In the case of an indirect owner, the parent owners of 25 percent or more of their subsidiary.

XV. "Lender" means any person that provides the initial or subsequent financing, including refinancing, for a motor vehicle and includes any legal successor to the rights of the lender, including the holder.

XVI. "Motor vehicle" means any device propelled by mechanical power in, upon, or by which any person or property is or may be transported or drawn upon a highway, excepting power shovels, road machinery, buses, agricultural machinery, house and boat trailers, all-terrain vehicles, snowmobiles, and similar recreational vehicles designed primarily for off-road use.

XVII. "Nationwide Multistate Licensing System and Registry" means a national licensing system and facility developed and maintained by the Conference of State Bank Supervisors and the American Association of Residential Mortgage Regulators, or their successors, for the licensing and registration of mortgage loan originators, mortgage lenders, mortgage servicers, mortgage brokers, and other non-depository financial service licensees, including retail sellers and sales finance companies.

XVIII. "Person" means an individual, corporation, limited liability company, business trust, estate, trust, partnership, association, 2 or more persons having a joint or common interest, or any other legal or commercial entity however organized.

XIX. "Principal" of the applicant or licensee means an owner with 10 percent or more ownership interest, corporate officer, director, member, general or limited liability partner, limited partner with 10 percent or more ownership interest, trustee, beneficiary of 10 percent or more of the trust that owns the applicant or licensee, indirect owner, and any person occupying similar status or performing similar functions.

XX. "Principal office" means the main office location of a person required to be licensed under this chapter.

XXI. "Publicly traded" means a company whose securities are traded on a securities exchange system approved and supervised by the United States Securities and Exchange Commission, including but not limited to the New York Stock Exchange, NYSE American, and NASDAQ. The term also includes a public reporting company that is subject to sections 12 or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 or any successor provision of law, as amended from time to time.

XXII. "Refinance" or "refinancing" means revising or replacing a current retail installment contract with a new retail installment contract.

XXIII. "Retail buyer" or "buyer" or "borrower" means a person who purchases a motor vehicle from a retail seller and who executes a retail installment contract either with the retail seller or with any lender for the initial purchase or refinancing of a motor vehicle.

XXIV. "Retail installment contract" or "contract" means an agreement pursuant to which the title to, the property in, or a lien upon the motor vehicle, which is the subject matter of a retail installment transaction, is retained or taken by a sales finance company indirectly from a retail seller or directly from a retail buyer, as security, in whole or in part, for the retail buyer's obligation. The term includes a promissory note, security agreement, finance agreement, chattel mortgage, conditional sales contract, rent-to-own agreement, and contract for the bailment of a motor vehicle.

XXV. "Retail installment transaction " means a consumer credit transaction as defined in RSA 358-K:1, or any successor provision of law, as amended from time to time, that is evidenced by a retail installment contract entered into between a retail buyer and a retail seller, or between a sales finance company and a retail buyer, in which the retail buyer purchases or refinances a motor vehicle subject to a retail installment contract at a time price payable in one or more deferred installments.

XXVI. "Retail seller" or "seller" means a person who sells a motor vehicle in this state that is subject to a retail installment contract, including any such person who executes the retail installment contract with the buyer in this state. The term does not include cash-only sales or sales in which the buyer obtains financing separately from the motor vehicle sale with the retail seller.

XXVII. "Sales finance company" means a person engaged, in whole or in part, directly or indirectly, in the business of acting as a lender, holder, assignee, or servicer in this state to one or more retail buyers who are in this state, or a person engaged in the business of purchasing retail installment contracts from one or more retail sellers. The term includes but is not limited to any state or federally chartered bank, savings bank, trust company, credit union, cooperative bank, finance company, lending agency, industrial bank, or investment company, if so engaged. The term does not include the pledgee of an aggregate number of retail installment contracts to secure a bona fide loan thereon, other persons not within the intent of this chapter as the commissioner may designate by rule or order, or a licensed retail seller that:

(a) Makes a retail installment contract and assigns such contract either within 5 business days, if the contract requires monthly payments, or within 2 business days, if the contract requires payments more frequently than monthly, of the contract's execution by the retail buyer and retail seller; or

(b) Finances 4 or fewer retail installment contracts in any consecutive 12-month period, and is not engaged in any other business within the definition of a sales finance company; or

(c) Makes retail installment contracts to employees for the purchases of motor vehicles solely from the retail seller employer.

XXVIII. "Servicer" means an individual, person, partnership, corporation, limited liability company, association, or other entity however organized and wherever located which, for itself or on behalf of the holder of a retail installment contract, is engaged in the business of holding the servicing rights or records payments made under a retail installment contract on its books and records and performs such other administrative functions as may be necessary to properly carry out the holder's obligations under the retail installment contract.

XXIX. "Significant event" means:

(a) The filing of a petition by or against the licensee under the United States Bankruptcy Code, 11 U.S.C. Section 101-110, as amended or recodified from time to time, for bankruptcy or reorganization;

(b) The filing of a petition by or against the licensee for receivership, the commencement of any other judicial or administrative proceeding for its dissolution or reorganization, or the making of a general assignment for the benefit of its creditors;

(c) An indictment or conviction of the licensee, any of the licensee's principals, or any person in control of the licensee for a felony;

(d) The filing of a civil lawsuit in any court located in New Hampshire or by any resident of New Hampshire, except small claims actions, naming the licensee as a defendant that concerns the licensee's practices under this chapter;

(e) The commencement of a proceeding to revoke or suspend the licensee's license in a state or country in which the licensee engages in business or is licensed;

(f) Receiving notification of a license denial, cease and desist, consent agreement or order, suspension or revocation or any other formal administrative action in any state against the licensee;

(g) Receiving notification of any enforcement action or formal investigation by the attorney general of the state of New Hampshire or of any other state pursuant to any consumer protection statute, and the reasons thereof, except routine investigations of consumer complaints; or

(h) Entering into a consent agreement, settlement agreement, memorandum of understanding, or similar agreement with any regulatory body by the licensee that concerns the licensee's practices under this chapter.

XXX. "Starter interruption device" means a device that allows a motor vehicle to be disabled remotely.

XXXI. "Time price" means the cash sale price of the motor vehicle, together with any amounts included for insurance and other benefits if a separate charge is made therefor, title fees, and the finance charge, which may include insurance and other benefits.

XXXII. "Title fees" mean the fees for filing, recording or investigating, perfecting and releasing or satisfying a retained title or a lien created by a retail installment contract, which shall not exceed the actual cost assessed by the department of safety, division of motor vehicles, or other state or local agency for filing, recording or investigating, perfecting and releasing or satisfying such title or lien.

RSA 361-A:1

Amended by 2024, 330:1, eff. 7/1/2024.

Amended by 2021 , 194: 1, eff. 10/9/2021.

Amended by 2018 , 196: 1, eff. 8/7/2018.

1961, 193:1. 1980, 501:1. 1991, 98:1. 1995, 63:1, 2. 1997, 322:1. 2003, 129 : 1 -3, 15, I. 2004, 139 : 1 , 2. 2005, 255 : 74 , 75. 2006, 303 : 1 -4. 2008, 205 : 1 , 2, eff. Aug. 15, 2008. 2009, 204 : 26 , 30, eff. Sept. 13, 2009. 2018, 196 : 1 , eff. Aug. 7, 2018. 2021, 194 : 1 , eff. Oct. 9, 2021.