2009 Iowa Code
Title 13 - Commerce
Subtitle 3 - Money and Credit
CHAPTER 537 - CONSUMER CREDIT CODE
537.5203 - CIVIL LIABILITY FOR VIOLATION OF DISCLOSURE PROVISIONS.

        537.5203  CIVIL LIABILITY FOR VIOLATION OF DISCLOSURE
      PROVISIONS.
         1.  Except as otherwise provided in this section, a creditor who,
      in violation of the provisions of the Truth in Lending Act other than
      its provisions concerning advertising of credit terms, fails to
      disclose information to a person entitled to the information under
      this chapter is liable to that person, in other than a class action,
      in an amount equal to the sum of the following:
         a.  Twice the amount of the finance charge in connection with
      the transaction, but the liability pursuant to this paragraph shall
      be not less than one hundred dollars or more than one thousand
      dollars.
         b.  In the case of a successful action to enforce the
      liability under paragraph "a", the costs of the action together
      with reasonable attorney's fees as determined by the court.
         2.  A creditor has no liability under this section if within
      fifteen days after discovering an error, and prior to the institution
      of an action under this section or the receipt of written notice of
      the error, the creditor notifies the person concerned of the error
      and makes whatever adjustments in the appropriate account are
      necessary to assure that the person will not be required to pay a
      finance charge in excess of the amount or percentage rate actually
      disclosed.  The administrator, and any official or agency of this
      state having supervisory authority over a creditor, shall give prompt
      notice to a creditor of any errors discovered pursuant to an
      examination or investigation of the transactions, business, records
      and acts of the creditor.
         3.  A creditor may not be held liable in any action brought under
      this section for a violation of this chapter if the creditor 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.
         4.  Any action which may be brought under this section against the
      original creditor in any credit transaction involving a security
      interest in land may be maintained against any subsequent assignee of
      the original creditor where the assignee, its subsidiaries, or
      affiliates were in a continuing business relationship with the
      original creditor either at the time the credit was extended or at
      the time of the assignment, unless the assignment was involuntary, or
      the assignee shows by a preponderance of evidence that it did not
      have reasonable grounds to believe that the original creditor was
      engaged in violations of this chapter and that it maintained
      procedures reasonably adapted to apprise it of the existence of the
      violations.
         5.  An obligor or consumer has all rights under this chapter that
      the obligor or consumer has under the provisions of the Truth in
      Lending Act concerning a right of rescission as to certain
      transactions, and a creditor or other person has all liabilities and
      defenses under this section that the obligor or consumer has under
      the Truth in Lending Act.
         6.  No action pursuant to this section may be brought more than
      one year after the date of the occurrence of the violation.
         7.  In this section, creditor includes a person who in the
      ordinary course of business regularly extends or arranges for the
      extension of credit, or offers to arrange for the extension of
      credit, and includes the seller of an interest in land and the lender
      who makes a loan secured by an interest in land if, but for the rate
      of the finance charge made in the transaction, the sale or loan would
      be a consumer credit sale or consumer loan.
         8.  The liability of a creditor under this section is in lieu of
      and not in addition to the creditor's liability under the Truth in
      Lending Act.  An action by a person with respect to a violation may
      not be maintained pursuant to this section if a final judgment has
      been rendered for or against that person with respect to the same
      violation pursuant to the Truth in Lending Act, and if a final
      judgment has been rendered in favor of a person pursuant to this
      section and thereafter a final judgment with respect to the same
      violation is rendered in favor of the same person pursuant to the
      Truth in Lending Act, a creditor liable under both judgments has a
      cause of action against that person for appropriate relief to the
      extent necessary to avoid double liability with respect to the same
      violation.
         9.  The administrator shall adopt rules to keep this section in
      harmony with the Truth in Lending Act.  These rules supersede any
      provisions of this section which are inconsistent with the Truth in
      Lending Act as adopted by section 537.1302.  

         [C75, 77, 79, 81, § 537.5203]
         Referred to in § 537.1202