Terms Used In Michigan Laws > Chapter 492 > Act 27 of 1950 - Motor Vehicle Sales Finance Act

• Administrator: means the director of the department of insurance and financial services. See Michigan Laws 492.102
• 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.
• Annual percentage rate: The cost of credit at a yearly rate. It is calculated in a standard way, taking the average compound interest rate over the term of the loan so borrowers can compare loans. Lenders are required by law to disclose a card account's APR. ^{Source: FDIC}
• 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.
• Appraisal: A determination of property value.
• buyer: means a person that buys, hires, or leases a motor vehicle for personal, family, or household use, and not for commercial, business, or agricultural use, under an installment sale contract or a legal successor in interest to that person. See Michigan Laws 492.102
• Cash price: means the price measured in dollars at which a seller of a motor vehicle would in good faith sell to the buyer or to any other buyer under like circumstances, and the buyer would in good faith buy from the seller, the motor vehicle that is the subject matter of an installment sale contract if the sale were a sale for cash instead of an installment sale. See Michigan Laws 492.102
• Collateral security: means security, other than a security interest in a motor vehicle that is the subject of an installment sale contract, that is given to secure performance of an obligation of the buyer, or of any surety or guarantor for the buyer, under an installment sale contract. See Michigan Laws 492.102
• 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.
• contract: means an agreement for the retail sale of a motor vehicle, or that has a similar purpose or effect, under which part or all of the price is payable in 2 or more scheduled payments subsequent to the making of the agreement or under which the obligor undertakes to make 2 or more scheduled payments or deposits that can be used to pay part or all of the purchase price, whether or not the seller has retained a security interest in the motor vehicle or has taken collateral security for the buyer's obligation, and any extension, deferment, renewal, or other revision of that agreement. See Michigan Laws 492.102
• Contract: A legal written agreement that becomes binding when signed.
• 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.
• Down payment: means all partial payments, whether made in cash or otherwise, received by or for the benefit of the seller before or substantially contemporaneous with either the execution of the installment sale contract or the delivery of the motor vehicle sold under that contract, whichever occurs later. See Michigan Laws 492.102
• 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.
• Finance charge: means that term as defined in section 106 of the truth in lending act, 15 USC 1605. See Michigan Laws 492.102
• Finance charge: The total cost of credit a customer must pay on a consumer loan, including interest. The Truth in Lending Act requires disclosure of the finance charge. ^{Source: OCC}
• Financial institution: means a state or national chartered bank, a state or federal chartered savings and loan association, or a state or federal chartered credit union. See Michigan Laws 492.102
• Fiscal year: The fiscal year is the accounting period for the government. For the federal government, this begins on October 1 and ends on September 30. The fiscal year is designated by the calendar year in which it ends; for example, fiscal year 2006 begins on October 1, 2005 and ends on September 30, 2006.
• Guarantor: A party who agrees to be responsible for the payment of another party's debts should that party default. ^{Source: OCC}
• Holder: means a seller or other person that is currently entitled to the rights of a seller under an installment sale contract. See Michigan Laws 492.102
• in writing: shall be construed to include printing, engraving, and lithographing; except that if the written signature of a person is required by law, the signature shall be the proper handwriting of the person or, if the person is unable to write, the person's proper mark, which may be, unless otherwise expressly prohibited by law, a clear and classifiable fingerprint of the person made with ink or another substance. See Michigan Laws 8.3q
• 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}
• Licensed financial institution: means a financial institution issued a license under this act. See Michigan Laws 492.102
• Licensee: means a person issued a license under this act as an installment seller or a sales finance company and whose license has not expired or been surrendered or revoked, and in the plural means a person or persons licensed under 1 or both of these 2 classifications. See Michigan Laws 492.102
• 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.
