421.301 General definitions.

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A research copy — for the controlling text, always check the official state or federal source. Not legal advice.

421.301 General definitions. In addition to definitions appearing in chs. 422 to 427 , in chs. 421 to 427 :

(1)“Actuarial method” means the method, defined by rules adopted by the administrator, of allocating payments made on a debt between amount financed and finance charge, pursuant to which a payment is applied first to the accumulated finance charge and the balance is applied to the unpaid amount financed.

(2)“Administrator” means the administrator designated in s. 426.103 .

(3)“Agreement” means the bargain of the parties in fact as found in their language or by implication from other circumstances including course of dealing or usage of trade or course of performance. Sections 402.202 and 411.202 and any other provisions on parol or extrinsic evidence shall be inoperative to exclude or limit the admissibility of evidence relating to agreements governed by chs. 421 to 427 .

(4)“Agricultural purpose” means a purpose related to the production, harvest, exhibition, marketing, transportation, processing or manufacture of agricultural products by a person, other than an organization, which cultivates, plants, propagates or nurtures those agricultural products. “Agricultural products” includes agricultural, horticultural, viticultural and dairy products, livestock, wildlife, poultry, bees, forest products, fish and shellfish, and any products thereof, including processed and manufactured products, and any and all products raised or produced on farms and any processed or manufactured products thereof.

(5)“Amount financed” in a consumer credit transaction means the total of the following items from which any prepaid finance charge or required deposit balance has been excluded:

(a)In a consumer credit sale, the cash price of the real or personal property or services, less the amount of any down payment whether made in cash or in property traded in, or, in a consumer loan, the amount paid to, receivable by or paid or payable to the customer or to another person in the customer’s behalf;

(b)In a consumer credit sale, the amount actually paid or to be paid by the creditor pursuant to an agreement with the customer to discharge a security interest in or a lien on property traded in; and

(c)To the extent not included in par.

(a)or

(b):

1. Any applicable sales, use, excise or documentary stamp taxes;

2. Amounts actually paid or to be paid by the creditor for registration, certificate of title or license fees; and

3. Additional charges permitted by s. 422.202 .

(6)“Business day” means any calendar day except Saturday and Sunday, and except the following business holidays: New Year’s Day, Martin Luther King Jr.’s Birthday, Washington’s Birthday, Memorial Day, Independence Day, Labor Day, Columbus Day, Veterans Day, Thanksgiving and Christmas.

(7)“Cash price” means the price at which property or services are offered, in the ordinary course of business, for sale for cash, and may include:

(a)The cash price of accessories or services related to the sale such as delivery, installation, alterations, modifications and improvements; and

(b)Taxes, to the extent imposed on the cash sale.

(8)“Conspicuous” means that the term or clause is so written that a reasonable person against whom it is to operate ought to have noticed it. Whether a term or clause is conspicuous or not is for decision by the court.

(9)“Consumer credit sale” means a sale of goods, services or an interest in land to a customer on credit where the debt is payable in installments or a finance charge is imposed and includes any agreement in the form of a bailment of goods or lease of goods or real property if the bailee or lessee pays or agrees to pay as compensation for use a sum substantially equivalent to or in excess of the aggregate value of the goods or real property involved and it is agreed that the bailee or lessee will become, or for no other or a nominal consideration has the option to become, the owner of the goods or real property upon full compliance with the terms of the agreement.

(10)“Consumer credit transaction” means a consumer transaction between a merchant and a customer in which real or personal property, services or money is acquired on credit and the customer’s obligation is payable in installments or for which credit a finance charge is or may be imposed, whether such transaction is pursuant to an open-end credit plan or is a transaction involving other than open-end credit. The term includes consumer credit sales, consumer loans, consumer leases and transactions pursuant to open-end credit plans.

(11)“Consumer lease” means a lease of goods which a merchant makes to a customer for a term exceeding 4 months.

(12)“Consumer loan” means a loan made by a lender to a customer which is payable in installments or for which a finance charge is or may be imposed, and includes transactions pursuant to an open-end credit plan other than a seller credit card.

(13)“Consumer transaction” means a transaction in which one or more of the parties is a customer for purposes of that transaction.

(14)“Credit” means the right granted by a creditor to a customer to defer payment of debt, to incur debt and defer its payment or to purchase goods, services or interests in land on a time price basis.

(15)“Credit card” means any card, plate, merchandise certificate, letter of credit, coupon book or other like credit device existing for the purpose of obtaining money, property, labor or services on credit pursuant to an open-end credit plan.

(16)“Creditor” means a merchant who regularly engages in consumer credit transactions or in arranging for the extension of consumer credit by or procuring consumer credit from 3rd persons.

(17)“Customer” means a person other than an organization (s. 421.301

(28)) who seeks or acquires real or personal property, services, money or credit for personal, family or household purposes or, for purposes of ch. 427 only, for agricultural purposes. A person other than a customer may agree to be governed by chs. 421 to 427 with respect to all aspects of a transaction and in such event such person shall be deemed a customer for all purposes of chs. 421 to 427 with respect to such transaction.

(18)“Earnings” means compensation paid or payable to an individual or for the individual’s account for personal services rendered or to be rendered by the individual, whether denominated as wages, salary, commission, bonus or otherwise, and includes periodic payments pursuant to a pension, retirement or disability program. “Earnings” does not include renewal commissions payable to a licensed insurance agent.

(19)“Federal consumer credit protection act” means the consumer credit protection act (P.L. 90-321 ; 82 Stat. 146), as amended, and includes regulations issued pursuant to that act.

(20)“Finance charge” means the sum of all charges, payable directly or indirectly by the customer as an incident to or as a condition of the extension of credit, whether paid or payable by the customer, the creditor or any other person on behalf of the customer to the creditor or to a 3rd party unless the creditor had no notice or knowledge of the charges paid or payable to the 3rd party. The term does not include any charge with respect to a motor vehicle consumer lease. The term includes the following types of charges to the extent they are not permitted additional charges under s. 422.202 , delinquency charges under s. 422.203 or deferral charges under s. 422.204 :

(a)Interest, time price differential and any amount payable under a discount or other system of additional charges;

(b)Service, transaction, activity or carrying charge;

(c)Loan fee, points, finder’s fee or similar charge;

(d)Fee for an appraisal, investigation or credit report;

(e)Any charge imposed by a creditor upon another creditor for purchasing or accepting an obligation of a customer if the customer is required to pay any part of that charge in cash, as an addition to the obligation or as a deduction from the proceeds of the obligation;

(f)Premium or other charge for guarantee or insurance protecting the creditor against the customer’s default or other credit loss;

(g)Charges or premiums for credit life, accident or health insurance, written in connection with any consumer credit transaction to the extent they are not permitted as additional charges under s. 422.202 ;

(h)Charges or premiums for insurance, written in connection with any action against loss of or damage to property or against liability arising out of the ownership or use of property to the extent they are not permitted as additional charges under s. 422.202 ; and