Terms Used In Hawaii Revised Statutes > Chapter 443B - Collection Agencies

• Access aisle: means the area that is adjacent to a parking space reserved for a person with a disability and that is to be used exclusively by that person for the purpose of entering and exiting a vehicle. See Hawaii Revised Statutes 291-51
• Affidavit: A written statement of facts confirmed by the oath of the party making it, before a notary or officer having authority to administer oaths.
• Amendment: A proposal to alter the text of a pending bill or other measure by striking out some of it, by inserting new language, or both. Before an amendment becomes part of the measure, thelegislature must agree to it.
• Appeal: A request made after a trial, asking another court (usually the court of appeals) to decide whether the trial was conducted properly. To make such a request is "to appeal" or "to take an appeal." One who appeals is called the appellant.
• Arrest: Taking physical custody of a person by lawful authority.
• Association: means the unit owners' association organized under section 514B-102 or under prior condominium property regime statutes. See Hawaii Revised Statutes 514B-3
• Attachment: A procedure by which a person's property is seized to pay judgments levied by the court.
• Attorney-in-fact: A person who, acting as an agent, is given written authorization by another person to transact business for him (her) out of court.
• Beneficiary: A person who is entitled to receive the benefits or proceeds of a will, trust, insurance policy, retirement plan, annuity, or other contract. ^{Source: OCC}
• Certificate of disability: means a medical statement issued by a licensed practicing physician, physician assistant, or advanced practice registered nurse that verifies that a person is disabled, limited, or impaired in the ability to walk. See Hawaii Revised Statutes 291-51
• Client: means a person who offered or extended credit which created a debt, or to whom a debt is owed, and who engages the professional services of a collection agency. See Hawaii Revised Statutes 443B-1
• Collection agency: includes :

  (1) Any person using any name other than the person's own in collecting the person's own claims with the intention of conveying, or which tends to convey the impression that a third party has been employed;

  (2) Any person who, in the conduct of the person's business for a fee, regularly repossesses any merchandise or chattels for another; and

  (3) Any person who regularly accepts the assignment of claims or money due on accounts or other forms of indebtedness and brings suits upon the assigned claims or money due on accounts or other forms of indebtedness in the person's own name; provided that any suits shall be initiated and prosecuted by an attorney who shall have been appointed by the assignee. See Hawaii Revised Statutes 443B-1

• Commission: means the real estate commission of the State. See Hawaii Revised Statutes 514B-3
• Common elements: means :

  (1) All portions of a condominium other than the units; and

  (2) Any other interests in real estate for the benefit of unit owners that are subject to the declaration. See Hawaii Revised Statutes 514B-3

• Common expenses: means expenditures made by, or financial liabilities of, the association for operation of the property, and shall include any allocations to reserves. See Hawaii Revised Statutes 514B-3
• Common interest: means the percentage of undivided interest in the common elements appurtenant to each unit, as expressed in the declaration, and any specified percentage of the common interest means such percentage of the undivided interests in the aggregate. See Hawaii Revised Statutes 514B-3
• 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.
• Communication: means directly or indirectly conveying information regarding a debt to any person by any means. See Hawaii Revised Statutes 443B-1
• Completion of construction: means the earliest of:

  (1) The issuance of a certificate of occupancy for the unit;

  (2) The date of completion for the project, or the phase of the project that includes the unit, as defined in section 507-43;

  (3) The recordation of the "as built" amendment to the declaration that includes the unit;

  (4) The issuance of the architect's certificate of substantial completion for the project, or the phase of the project that includes the unit; or

  (5) The date the unit is completed so as to permit normal occupancy. See Hawaii Revised Statutes 514B-3

