In this part:

(1) “Administrator” means the commissioner of commerce and insurance;
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Terms Used In Tennessee Code 47-18-5502

  • Code: includes the Tennessee Code and all amendments and revisions to the code and all additions and supplements to the code. See Tennessee Code 1-3-105
  • Contract: A legal written agreement that becomes binding when signed.
  • 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.
  • 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.
  • Lineal descendant: Direct descendant of the same ancestors.
  • 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 a natural person, consumer, individual, governmental agency, partnership, corporation, trust, estate, incorporated or unincorporated association, and any other legal or commercial entity however organized. See Tennessee Code 47-18-2102
  • Record: means information that is inscribed on a tangible medium or that is stored in an electronic or other medium and is retrievable in a perceivable form. See Tennessee Code 1-3-105
  • Savings and loan association: includes a building and loan association, a federal or state savings and loan association, a federal savings bank, and any other financial institution, the accounts of which are insured by the [former] federal savings and loan insurance corporation (FSLIC) or any successor [repealed] of such corporation. See Tennessee Code 1-3-105
  • State: when applied to the different parts of the United States, includes the District of Columbia and the several territories of the United States. See Tennessee Code 1-3-105
  • Trust account: A general term that covers all types of accounts in a trust department, such as estates, guardianships, and agencies. Source: OCC
  • United States: includes the District of Columbia and the several territories of the United States. See Tennessee Code 1-3-105
  • Year: means a calendar year, unless otherwise expressed. See Tennessee Code 1-3-105
(2) “Affiliate”:

(A) With respect to an individual, means:

(i) The spouse of the individual;
(ii) A sibling of the individual or the spouse of a sibling;
(iii) An individual or the spouse of an individual who is a lineal ancestor or lineal descendant of the individual or the individual’s spouse;
(iv) An aunt, uncle, great aunt, great uncle, first cousin, niece, nephew, grandniece, or grandnephew, whether related by the whole or the half blood or adoption, or the spouse of any of them; or
(v) Any other individual occupying the residence of the individual; and
(B) With respect to an entity, means:

(i) A person that directly or indirectly controls, is controlled by or is under common control with the entity;
(ii) An officer of, or an individual performing similar functions with respect to, the entity;
(iii) A director of, or an individual performing similar functions with respect to, the entity;
(iv) Subject to adjustment of the dollar amount pursuant to § 47-18-5532(f), a person that receives or received more than twenty-five thousand dollars ($25,000) from the entity in either the current year or the preceding year or a person that owns more than ten percent (10%) of, or an individual who is employed by or is a director of, a person that receives or received more than twenty-five thousand dollars ($25,000) from the entity in either the current year or the preceding year;
(v) An officer or director of, or an individual performing similar functions with respect to, a person described in this subdivision (2)(B);
(vi) The spouse of, or an individual occupying the residence of, an individual described in subdivisions (2)(B)(i)-(v); or
(vii) An individual who has the relationship specified in subdivision (2)(A)(iv) to an individual or the spouse of an individual described in subdivisions (2)(B)(i)-(v);
(3) “Agreement” means an agreement between a provider and an individual for the performance of debt-management services;
(4) “Bank” means a financial institution, including a commercial bank, savings bank, savings and loan association, credit union and trust company, engaged in the business of banking, chartered under federal or state law, and regulated by a federal or state banking regulatory authority;
(5) “Business address” means the physical location of a business, including the name and number of a street;
(6) “Certified counselor” means an individual certified by a training program or certifying organization, approved by the administrator, that authenticates the competence of individuals providing education and assistance to other individuals in connection with debt-management services in which an agreement contemplates that creditors will reduce finance charges or fees for late payment, default or delinquency;
(7) “Certified debt specialist” means an individual certified by a training program or certifying organization, approved by the administrator, that authenticates the competence of individuals providing education and assistance to other individuals in connection with debt-management services in which an agreement contemplates that creditors will settle debts for less than the full principal amount of debt owed;
(8) “Concessions” means assent to repayment of a debt on terms more favorable to an individual than the terms of the contract between the individual and a creditor;
(9) “Day” means calendar day;
(10) “Debt-management services” means services as an intermediary between an individual and one (1) or more creditors of the individual for the purpose of obtaining concessions, but does not include:

(A) Legal services provided in an attorney-client relationship by an attorney licensed or otherwise authorized to practice law in this state;
(B) Accounting services provided in an accountant-client relationship by a certified public accountant licensed to provide accounting services in this state; or
(C) Financial-planning services provided in a financial planner-client relationship by a member of a financial-planning profession whose members the administrator, by rule, determines are:

(i) Licensed by this state;
(ii) Subject to a disciplinary mechanism;
(iii) Subject to a code of professional responsibility; and
(iv) Subject to a continuing-education requirement;
(11) “Entity” means a person other than an individual;
(12) “Good faith” means honesty in fact and the observance of reasonable standards of fair dealing;
(13) “Person” means an individual, corporation, business trust, estate, trust, partnership, limited liability company, association, joint venture or any other legal or commercial entity. The term does not include a public corporation, government or governmental subdivision, agency or instrumentality;
(14) “Plan” means a program or strategy in which a provider furnishes debt-management services to an individual and that includes a schedule of payments to be made by or on behalf of the individual and used to pay debts owed by the individual;
(15) “Principal amount of the debt” means the amount of a debt at the time of an agreement;
(16) “Provider” means a person that provides, offers to provide or agrees to provide debt-management services directly or through others;
(17) “Record” means information that is inscribed on a tangible medium or that is stored in an electronic or other medium and is retrievable in perceivable form;
(18) “Settlement fee” means a charge imposed on or paid by an individual in connection with a creditor’s assent to accept in full satisfaction of a debt an amount less than the principal amount of the debt;
(19) “Sign” means, with present intent to authenticate or adopt a record:

(A) To execute or adopt a tangible symbol; or
(B) To attach to or logically associate with the record an electronic sound, symbol or process;
(20) “State” means a state of the United States, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, the United States Virgin Islands or any territory or insular possession subject to the jurisdiction of the United States; and
(21) “Trust account” means an account held by a provider that is:

(A) Established in an insured bank;
(B) Separate from other accounts of the provider or its designee;
(C) Designated as a trust account or other account designated to indicate that the money in the account is not the money of the provider or its designee; and
(D) Used to hold money of one (1) or more individuals for disbursement to creditors of the individuals.
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