2019 US Virgin Islands Code
Title 9 - Banking
Chapter 12 - Home Equity Loans
§ 141. Definitions
(a) For purposes of this chapter:
(1) “Advertisement” means a commercial message in any medium that promotes, directly or indirectly, a credit transaction;
(2) “Balloon payment” means a loan in which the consumer is required to repay the entire amount of any outstanding balance as of a specified date or at the end of a specified period of time, as determined in accordance with the terms of the agreement pursuant to which such credit is extended and the aggregate amount of the minimum periodic payments required would not fully amortize such outstanding balance by such date or at the end of such period;
(3) “Consumer” means a natural person to whom consumer credit is offered or extended;
(4) “Consumer credit” means credit offered or extended to a consumer primarily for personal, family or household purposes;
(5) “Creditor” means a person who regularly extends consumer credit that is subject to a finance charge or is payable by written agreement in more than four installments, not including the downpayment, and to whom the obligation is initially payable, either on the face of the note or contract, or by agreement when there is no note or contract. A person shall regularly extend credit only if it extends credit more than five times for transactions secured by a dwelling in the preceding calendar year. If a person did not meet the numerical standards in the preceding calendar year, the numerical standards shall be applied to the current calendar year;
(6) “Dwelling” means a residential structure that contains one to four units, whether or not that structure is attached to real property. The term includes an individual condominium unit, cooperative unit, mobile home, and trailer, if used as a residence;
(7) “Home equity loan” means any open end consumer credit plan in which a consensual security interest is created or retained against the consumer's dwelling; and
(8) “Open end consumer credit plan” means consumer credit extended by a creditor under a plan in which the creditor reasonably contemplates repeated transactions; the creditor may impose a finance charge from time to time on an outstanding unpaid balance; and the amount of credit that may be extended to the consumer during the term of the plan (up to any limit set by the creditor) is generally made available to the extent that any outstanding balance is repaid.
(b) Unless defined by this section, regulation of the Virgin Islands Banking Board or the context clearly requires otherwise, the words used in this chapter shall have the meanings given them by the Truth in Lending Act of the Consumer Protection Act (15 U.S.C. 1601 et seq.) and regulations issued pursuant thereto.
