§ 47-18-5502. Part Definitions

In this part:

1. “Administrator” means the commissioner of commerce and insurance;
2. “Affiliate”:

   1. With respect to an individual, means:
      1. The spouse of the individual;
      2. A sibling of the individual or the spouse of a sibling;
      3. An individual or the spouse of an individual who is a lineal ancestor or lineal descendant of the individual or the individual’s spouse;
      4. 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
      5. Any other individual occupying the residence of the individual; and
   2. With respect to an entity, means:
      1. A person that directly or indirectly controls, is controlled by or is under common control with the entity;
      2. An officer of, or an individual performing similar functions with respect to, the entity;
      3. A director of, or an individual performing similar functions with respect to, the entity;
      4. 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;
      5. An officer or director of, or an individual performing similar functions with respect to, a person described in this subdivision (2)(B);
      6. The spouse of, or an individual occupying the residence of, an individual described in subdivisions (2)(B)(i)-(v); or
      7. 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);
3. “Agreement” means an agreement between a provider and an individual for the performance of debt-management services;
4. “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;
5. “Business address” means the physical location of a business, including the name and number of a street;
6. “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;
7. “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;
8. “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;
9. “Day” means calendar day;
10. “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:

    1. Legal services provided in an attorney-client relationship by an attorney licensed or otherwise authorized to practice law in this state;
    2. Accounting services provided in an accountant-client relationship by a certified public accountant licensed to provide accounting services in this state; or
    3. 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:
       1. Licensed by this state;
       2. Subject to a disciplinary mechanism;
       3. Subject to a code of professional responsibility; and
       4. Subject to a continuing-education requirement;
11. “Entity” means a person other than an individual;
12. “Good faith” means honesty in fact and the observance of reasonable standards of fair dealing;
13. “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;
14. “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;
15. “Principal amount of the debt” means the amount of a debt at the time of an agreement;
16. “Provider” means a person that provides, offers to provide or agrees to provide debt-management services directly or through others;
17. “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;
18. “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;
19. “Sign” means, with present intent to authenticate or adopt a record:

    1. To execute or adopt a tangible symbol; or
    2. To attach to or logically associate with the record an electronic sound, symbol or process;
20. “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
21. “Trust account” means an account held by a provider that is:

    1. Established in an insured bank;
    2. Separate from other accounts of the provider or its designee;
    3. 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
    4. Used to hold money of one (1) or more individuals for disbursement to creditors of the individuals.