1. a. The consumer, other than a lessee in a consumer rental purchase agreement, has a cause of action to recover actual damages and in addition a right in an action other than a class action to recover from the person violating this chapter a penalty in an amount determined by the court, but not less than one hundred dollars nor more than one thousand dollars, if a person has violated the provisions of this chapter relating to:

 (1) Authority to make supervised loans under section 537.2301.
 (2) Restrictions on interests in land as security under section 537.2307.
 (3) Limitations on the schedule of payments or loan terms for supervised loans under section 537.2308.
 (4) Attorney fees under section 537.2507.
 (5) Charges for other credit transactions under section 537.2601.
 (6) Disclosure with respect to consumer leases under section 537.3202.
 (7) Notice to consumers under section 537.3203.
 (8) Receipts, statements of account and evidences of payment under section 537.3206.
 (9) Form of insurance premium loan agreement under section 537.3207.
 (10) Notice to cosigners and similar parties under section 537.3208.
 (11) Restrictions on rates stated to the consumer under section 537.3210.
 (12) Security in consumer credit transactions under section 537.3301.
 (13) Prohibition against assignments of earnings under section 537.3305.
 (14) Authorizations to confess judgment under section 537.3306.
 (15) Certain negotiable instruments prohibited under section 537.3307.
 (16) Referral sales and leases under section 537.3309.
 (17) Limitations on executory transactions under section 537.3310.
 (18) Prohibition against discrimination under section 537.3311.
 (19) Limitations on default charges under section 537.3402.
 (20) Card issuer subject to claims and defenses under section 537.3403.
 (21) Assignees subject to claims and defenses under section 537.3404.
 (22) Lenders subject to claims and defenses arising from sales and leases, under section 537.3405.
 (23) Door-to-door sales under section 537.3501.
 (24) Assurance of discontinuance under section 537.6109.
 (25) Prohibitions against unfair debt collection practices under section 537.7103.
 (26) Failure to provide a proper notice of cure or right to cure under sections 537.5110 and 537.5111.
 (27) Failure to provide a notice of consumer paper under section 537.3211.
 b. With respect to violations arising from sales or loans made pursuant to open-end credit, no action pursuant to this subsection may be brought more than two years after the violations occurred. With respect to violations arising from other consumer credit transactions, no action pursuant to this subsection may be brought more than one year after the due date of the last scheduled payment of the agreement.