• Minimum finance charge: The minimum, or fixed, finance charge that will be imposed during a billing cycle. A minimum finance charge usually applies only when a finance charge is imposed, that is, when you carry over a balance. ^{Source: Federal Reserve}
• month: means a calendar month; the word "year" a calendar year; and the word "year" alone shall be equivalent to the words "year of our Lord". See Michigan Laws 8.3j
• Mortgage: The written agreement pledging property to a creditor as collateral for a loan.
• Motor vehicle: means a self-propelled device by which a person or property may be transported upon a public highway or, subject to subparagraph (iv), a recreational vehicle. See Michigan Laws 492.102
• 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.
• 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, partnership, association, corporation, limited liability company, governmental entity, or any other legal entity. See Michigan Laws 492.102
• Personal property: All property that is not real property.
• Power of attorney: A written instrument which authorizes one person to act as another's agent or attorney. The power of attorney may be for a definite, specific act, or it may be general in nature. The terms of the written power of attorney may specify when it will expire. If not, the power of attorney usually expires when the person granting it dies. ^{Source: OCC}
• Principal amount financed: means the unpaid cash price balance after deducting the down payment, adding the cost of any insurance premiums required or obtained as security for or by reason of the sale of a motor vehicle under an installment sale contract, and adding other costs necessary or incidental to the sale of the motor vehicle under the contract that the seller contracts to pay on behalf of the buyer and for the amount of which the seller agrees to extend credit to the buyer and for which the buyer contracts voluntarily. See Michigan Laws 492.102
• Public law: A public bill or joint resolution that has passed both chambers and been enacted into law. Public laws have general applicability nationwide.
• Public sale: means a public sale after advertisement of each motor vehicle in at least 2 successive publications in a newspaper having general circulation in the village, city, or township in which the sale is to be held. See Michigan Laws 492.102
• Recreational vehicle: means a recreational vehicle, as that term is defined in section 49a of the Michigan vehicle code, 1949 PA 300, MCL 257. See Michigan Laws 492.102
• Retail sale: means a sale of a motor vehicle for use by a buyer or for the benefit or satisfaction that the buyer may derive from the use of the motor vehicle by another. See Michigan Laws 492.102
• Sales finance company: means a person engaged as a principal, agent, or broker in the business of financing or soliciting the financing of installment sale contracts made between other parties, and in the business of acquiring, investing in, or lending money or credit on the security of the retail seller's interest in those contracts whether by discount, purchase, or assignment of those contracts, or otherwise. See Michigan Laws 492.102
• Security interest: means a property right in a motor vehicle that is the subject of an installment sale contract, if the right is retained to secure performance of an obligation of the buyer under that contract. See Michigan Laws 492.102
• seller: means a person engaged in the business of selling, offering for sale, hiring, or leasing motor vehicles under installment sale contracts or a legal successor in interest to that person. See Michigan Laws 492.102
• Service of process: The service of writs or summonses to the appropriate party.
• shall not apply: means that the pertinent provision is not operative as to certain persons or things or in conjunction with a particular date or dates. See Michigan Laws 8.4c
• state: when applied to the different parts of the United States, shall be construed to extend to and include the District of Columbia and the several territories belonging to the United States; and the words "United States" shall be construed to include the district and territories. See Michigan Laws 8.3o
• Subpoena: A command to a witness to appear and give testimony.
• Testimony: Evidence presented orally by witnesses during trials or before grand juries.
• Time balance: means the sum of the principal amount financed and the finance charge. See Michigan Laws 492.102
• Trustee: A person or institution holding and administering property in trust.
• Truth in Lending Act: The Truth in Lending Act is a federal law that requires lenders to provide standardized information so that borrowers can compare loan terms. In general, lenders must provide information on ^{Source: OCC}
• Uniform Commercial Code: A set of statutes enacted by the various states to provide consistency among the states' commercial laws. It includes negotiable instruments, sales, stock transfers, trust and warehouse receipts, and bills of lading. ^{Source: OCC}
• United States: shall be construed to include the district and territories. See Michigan Laws 8.3o