Section 47-18-5502 - Part definitionsIn this part:
(1) "Administrator" means the commissioner of commerce and insurance;(2) "Affiliate": (A) With respect to an individual, means: (i) The spouse of the individual;(ii) A sibling of the individual or the spouse of a sibling;(iii) An individual or the spouse of an individual who is a lineal ancestor or lineal descendant of the individual or the individual's spouse;(iv) 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(v) Any other individual occupying the residence of the individual; and(B) With respect to an entity, means: (i) A person that directly or indirectly controls, is controlled by or is under common control with the entity;(ii) An officer of, or an individual performing similar functions with respect to, the entity;(iii) A director of, or an individual performing similar functions with respect to, the entity;(iv) 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;(v) An officer or director of, or an individual performing similar functions with respect to, a person described in this subdivision (2)(B);(vi) The spouse of, or an individual occupying the residence of, an individual described in subdivisions (2)(B)(i)-(v); or(vii) 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:(A) Legal services provided in an attorney-client relationship by an attorney licensed or otherwise authorized to practice law in this state;(B) Accounting services provided in an accountant-client relationship by a certified public accountant licensed to provide accounting services in this state; or(C) 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:(i) Licensed by this state;(ii) Subject to a disciplinary mechanism;(iii) Subject to a code of professional responsibility; and(iv) 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: (A) To execute or adopt a tangible symbol; or(B) 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: (A) Established in an insured bank;(B) Separate from other accounts of the provider or its designee;(C) 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(D) Used to hold money of one (1) or more individuals for disbursement to creditors of the individuals.