Terms Used In Iowa Code 537.5201

  • Account: means the same as defined in section 554. See Iowa Code 554E.1
  • Administrator: means the administrator designated in section 537. See Iowa Code 537.1301
  • Agreement: means the oral or written 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. See Iowa Code 537.1301
  • Consumer: means the buyer, lessee, or debtor to whom credit is granted in a consumer credit transaction. See Iowa Code 537.1301
  • Credit: means the right granted by a person extending credit to a person to defer payment of debt, to incur debt and defer its payment, or to purchase property or services and defer payment therefor. See Iowa Code 537.1301
  • Creditor: means the person who grants credit in a consumer credit transaction or, except as otherwise provided, an assignee of a creditor's right to payment, but use of the term does not in itself impose on an assignee any obligation of the assignee's assignor. See Iowa Code 537.1301
  • Damages: Money paid by defendants to successful plaintiffs in civil cases to compensate the plaintiffs for their injuries.
  • Debt: means an actual or alleged obligation arising out of a consumer credit transaction, consumer rental purchase agreement, or a transaction which would have been a consumer credit transaction either if a finance charge was made, if the obligation was not payable in installments, if a lease was for a term of four months or less, or if a lease was of an interest in land. See Iowa Code 537.7102
  • 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. See Iowa Code 537.1301
  • Evidence: Information presented in testimony or in documents that is used to persuade the fact finder (judge or jury) to decide the case for one side or the other.
  • Insurance premium loan: means a consumer loan that is made for the sole purpose of financing the payment by or on behalf of an insured of the premium on one or more policies or contracts issued by or on behalf of an insurer, is secured by an assignment by the insured to the lender of the unearned premium on the policy or contract, and contains an authorization to cancel the policy or contract financed. See Iowa Code 537.1301
  • Loan: means any of the following, except as provided in paragraph "b":
     (1) The creation of debt by the lender's payment of or agreement to pay money to the debtor or to a third person for the account of the debtor. See Iowa Code 537.1301
  • Obligation: An order placed, contract awarded, service received, or similar transaction during a given period that will require payments during the same or a future period.
  • Open-end credit: A credit agreement (typically a credit card) that allows a customer to borrow against a preapproved credit line when purchasing goods and services. The borrower is only billed for the amount that is actually borrowed plus any interest due. (Also called a charge account or revolving credit.) Source: OCC
  • Open-end credit: means an arrangement, other than a consumer rental purchase agreement, pursuant to which all of the following are applicable:
     a. See Iowa Code 537.1301
  • Person: means :
     a. See Iowa Code 537.1301
  • state: when applied to the different parts of the United States, includes the District of Columbia and the territories, and the words "United States" may include the said district and territories. See Iowa Code 4.1
  • year: means twelve consecutive months. See Iowa Code 4.1
 2. A consumer is not obligated to pay a charge in excess of that allowed by this chapter, and has a right of refund of any excess charge paid. A refund may not be made by reducing the consumer’s obligation by the amount of the excess charge unless the creditor has notified the consumer that the consumer may request a refund and the consumer has not so requested within thirty days thereafter. If the consumer has paid an amount in excess of the lawful obligation under the agreement, the consumer may recover the excess amount either from the person who made the excess charge or from an assignee of that person’s rights who undertakes direct collection of payments from or enforcement of rights against consumers arising from the debt.
 3. If a creditor has contracted for or received a charge in excess of that allowed by this chapter, or if a consumer is entitled to a refund and a person liable to the consumer refuses to make a refund within a reasonable time after demand, the consumer may recover from the creditor or the person liable, in an action other than a class action, the excess charge or refund and a penalty in an amount determined by the court not less than two hundred dollars or more than two thousand dollars. With respect to excess charges arising from sales or loans made pursuant to open-end credit, no action pursuant to this subsection may be brought more than two years after the time the excess charge was made. With respect to excess charges arising from other consumer credit transactions no action pursuant to this subsection may be brought more than one year after the due date of the last scheduled payment of the agreement pursuant to which the charge was made. For purposes of this subsection, a reasonable time is presumed to be thirty days.
 4. Except as otherwise provided in this chapter, no violation of this chapter impairs rights on a debt.
 5. If an employer discharges an employee in violation of the provisions prohibiting discharge in section 642.21, subsection 2, paragraph “c”, the employee may within two years bring a civil action for recovery of wages lost as a result of the violation and for an order requiring the reinstatement of the employee. Damages recoverable shall not exceed lost wages for six weeks.
 6. A person is not liable for a penalty under subsection 1 or 3 if the person notifies the consumer of an error before the person receives from the consumer written notice of the error or before the consumer has brought an action under this section, and the person corrects the error within forty-five days after notifying the consumer. If the violation consists of a prohibited agreement, giving the consumer a corrected copy of the writing containing the error is sufficient notification and correction. If the violation consists of an excess charge, correction shall be made by an adjustment or refund as provided in subsection 2. The administrator, and any official or agency of this state having supervisory authority over a person, shall give prompt notice to a person of any errors discovered pursuant to an examination or investigation of the transactions, business, records and acts of the person.
 7. A person may not be held liable in any action brought under this section for a violation of this chapter if the person shows by a preponderance of evidence that the violation was not intentional and resulted from a bona fide error notwithstanding the maintenance of procedures reasonably adapted to avoid the error.
 8. In an action in which it is found that a person has violated this chapter, the court shall award to the consumer the costs of the action and to the consumer’s attorneys their reasonable fees. Reasonable attorney’s fees shall be determined by the value of the time reasonably expended by the attorney and not by the amount of the recovery on behalf of the consumer.
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