• Condominium: means real estate, portions of which are designated for separate ownership and the remainder of which is designated for common ownership solely by the owners of those portions. See Hawaii Revised Statutes 514B-3
• Condominium map: means , however denominated, a map or plan of the condominium property regime containing the information required by § 514B-33. See Hawaii Revised Statutes 514B-3
• Contract: A legal written agreement that becomes binding when signed.
• conversion: means the submission of a structure to a condominium property regime more than twelve months after the completion of construction; provided that structures used as sales offices or models for a project and later submitted to a condominium property regime shall not be considered to be converted structures. See Hawaii Revised Statutes 514B-3
• Conviction: A judgement of guilt against a criminal defendant.
• 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.
• county: includes the city and county of Honolulu. See Hawaii Revised Statutes 1-22
• Damages: Money paid by defendants to successful plaintiffs in civil cases to compensate the plaintiffs for their injuries.
• Debt: means any obligation or alleged obligation of a consumer to pay money or other forms of payment arising out of a transaction in which the money, property, insurance, or services, which are the subject of the transaction, are primarily for personal, family, or household purposes, whether or not such obligation has been reduced to judgment. See Hawaii Revised Statutes 443B-1
• Debtor: means any person or the person's spouse or reciprocal beneficiary, parent (if the person is a minor), guardian, executor, or administrator obligated or allegedly obligated to pay a debt. See Hawaii Revised Statutes 443B-1
• Declaration: means any instrument, however denominated, that creates a condominium, including any amendments to the instrument. See Hawaii Revised Statutes 514B-3
• Deed: The legal instrument used to transfer title in real property from one person to another.
• Defendant: In a civil suit, the person complained against; in a criminal case, the person accused of the crime.
• Department: means the department of commerce and consumer affairs. See Hawaii Revised Statutes 443B-1
• Developer: means a person who undertakes to develop a real estate condominium project, including a person who succeeds to the interest of the developer by acquiring a controlling interest in the developer or in the project. See Hawaii Revised Statutes 514B-3
• Development rights: means any right or combination of rights reserved by a developer in the declaration to:

  (1) Add real estate to a condominium;

  (2) Create units, common elements, or limited common elements within a condominium;

  (3) Subdivide units, combine units, or convert units into common elements;

  (4) Withdraw real estate from a condominium;

