(1) “Administrator” means the commissioner of commerce and insurance;
Terms Used In Tennessee Code 47-18-5502
Code: includes the Tennessee Code and all amendments and revisions to the code and all additions and supplements to the code. See Tennessee Code 1-3-105
Contract: A legal written agreement that becomes binding when signed.
Corporation: A legal entity owned by the holders of shares of stock that have been issued, and that can own, receive, and transfer property, and carry on business in its own name.
Jurisdiction: (1) The legal authority of a court to hear and decide a case. Concurrent jurisdiction exists when two courts have simultaneous responsibility for the same case. (2) The geographic area over which the court has authority to decide cases.
Lineal descendant: Direct descendant of the same ancestors.
Partnership: A voluntary contract between two or more persons to pool some or all of their assets into a business, with the agreement that there will be a proportional sharing of profits and losses.
Person: means a natural person, consumer, individual, governmental agency, partnership, corporation, trust, estate, incorporated or unincorporated association, and any other legal or commercial entity however organized. See Tennessee Code 47-18-2102
Record: means information that is inscribed on a tangible medium or that is stored in an electronic or other medium and is retrievable in a perceivable form. See Tennessee Code 1-3-105
Savings and loan association: includes a building and loan association, a federal or state savings and loan association, a federal savings bank, and any other financial institution, the accounts of which are insured by the [former] federal savings and loan insurance corporation (FSLIC) or any successor [repealed] of such corporation. See Tennessee Code 1-3-105
State: when applied to the different parts of the United States, includes the District of Columbia and the several territories of the United States. See Tennessee Code 1-3-105
Trust account: A general term that covers all types of accounts in a trust department, such as estates, guardianships, and agencies. Source: OCC
United States: includes the District of Columbia and the several territories of the United States. See Tennessee Code 1-3-105
(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.
