2021 Wyoming Statutes
Title 40 - Trade and Commerce
Chapter 14 - Wyoming Uniform Consumer Credit Code
Article 1 - General Provisions and Definitions
Section 40-14-140 - General Definitions.

40-14-140. General definitions.

(a) In addition to definitions appearing in subsequent articles, in this act:

(i) "Actuarial method" means the method, defined by rules adopted by the administrator, of allocating payments made on a debt between principal or amount financed and loan finance charge or credit service charge pursuant to which a payment is applied first to the accumulated loan finance charge or credit service charge and the balance is applied to the unpaid principal or unpaid amount financed;

(ii) "Administrator" means the administrator designated in the article (article 6) on administration (W.S. 40-14-603);

(iii) "Agreement" means the 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;

(iv) "Agricultural purpose" means a purpose related to the production, harvest, exhibition, marketing, transportation, processing, or manufacture of agricultural products by a natural person who cultivates, plants, propagates, or nurtures the agricultural products. "Agricultural products" includes agricultural, horticultural, viticultural, and dairy products, livestock, wildlife, poultry, bees, forest products, fish and shellfish, and any products thereof, including processed and manufactured products, and any and all products raised or produced on farms and any processed or manufactured products thereof;

(v) "Closing costs" with respect to a debt secured by an interest in land includes:

(A) Fees or premiums for title examination, title insurance, or similar purposes including surveys;

(B) Fees for preparation of a deed, settlement statement, or other documents;

(C) Escrows for future payments of taxes and insurance;

(D) Fees for notarizing deeds and other documents;

(E) Appraisal fees; and

(F) Credit reports.

(vi) "Conspicuous".-A term or clause is conspicuous when it is so written that a reasonable person against whom it is to operate ought to have noticed it. Whether a term or clause is conspicuous or not is for decision by the court;

(vii) "Credit" means the right granted by a creditor to a debtor to defer payment of debt or to incur debt and defer its payment;

(viii) "Earnings" means compensation paid or payable to an individual or for his account for personal services rendered or to be rendered by him, whether denominated as wages, salary, commission, bonus, or otherwise, and includes periodic payments pursuant to a pension, retirement, or disability program;

(ix) "Lender credit card or similar arrangement" means an arrangement or loan agreement, other than a seller credit card, pursuant to which a lender gives a debtor the privilege of using a credit card, letter of credit, or other credit confirmation or identification in transactions out of which debt arises:

(A) By the lender's honoring a draft or similar order for the payment of money drawn or accepted by the debtor;

(B) By the lender's payment or agreement to pay the debtor's obligations; or

(C) By the lender's purchase from the obligee of the debtor's obligations.

(x) Repealed By Laws 2013, Ch. 124, § 3.

(xi) "Official fees" means:

(A) Fees and charges prescribed by law which actually are or will be paid to public officials for determining the existence of or for perfecting, releasing, or satisfying a security interest related to a consumer credit sale, consumer lease, or consumer loan; or

(B) Premiums payable for insurance in lieu of perfecting a security interest otherwise required by the creditor in connection with the sale, lease, or loan, if the premium does not exceed the fees and charges described in subparagraph (A) of this paragraph which would otherwise be payable.

(xii) "Organization" means a sole proprietorship, limited liability company, corporation, government or governmental subdivision or agency, trust, estate, partnership, cooperative, association or other entity, public or private;

(xiii) "Payable in installments" means that payment is required or permitted by a written agreement in five (5) or more installments. If any periodic payment other than the down payment under an agreement requiring or permitting two (2) or more periodic payments is more than twice the amount of any other periodic payment, excluding the down payment, the consumer credit sale, consumer lease or consumer loan is "payable in installments";

(xiv) "Person" includes a natural person or an individual, and an organization;

(xv)(A) "Person related to" with respect to an individual, means:

(I) The spouse of the individual;

(II) A brother, brother-in-law, sister, sister-in-law of the individual;

(III) An ancestor or lineal descendant of the individual or his spouse; and

(IV) Any other relative, by blood or marriage, of the individual or his spouse who shares the same home with the individual;

(B) "Person related to" with respect to an organization means:

(I) A person directly or indirectly controlling, controlled by or under common control with the organization;

(II) An officer or director of the organization or a person performing similar functions with respect to the organization or to a person related to the organization;

(III) The spouse of a person related to the organization; and

(IV) A relative by blood or marriage of a person related to the organization who shares the same home with him.

(xvi) "Presumed" or "presumption" means that the trier of fact must find the existence of the fact presumed unless and until evidence is introduced which would support a finding of its nonexistence;

(xvii) "Rule of 78's" means the method used in the calculation of rebate upon prepayment where the unearned portion of the credit service charge or loan finance charge is a fraction of the charge of which the numerator is the sum of the periodic balances scheduled to follow the computational period in which prepayment occurs and the denominator is the sum of all periodic balances under the related consumer credit sale agreement, the loan agreement or, if the balance owing resulted from a refinancing or a consolidation, the related refinancing agreement or consolidation agreement;

(xviii) "Seller credit card" means an arrangement in which a person gives to a buyer or lessee the privilege of using a credit card, letter of credit or other credit confirmation or identification primarily for the purpose of purchasing or leasing goods or services from that person or from that person and any other person;

(xix) "Supervised financial organization" means a depository institution as defined by 12 U.S.C. § 1813(c);

(A) Repealed by Laws 2021, ch. 14, § 3.

(B) Repealed by Laws 2021, ch. 14, § 3.

(xx) "Licensee" means an organization licensed under this act;

(xxi) "Incident to the extension of credit" means a charge assessed at any time during the duration of a credit transaction that is not assessed to a consumer in a comparable cash transaction whether imposed by the original creditor or an assignee or servicer of the credit transaction;

(xxii) "Regulation Z" means regulation Z as promulgated by the board of governors of the federal reserve system and codified in 12 C.F.R. part 1026 et seq., as amended;

(xxiii) "Channeling agent" means the third party licensing system that gathers the application information and distributes it to Wyoming for review for the approval or denial decision;

(xxiv) "Registry" means the nationwide licensing system and registry maintained by the State Regulatory Registry, LLC;

(xxv) "Current installment" means the intervening period between regularly scheduled payments;

(xxvi) "Regularly engages" or "regularly engaged" means the extension of credit more than twenty-five (25) times, or more than five (5) times for transactions secured by a dwelling as defined by W.S. 40-14-640(a)(iv), in the preceding calendar year. The requirements of this paragraph may be applied to the current calendar year if not met in the preceding year;

(xxvii) "This act" means W.S. 40-14-101 through 40-14-649.