  (5) Merge projects or increments of a project; or

  (6) Otherwise alter the condominium. See Hawaii Revised Statutes 514B-3

• Director: means the director of commerce and consumer affairs. See Hawaii Revised Statutes 443B-1
• Disability and communication access board: means the disability and communication access board established by chapter 348F. See Hawaii Revised Statutes 291-51
• Disability parking permit: means a removable windshield placard, special license plate, temporary removable windshield placard, or disabled paid parking exemption permit. See Hawaii Revised Statutes 291-51
• Disabled paid parking exemption permit: means a permit to be displayed on a dashboard or contained elsewhere on the vehicle, a code, or a two-sided, hanger style placard that indicates that the individual to whom the permit, code, or placard is issued pursuant to this part is licensed to drive a motor vehicle and not able to reach or operate a parking meter or unattended pay station because of a physical disability. See Hawaii Revised Statutes 291-51
• Escrow: Money given to a third party to be held for payment until certain conditions are met.
• Evidence: Information presented in testimony or in documents that is used to persuade the fact finder (judge or jury) to decide the case for one side or the other.
• Executive session: A portion of the Senate's daily session in which it considers executive business.
• Executor: A male person named in a will to carry out the decedent
• Fair market value: The price at which an asset would change hands in a transaction between a willing, informed buyer and a willing, informed seller.
• Fee simple: Absolute title to property with no limitations or restrictions regarding the person who may inherit it.
• Fiduciary: A trustee, executor, or administrator.
• Flatrack: means an open-sided platform mounted on a chassis without motive power designed to be drawn by a motor vehicle and used to carry property. See Hawaii Revised Statutes 291-21.3
• Foreclosure: A legal process in which property that is collateral or security for a loan may be sold to help repay the loan when the loan is in default. ^{Source: OCC}
• Fraud: Intentional deception resulting in injury to another.
• 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.
• Indemnification: In general, a collateral contract or assurance under which one person agrees to secure another person against either anticipated financial losses or potential adverse legal consequences. ^{Source: FDIC}
• International symbol of access: means the symbol adopted by Rehabilitation International in 1969 at its Eleventh World Congress on Rehabilitation of the Disabled. See Hawaii Revised Statutes 291-51
• Invalid disability parking permit: means an expired or voided removable windshield placard, temporary removable windshield placard, special license plates, or disabled paid parking exemption permit. See Hawaii Revised Statutes 291-51
• Issuing agency: means the disability and communication access board. See Hawaii Revised Statutes 291-51
• Jurisdiction: (1) The legal authority of a court to hear and decide a case. Concurrent jurisdiction exists when two courts have simultaneous responsibility for the same case. (2) The geographic area over which the court has authority to decide cases.
• Lease: A contract transferring the use of property or occupancy of land, space, structures, or equipment in consideration of a payment (e.g., rent). ^{Source: OCC}
• Liabilities: The aggregate of all debts and other legal obligations of a particular person or legal entity.
• Lien: A claim against real or personal property in satisfaction of a debt.
• Litigation: A case, controversy, or lawsuit. Participants (plaintiffs and defendants) in lawsuits are called litigants.
• majority of the unit owners: means the owners of units to which are appurtenant more than fifty per cent of the common interests. See Hawaii Revised Statutes 514B-3
• Managing agent: means any person retained, as an independent contractor, for the purpose of managing the operation of the property. See Hawaii Revised Statutes 514B-3
• Material change: means any change of circumstance which might affect a collection agency's registration, including the assigning, selling, leasing, encumbering, or other transfer of the rights, privileges, and obligations of a collection agency, whether voluntarily or involuntarily or directly or indirectly, including by transfer of fifty-one per cent of control of any collection agency, whether by change in ownership or otherwise. See Hawaii Revised Statutes 443B-1
• Material fact: means any fact, defect, or condition, past or present, that, to a reasonable person, would be expected to measurably affect the value of the project, unit, or property being offered or proposed to be offered for sale. See Hawaii Revised Statutes 514B-3
• month: means a calendar month; and the word "year" a calendar year. See Hawaii Revised Statutes 1-20
• 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.
• Parking space reserved for persons with disabilities: means a public or private parking space, including the access aisle, designated for the use of a person with a disability that is designed and constructed in compliance with the requirements of the federal Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990, as

  amended, and related rules and guidelines, and is marked with a sign designating the parking space as reserved for persons with disabilities. See Hawaii Revised Statutes 291-51

• 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, firm, corporation, partnership, association, trust, or other legal entity, or any combination thereof. See Hawaii Revised Statutes 514B-3
• Person with a disability: means a person with a disability that limits or impairs the ability to walk, and who, as determined by a licensed practicing physician, physician assistant, or an advanced practice registered nurse:
  (1) Cannot walk two hundred feet without stopping to rest, and who has been diagnosed with:

  (A) An arthritic, neurological, orthopedic, renal, vascular, or oncological condition;

  (B) Lung disease to such an extent that the person's forced (respiratory) expiratory volume for one second, when measured by spirometry, is less than one liter, or the arterial oxygen tension is less than sixty mm/hg on room air at rest; or

  (C) A cardiac condition to the extent that the person's functional limitations are classified in severity as Class III or Class IV according to the standards set by the American Heart Association; and
  (2) Because of a condition identified in paragraph (1):

  (A) Cannot walk two hundred feet under the person's own power without stopping to rest;

  (B) Cannot walk without the use of, or assistance from, a brace, cane, crutch, another person, prosthetic device, wheelchair, or other assistive device; or

