Terms Used In Michigan Laws > Chapter 257 > Act 187 of 1990 - The Pupil Transportation Act

• agreement: means an instrument prescribing the terms of home improvement charge sales, whether secured or unsecured, which may be made under the agreement from time to time and under the terms of which a time price differential is to be computed in relation to the buyer's unpaid balance from time to time. See Michigan Laws 445.1102
• Banking institution: means a bank, bank and trust company, trust company, savings bank, private bank, or a national banking association, organized and doing business under the provisions of any law of this state, or of any other state of the United States, or under the provisions of any law of the United States of America. See Michigan Laws 445.1102
• buyer: means a person who buys goods and services, or services from a contractor pursuant to a home improvement installment contract, or goods and services from a contractor pursuant to a home improvement charge agreement. See Michigan Laws 445.1102
• Cash price: means the cash sales price stated in a home improvement installment contract, or the cash sales price of goods and services that are the subject of a home improvement charge sale, for which the contractor would sell or furnish to the buyer and the buyer would buy or obtain from the contractor the goods and services which are the subject of the contract or home improvement charge sale, if the sale were a sale for cash, instead of a home improvement installment sale or home improvement charge sale, and may include any taxes. See Michigan Laws 445.1102
• Collateral: means real or personal property subject to a pledge, security interest, mortgage, encumbrance, judgment, or other lien which secures the performance of an obligation of the buyer, or a surety or guarantor for the buyer, under a home improvement installment contract or any extension, deferment, renewal, or other revision thereof. See Michigan Laws 445.1102
• Common law: The legal system that originated in England and is now in use in the United States. It is based on judicial decisions rather than legislative action.
• Consumer: means an individual who resides in this state. See Michigan Laws 445.2512
• Consumer reporting agency: means any person that, for monetary fees or dues or on a cooperative nonprofit basis, regularly engages in whole or in part in the practice of assembling or evaluating consumer credit information or other information on consumers for the purpose of furnishing credit reports to third parties and that uses any means or facility of interstate commerce for the purpose of preparing or furnishing credit reports. See Michigan Laws 445.2512
• Continuance: Putting off of a hearing ot trial until a later time.
• contract: means an agreement covering a home improvement installment sale, whether contained in 1 or more documents, together with any accompanying promissory note or other evidence of indebtedness, pursuant to which the buyer promises to pay in installments all or any part of the time sale price or prices of goods and services, or services. See Michigan Laws 445.1102
• contractor: means a person who sells goods and services, or agrees to furnish or render services, to a retail buyer pursuant to a home improvement installment contract, or sells goods and services to a retail buyer pursuant to a home improvement charge agreement, but not in connection with construction of new homes. See Michigan Laws 445.1102
• 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.
• Credit report: A detailed report of an individual's credit history prepared by a credit bureau and used by a lender in determining a loan applicant's creditworthiness. ^{Source: OCC}
• Credit report: means any written, oral, or other communication of any information by a consumer reporting agency that is related to a consumer's creditworthiness, credit standing, or credit capacity, and is issued or expected to be used or collected in whole or in part for the purpose of serving as a factor in establishing the consumer's eligibility for credit. See Michigan Laws 445.2512
• Damages: Money paid by defendants to successful plaintiffs in civil cases to compensate the plaintiffs for their injuries.
• Defendant: In a civil suit, the person complained against; in a criminal case, the person accused of the crime.
• Down payment: means the amounts paid in money and in goods to the home improvement contractor and allowances given by the home improvement contractor to the buyer prior to or contemporaneous with the execution of a home improvement installment contract. See Michigan Laws 445.1102
• Fair Credit Reporting Act: A federal law, established in 1971 and revised in 1997, that gives consumers the right to see their credit records and correct any mistakes. ^{Source: OCC}
• File: means all of the information about a consumer that is recorded and retained by a consumer reporting agency regardless of how the information is stored. See Michigan Laws 445.2512
• Finance charge: The total cost of credit a customer must pay on a consumer loan, including interest. The Truth in Lending Act requires disclosure of the finance charge. ^{Source: OCC}
• Financing agency: means a person other than a home improvement contractor engaged, directly or indirectly, as principal, agent, or broker in the business of purchasing, acquiring, financing, soliciting, or arranging for the financing or acquisition of home improvement installment contracts or home improvement charge agreements or any obligation in connection therewith. See Michigan Laws 445.1102
• Fraud: Intentional deception resulting in injury to another.
• Gift: A voluntary transfer or conveyance of property without consideration, or for less than full and adequate consideration based on fair market value.
• Goods: means chattels which are furnished or used in the modernization, rehabilitation, repair, alteration, or improvement of real property, but not in the construction of new homes. See Michigan Laws 445.1102
• Guarantor: A party who agrees to be responsible for the payment of another party's debts should that party default. ^{Source: OCC}
• Guardian: A person legally empowered and charged with the duty of taking care of and managing the property of another person who because of age, intellect, or health, is incapable of managing his (her) own affairs.
• Holder: means a person, including a contractor, currently entitled to the rights of a contractor under a home improvement installment contract or home improvement charge agreement. See Michigan Laws 445.1102
• Home improvement charge sale: means the sale of goods and furnishing of services by a contractor to a retail buyer pursuant to a home improvement charge agreement and as to which sale the cash price is stated to be in excess of $300. See Michigan Laws 445.1102
• Injunction: An order of the court prohibiting (or compelling) the performance of a specific act to prevent irreparable damage or injury.
• Interest rate: The amount paid by a borrower to a lender in exchange for the use of the lender's money for a certain period of time. Interest is paid on loans or on debt instruments, such as notes or bonds, either at regular intervals or as part of a lump sum payment when the issue matures. ^{Source: OCC}
• Lien: A claim against real or personal property in satisfaction of a debt.
• Minimum finance charge: The minimum, or fixed, finance charge that will be imposed during a billing cycle. A minimum finance charge usually applies only when a finance charge is imposed, that is, when you carry over a balance. ^{Source: Federal Reserve}
• Mortgage: The written agreement pledging property to a creditor as collateral for a loan.
• 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.
• Official fees: means the fees required by law to be paid to the appropriate public officer for obtaining any permit or filing or recording or releasing any judgment, mortgage, or other lien or perfecting any security interest taken or reserved as security in connection with a home improvement installment contract. See Michigan Laws 445.1102
• 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 an individual, partnership, association, business corporation, banking institution, nonprofit corporation, common law trust, joint stock company, or any other group of individuals, however organized. See Michigan Laws 445.1102
• person: may extend and be applied to bodies politic and corporate, as well as to individuals. See Michigan Laws 8.3l
• Personal property: All property that is not real property.
• Power of attorney: A written instrument which authorizes one person to act as another's agent or attorney. The power of attorney may be for a definite, specific act, or it may be general in nature. The terms of the written power of attorney may specify when it will expire. If not, the power of attorney usually expires when the person granting it dies. ^{Source: OCC}
• Principal amount financed: means the cash price of the goods and services which are the subject matter of the home improvement installment sale minus the amount of the buyer's down payment, plus the amounts, if any, included for insurance and official fees. See Michigan Laws 445.1102
• Protected consumer: means either of the following: