SB1758 101ST GENERAL ASSEMBLY

LRB101 10278 AMC 55383 b

101ST GENERAL ASSEMBLY
State of Illinois
2019 and 2020
SB1758

Introduced 2/15/2019, by Sen. Antonio Muņoz

SYNOPSIS AS INTRODUCED:

205 ILCS 670/15	from Ch. 17, par. 5415
815 ILCS 122/2-5

Amends the Consumer Installment Loan Act and the Payday Loan Reform Act. Provides that "substantially equal installment" includes a last regularly scheduled payment that is no more than 5% as large as the previous scheduled payment according to a disclosed payment schedule agreed to by the parties. Effective immediately.

A BILL FOR

AN ACT concerning regulation.

Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois, represented in the General Assembly:

Section 5. The Consumer Installment Loan Act is amended by changing Section 15 as follows:

(205 ILCS 670/15) (from Ch. 17, par. 5415)

Sec. 15. Charges permitted.

(a) Every licensee may lend a principal amount not exceeding $40,000 and, except as to small consumer loans as defined in this Section, may charge, contract for and receive thereon interest at an annual percentage rate of no more than 36%, subject to the provisions of this Act; provided, however, that the limitation on the annual percentage rate contained in this subsection (a) does not apply to title-secured loans, which are loans upon which interest is charged at an annual percentage rate exceeding 36%, in which, at commencement, an obligor provides to the licensee, as security for the loan, physical possession of the obligor's title to a motor vehicle, and upon which a licensee may charge, contract for, and receive thereon interest at the rate agreed upon by the licensee and borrower. For purposes of this Section, the annual percentage rate shall be calculated in accordance with the federal Truth in Lending Act.

(b) For purpose of this Section, the following terms shall have the meanings ascribed herein.

"Applicable interest" for a precomputed loan contract means the amount of interest attributable to each monthly installment period. It is computed as if each installment period were one month and any interest charged for extending the first installment period beyond one month is ignored. The applicable interest for any monthly installment period is, for loans other than small consumer loans as defined in this Section, that portion of the precomputed interest that bears the same ratio to the total precomputed interest as the balances scheduled to be outstanding during that month bear to the sum of all scheduled monthly outstanding balances in the original contract. With respect to a small consumer loan, the applicable interest for any installment period is that portion of the precomputed monthly installment account handling charge attributable to the installment period calculated based on a method at least as favorable to the consumer as the actuarial method, as defined by the federal Truth in Lending Act.

"Interest-bearing loan" means a loan in which the debt is expressed as a principal amount plus interest charged on actual unpaid principal balances for the time actually outstanding.

"Precomputed loan" means a loan in which the debt is expressed as the sum of the original principal amount plus interest computed actuarially in advance, assuming all payments will be made when scheduled.

"Small consumer loan" means a loan upon which interest is charged at an annual percentage rate exceeding 36% and with an amount financed of $4,000 or less. "Small consumer loan" does not include a title-secured loan as defined by subsection (a) of this Section or a payday loan as defined by the Payday Loan Reform Act.

"Substantially equal installment" includes a last regularly scheduled payment that is no more than 5% as large as the previous scheduled payment according to a disclosed payment schedule agreed to by the parties.

(c) Loans may be interest-bearing or precomputed.

(d) To compute time for either interest-bearing or precomputed loans for the calculation of interest and other purposes, a month shall be a calendar month and a day shall be considered 1/30th of a month when calculation is made for a fraction of a month. A month shall be 1/12th of a year. A calendar month is that period from a given date in one month to the same numbered date in the following month, and if there is no same numbered date, to the last day of the following month. When a period of time includes a month and a fraction of a month, the fraction of the month is considered to follow the whole month. In the alternative, for interest-bearing loans, the licensee may charge interest at the rate of 1/365th of the agreed annual rate for each day actually elapsed.

(d-5) No licensee or other person may condition an extension of credit to a consumer on the consumer's repayment by preauthorized electronic fund transfers. Payment options, including, but not limited to, electronic fund transfers and Automatic Clearing House (ACH) transactions may be offered to consumers as a choice and method of payment chosen by the consumer.

(e) With respect to interest-bearing loans:

(1) Interest shall be computed on unpaid principal balances outstanding from time to time, for the time outstanding, until fully paid. Each payment shall be applied first to the accumulated interest and the remainder of the payment applied to the unpaid principal balance; provided however, that if the amount of the payment is insufficient to pay the accumulated interest, the unpaid interest continues to accumulate to be paid from the proceeds of subsequent payments and is not added to the principal balance.

(2) Interest shall not be payable in advance or compounded. However, if part or all of the consideration for a new loan contract is the unpaid principal balance of a prior loan, then the principal amount payable under the new loan contract may include any unpaid interest which has accrued. The unpaid principal balance of a precomputed loan is the balance due after refund or credit of unearned interest as provided in paragraph (f), clause (3). The resulting loan contract shall be deemed a new and separate loan transaction for all purposes.