  (C) Uses portable oxygen. See Hawaii Revised Statutes 291-51
• Personal property: All property that is not real property.
• Plaintiff: The person who files the complaint in a civil lawsuit.
• Principal collector: means an individual who has been designated by a collection agency to assume responsibility for the operations and activities of the agency's office in this State. See Hawaii Revised Statutes 443B-1
• Private entity: means a private owner or lessee of a parking facility or site where invitation to the general public is expressed or implied. See Hawaii Revised Statutes 291-51
• Private parking: means a privately owned parking facility or site where invitation to the general public is expressed or implied. See Hawaii Revised Statutes 291-51
• Project: means a real estate condominium project; a plan or project whereby a condominium of two or more units located within the condominium property regime are created. See Hawaii Revised Statutes 514B-3
• Property: includes parcels with or without upper or lower boundaries, and spaces that may be filled with air or water. See Hawaii Revised Statutes 514B-3
• Quorum: The number of legislators that must be present to do business.
• Real property: Land, and all immovable fixtures erected on, growing on, or affixed to the land.
• Regular practice: means duties being of the sort or kind that are expected, ordinary, or typical of the profession. See Hawaii Revised Statutes 443B-1
• Regular wage or salary: means the expected, ordinary, or typical payment for employment. See Hawaii Revised Statutes 443B-1
• Regularly repossesses: means to locate, confiscate, and return merchandise or chattels to a client whenever the client requires service. See Hawaii Revised Statutes 443B-1
• Remainder: An interest in property that takes effect in the future at a specified time or after the occurrence of some event, such as the death of a life tenant.
• Removable windshield placard: means a two-sided, hanger-style placard issued under this part to a person with a disability who presents a certificate of disability that verifies that the applicant's disability is expected to last for at least six years. See Hawaii Revised Statutes 291-51
• Rescission: The cancellation of budget authority previously provided by Congress. The Impoundment Control Act of 1974 specifies that the President may propose to Congress that funds be rescinded. If both Houses have not approved a rescission proposal (by passing legislation) within 45 days of continuous session, any funds being withheld must be made available for obligation.
• Resident manager: means any person retained as an employee by the association to manage, on-site, the operation of the property. See Hawaii Revised Statutes 514B-3
• Right of rescission: Right to cancel, within three business days, a contract that uses the home of a person as collateral, except in the case of a first mortgage loan. There is no fee to the borrower, who receives a full refund of all fees paid. The right of rescission is guaranteed by the Truth in Lending Act (TILA). ^{Source: OCC}
• Sign designating the parking space as reserved for persons with disabilities: means a sign which contains:
  (1) The words, "Reserved Parking";
  (2) The international symbol of access;
  (3) Words indicating that the space is reserved for parking by persons with disabilities who have valid placards or special license plates; and
  (4) The maximum fine for parking illegally in the space. See Hawaii Revised Statutes 291-51
• Special license plate: means a license plate that displays the international symbol of access:
  (1) In a color that contrasts to the background; and
  (2) In the same size as the letters or numbers on the plate. See Hawaii Revised Statutes 291-51
• Statute: A law passed by a legislature.
• Structures: includes but is not limited to buildings. See Hawaii Revised Statutes 514B-3
• Temporary removable windshield placard: means a two-sided, hanger-style placard issued under this part to a person with a disability who presents a certificate of disability that verifies the person's disability in monthly increments, which shall not exceed six months. See Hawaii Revised Statutes 291-51
• Trust account: A general term that covers all types of accounts in a trust department, such as estates, guardianships, and agencies. ^{Source: OCC}
• Trustee: A person or institution holding and administering property in trust.
• Unit: means a physical or spatial portion of the condominium designated for separate ownership or occupancy, the boundaries of which are described in the declaration or pursuant to § 514B-35, with an exit to a public road or to a common element leading to a public road. See Hawaii Revised Statutes 514B-3
• Unit owner: means the person owning, or the persons owning jointly or in common, a unit and its appurtenant common interest; provided that to such extent and for such purposes as provided by recorded lease, including the exercise of voting rights, a lessee of a unit shall be deemed to be the unit owner. See Hawaii Revised Statutes 514B-3