Section 603 - DefinitionsThe following words, terms and phrases when used in this act shall have the meaning ascribed to them in this section, except where the context clearly indicates otherwise:--
1."Motor vehicle" shall mean any self-propelled device in which, upon which, or by which any person or property is or may be transported or drawn upon a public highway, excepting tractors, power shovels, road machinery, agricultural machinery and other machinery not designed primarily for highway transportation, but which may incidentally transport persons or property on a public highway, and excepting such devices which move upon or are guided by a track or travel through the air and shall include trailers and semi-trailers.2."Person" includes an individual, partnership, association, business corporation, banking institution, nonprofit corporation, common law trust, joint stock company or any other group of individuals however organized.3."Installment buyer" or "buyer" shall mean the person who buys, hires or leases a motor vehicle under any installment sale contract or any legal successor in interest to such person, and shall continue to designate such person notwithstanding he may have entered into one or more extensions, deferments, renewals or other revisions of the original contract, and includes any person who as surety, endorser, guarantor, or otherwise, is liable on the obligation created by the buyer under an installment sale contract.4."Installment seller" or "seller" shall mean a person engaged in the business of selling, hiring or leasing motor vehicles under installment sale contracts or any legal successor in interest to such person.5."Holder" shall mean any person, including a seller, who is currently entitled to the rights of a seller under an installment sale contract.6."Sales finance company" shall mean a person engaged as principal, agent or broker in the business of financing or soliciting the financing of installment sale contracts made between other parties, including but not thereby limiting the generality of the foregoing, the business of acquiring, investing in or lending money or credit on the security of such contracts or any interest therein whether by discount, purchase or assignment thereof, or otherwise: Provided, That the term shall not include any person to the extent that he makes bona fide commercial loans to sellers or sales finance companies and takes assignments of, or an interest in, an aggregation of installment sale contracts only as security for such commercial loans under which, in the absence of default or other bona fide breach of the loan contract, ownership of such contracts remains vested in the assignor and collection of payments on such contracts is made by the assignor. The term shall include any seller, whether or not licensed under this act, as a seller who finances installment sale contracts for other sellers or sales finance companies.7."Collector-repossessor" shall mean a person who collects payments or installment sale contracts or repossesses motor vehicles, which are the subject of installment sale contracts, as an independent contractor and not as a regular employe of a seller or sales finance company, excluding duly constituted public officials or attorneys-at-law when acting in an official capacity, and excluding a licensed seller or licensed sales finance company making collections or repossessions on installment sale contracts wherein such seller or sales finance company was previously a "holder," or wherein such seller or sales finance company, not having previously been a "holder," occasionally makes collections or repossessions for other licensed sellers or sales finance companies. The term shall include any combination of the above activities.8."Banking institution" shall mean any bank, bank and trust company, trust company, savings bank, private bank or any national banking association, organized and doing business under the provisions of any law of this Commonwealth, or of any other state of the United States, or under the provisions of any law of the United States of America.9."Retail sale" shall mean the sale of a motor vehicle for use by the buyer, or for the benefit or satisfaction which the buyer may derive from the use of the motor vehicle by another.10."Installment sale contract" or "contract" shall mean any contract for the retail sale of a motor vehicle, or which has a similar purpose or effect under which part or all of the price is payable in two or more scheduled payments subsequent to the making of such contract, or as to which the obligor undertakes to make two or more scheduled payments or deposits that can be used to pay part or all of the purchase price, whether or not the seller has retained a security interest in such motor vehicle or has taken collateral security for the buyer' s obligation, and shall include any loan, any mortgage, any conditional sale contract, any purchase-money chattel mortgage, any hire-purchase agreement or any contract for the bailment or leasing of a motor vehicle under which the hire-purchaser, the bailee or lessee contracts to pay as compensation a sum substantially equivalent to or in excess of the value of the motor vehicle and any other form of contract which has a similar purpose or effect: Provided, however, That the terms shall not include any sale or contract for sale upon an open book account, wherein the seller has not retained or taken any security interest in the motor vehicle sold or any collateral security for the buyer's obligation, and wherein the buyer is not required to pay any sum other than the cash price of the motor vehicle sold in connection with such sale or extension of credit, and wherein the buyer is obligated to pay for the motor vehicle in full within ninety (90) days from the time the sale or contract for sale was made: Provided, also, That the terms shall not include a right to acquire possession of goods pursuant to a lease unless the lease constitutes a security interest as defined in 13 Pa.C.S. § 1201 (relating to general definitions) and is subject to 13 Pa.C.S. Div. 9 (relating to secured transactions). These terms shall also mean and apply to any extension, deferment, renewal or other revision of such installment sale contract.11."Cash price" shall mean the price measured in dollars at which the seller would in good faith sell to the buyer or to any other buyer under like circumstances, and the buyer would in good faith buy from the seller, the motor vehicle which is the subject matter of the installment sale contract, if such sale were a sale for cash instead of an installment sale.12."Down payment" shall mean all partial payments whether made in cash, or otherwise, received by or for the benefit of the seller prior to or substantially contemporaneous with either the execution of the installment sale contract or the delivery of the goods sold thereunder, whichever occurs later.13."Principal amount financed" shall mean the unpaid cash price balance after deducting the down payment, adding the charges for any insurance required or obtained as security for or by reason of the sale of a motor vehicle under an installment sale contract, and adding other costs or charges necessary or incidental to the sale of the motor vehicle under an installment sale contract and amounts representing payment of a prior credit or lease balance to discharge a security interest, lien or lease interest on a motor vehicle or other property traded or returned.13.1."Charges" shall mean the price measured in dollars in which the seller would in good faith sell to the buyer or to any other buyer under like circumstances, and the buyer would in good faith buy from the seller, any goods and services which are subject to the installment sale contract if the sale were a sale for cash instead of an installment sale.13.2."Charges for insurance" shall mean premiums, commissions and other payments authorized by insurance statutes or regulations of this Commonwealth.14."Finance charge" shall mean the amount of the consideration in excess of the cash price which the buyer is required to pay to the seller for the privilege of purchasing a motor vehicle under an installment sale contract, or for the credit extended by the seller to the buyer in conjunction with the sale of a motor vehicle under an installment sale contract, or it shall mean the differential between the cash sale price of the motor vehicle and the installment sale price, exclusive of charges for insurance and other charges necessary or incidental to an installment sale and any default charges, which are specifically authorized by this act to be included in an installment sale contract.15."Time balance" shall mean the sum of the principal amount financed and the finance charge.16."Security interest" shall mean a security interest as provided by 13 Pa.C.S. Div. 9 (relating to secured transactions).17."Collateral security" shall mean any security, other than a security interest in a motor vehicle, which is the subject of an installment sale contract, which is given to secure performance of any obligation of the buyer or of any surety or guarantor for him under an installment sale contract, extension, deferment, renewal or other revision thereof, and the term shall include the undertakings of any surety or guarantor for the buyer and any interest in encumbrance on or pledge of real or personal property other than the motor vehicle which is the subject of the installment sale contract.18."Department" shall mean the Department of Banking of the Commonwealth.19."Licensee" shall mean a person to whom has been issued a license under this act as an installment seller, or as a sales finance company, or as a collector-repossessor, which license has not expired, has not been surrendered or revoked; and in the plural shall mean any or all persons so licensed under any or all of these three classifications.20."Commercial purpose" shall mean a purpose related to the production, exhibition, marketing, transportation, processing, or manufacture of goods or services by any person.21."Mobile homes" shall mean those vehicles defined as such in section 102 of Title 75, act of November 25, 1970 (P.L. 707, No. 230), known as the Pennsylvania Consolidated Statutes, added June 17, 1976 (P.L. 162, No. 81).22."Heavy commercial motor vehicle" shall mean any new or used motor vehicle which is (i) a truck or truck tractor having a manufacturer's gross vehicular weight of fifteen thousand (15,000) pounds or more, or (ii) a semi-trailer or trailer designed for use in combination with a truck or truck tractor.23."Secretary" shall mean the Secretary of Banking of the Commonwealth.24."Debt cancellation agreement" shall mean a loan term or contractual arrangement modifying loan terms linked to a holder's extension of credit under which the holder agrees to cancel all or part of a buyer's obligation to repay an extension of credit from that holder upon the occurrence of a specified event.25."Debt suspension agreement" shall mean a loan term or contractual arrangement modifying loan terms linked to a holder's extension of credit under which the holder agrees to suspend all or part of a buyer's obligation to repay an extension of credit from that holder upon the occurrence of a specified event.1947, June 28, P.L. 1110, § 3. Amended 1974, June 19, P.L. 364, No. 121, §1, imd. effective; 1978 , July 1, P.L. 725, No. 130, § 1, imd. effective; 1990, April 4, P.L. 110, No. 25, § 1, effective in 60 days; 2002, Dec. 9, P.L. 1446, No. 186, § 1, effective in 90 days.