(3) Loans must be fully amortizing and be repayable in substantially equal and consecutive weekly, biweekly, semimonthly, or monthly installments. Notwithstanding this requirement, rates may vary according to an index that is independently verifiable and beyond the control of the licensee.

(4) The lender or creditor may, if the contract provides, collect a delinquency or collection charge on each installment in default for a period of not less than 10 days in an amount not exceeding 5% of the installment on installments in excess of $200, or $10 on installments of $200 or less, but only one delinquency and collection charge may be collected on any installment regardless of the period during which it remains in default.

(f) With respect to precomputed loans:

(1) Loans shall be repayable in substantially equal and consecutive weekly, biweekly, semimonthly, or monthly installments of principal and interest combined, except that the first installment period may be longer than one month by not more than 15 days, and the first installment payment amount may be larger than the remaining payments by the amount of interest charged for the extra days; and provided further that monthly installment payment dates may be omitted to accommodate borrowers with seasonal income.

(2) Payments may be applied to the combined total of principal and precomputed interest until the loan is fully paid. Payments shall be applied in the order in which they become due, except that any insurance proceeds received as a result of any claim made on any insurance, unless sufficient to prepay the contract in full, may be applied to the unpaid installments of the total of payments in inverse order.

(3) When any loan contract is paid in full by cash, renewal or refinancing, or a new loan, one month or more before the final installment due date, a licensee shall refund or credit the obligor with the total of the applicable interest for all fully unexpired installment periods, as originally scheduled or as deferred, which follow the day of prepayment; provided, if the prepayment occurs prior to the first installment due date, the licensee may retain 1/30 of the applicable interest for a first installment period of one month for each day from the date of the loan to the date of prepayment, and shall refund or credit the obligor with the balance of the total interest contracted for. If the maturity of the loan is accelerated for any reason and judgment is entered, the licensee shall credit the borrower with the same refund as if prepayment in full had been made on the date the judgement is entered.

(4) The lender or creditor may, if the contract provides, collect a delinquency or collection charge on each installment in default for a period of not less than 10 days in an amount not exceeding 5% of the installment on installments in excess of $200, or $10 on installments of $200 or less, but only one delinquency or collection charge may be collected on any installment regardless of the period during which it remains in default.

(5) If the parties agree in writing, either in the loan contract or in a subsequent agreement, to a deferment of wholly unpaid installments, a licensee may grant a deferment and may collect a deferment charge as provided in this Section. A deferment postpones the scheduled due date of the earliest unpaid installment and all subsequent installments as originally scheduled, or as previously deferred, for a period equal to the deferment period. The deferment period is that period during which no installment is scheduled to be paid by reason of the deferment. The deferment charge for a one month period may not exceed the applicable interest for the installment period immediately following the due date of the last undeferred payment. A proportionate charge may be made for deferment for periods of more or less than one month. A deferment charge is earned pro rata during the deferment period and is fully earned on the last day of the deferment period. Should a loan be prepaid in full during a deferment period, the licensee shall credit to the obligor a refund of the unearned deferment charge in addition to any other refund or credit made for prepayment of the loan in full.

(6) If two or more installments are delinquent one full month or more on any due date, and if the contract so provides, the licensee may reduce the unpaid balance by the refund credit which would be required for prepayment in full on the due date of the most recent maturing installment in default. Thereafter, and in lieu of any other default or deferment charges, the agreed rate of interest or, in the case of small consumer loans, interest at the rate of 18% per annum, may be charged on the unpaid balance until fully paid.

(7) Fifteen days after the final installment as originally scheduled or deferred, the licensee, for any loan contract which has not previously been converted to interest-bearing under paragraph (f), clause (6), may compute and charge interest on any balance remaining unpaid, including unpaid default or deferment charges, at the agreed rate of interest or, in the case of small consumer loans, interest at the rate of 18% per annum, until fully paid. At the time of payment of said final installment, the licensee shall give notice to the obligor stating any amounts unpaid.

(Source: P.A. 96-936, eff. 3-21-11.)

Section 10. The Payday Loan Reform Act is amended by changing Section 2-5 as follows:

(815 ILCS 122/2-5)

Sec. 2-5. Loan terms.

(a) Without affecting the right of a consumer to prepay at any time without cost or penalty, no payday loan may have a minimum term of less than 13 days.

(b) Except for an installment payday loan as defined in this Section, no payday loan may be made to a consumer if the loan would result in the consumer being indebted to one or more payday lenders for a period in excess of 45 consecutive days. Except as provided under subsection (c) of this Section and Section 2-40, if a consumer has or has had loans outstanding for a period in excess of 45 consecutive days, no payday lender may offer or make a loan to the consumer for at least 7 calendar days after the date on which the outstanding balance of all payday loans made during the 45 consecutive day period is paid in full. For purposes of this subsection, the term "consecutive days" means a series of continuous calendar days in which the consumer has an outstanding balance on one or more payday loans; however, if a payday loan is made to a consumer within 6 days or less after the outstanding balance of all loans is paid in full, those days are counted as "consecutive days" for purposes of this subsection.

(c) Notwithstanding anything in this Act to the contrary, a payday loan shall also include any installment loan otherwise meeting the definition of payday loan contained in Section 1-10, but that has a term agreed by the parties of not less than 112 days and not exceeding 180 days; hereinafter an "installment payday loan". The following provisions shall apply:

(i) Any installment payday loan must be fully amortizing, with a finance charge calculated on the principal balances scheduled to be outstanding and be repayable in substantially equal and consecutive installments, according to a payment schedule agreed by the parties with not less than 13 days and not more than one month between payments; except that the first installment period may be longer than the remaining installment periods by not more than 15 days, and the first installment payment may be larger than the remaining installment payments by the amount of finance charges applicable to the extra days. In calculating finance charges under this subsection, when the first installment period is longer than the remaining installment periods, the amount of the finance charges applicable to the extra days shall not be greater than $15.50 per $100 of the original principal balance divided by the number of days in a regularly scheduled installment period and multiplied by the number of extra days determined by subtracting the number of days in a regularly scheduled installment period from the number of days in the first installment period.

(ii) An installment payday loan may be refinanced by a new installment payday loan one time during the term of the initial loan; provided that the total duration of indebtedness on the initial installment payday loan combined with the total term of indebtedness of the new loan refinancing that initial loan, shall not exceed 180 days. For purposes of this Act, a refinancing occurs when an existing installment payday loan is paid from the proceeds of a new installment payday loan.

(iii) In the event an installment payday loan is paid in full prior to the date on which the last scheduled installment payment before maturity is due, other than through a refinancing, no licensee may offer or make a payday loan to the consumer for at least 2 calendar days thereafter.

(iv) No installment payday loan may be made to a consumer if the loan would result in the consumer being indebted to one or more payday lenders for a period in excess of 180 consecutive days. The term "consecutive days" does not include the date on which a consumer makes the final installment payment.

(d) (Blank).

(e) No lender may make a payday loan to a consumer if the total of all payday loan payments coming due within the first calendar month of the loan, when combined with the payment amount of all of the consumer's other outstanding payday loans coming due within the same month, exceeds the lesser of:

(1) $1,000; or

(2) in the case of one or more payday loans, 25% of the consumer's gross monthly income; or

(3) in the case of one or more installment payday loans, 22.5% of the consumer's gross monthly income; or

(4) in the case of a payday loan and an installment payday loan, 22.5% of the consumer's gross monthly income.

No loan shall be made to a consumer who has an outstanding balance on 2 payday loans, except that, for a period of 12 months after March 21, 2011 (the effective date of Public Act 96-936), consumers with an existing CILA loan may be issued an installment loan issued under this Act from the company from which their CILA loan was issued.

(e-5) Except as provided in subsection (c)(i), no lender may charge more than $15.50 per $100 loaned on any payday loan, or more than $15.50 per $100 on the initial principal balance and on the principal balances scheduled to be outstanding during any installment period on any installment payday loan. Except for installment payday loans and except as provided in Section 2-25, this charge is considered fully earned as of the date on which the loan is made. For purposes of determining the finance charge earned on an installment payday loan, the disclosed annual percentage rate shall be applied to the principal balances outstanding from time to time until the loan is paid in full, or until the maturity date, whichever occurs first. No finance charge may be imposed after the final scheduled maturity date.

When any loan contract is paid in full, the licensee shall refund any unearned finance charge. The unearned finance charge that is refunded shall be calculated based on a method that is at least as favorable to the consumer as the actuarial method, as defined by the federal Truth in Lending Act. The sum of the digits or rule of 78ths method of calculating prepaid interest refunds is prohibited.

(f) A lender may not take or attempt to take an interest in any of the consumer's personal property to secure a payday loan.

(g) A consumer has the right to redeem a check or any other item described in the definition of payday loan under Section 1-10 issued in connection with a payday loan from the lender holding the check or other item at any time before the payday loan becomes payable by paying the full amount of the check or other item.

(h) For the purpose of this Section, "substantially equal installment" includes a last regularly scheduled payment that is no more than 5% as large as the previous scheduled payment according to a disclosed payment schedule agreed to by the parties.

(Source: P.A. 100-201, eff. 8-18-17.)

Section 99. Effective date. This Act takes effect upon becoming law.