(a) Where a seller in a consumer credit sale makes a subsequent sale to a buyer and takes a security interest pursuant to N.C. Gen. Stat. § 25A-23 in goods previously purchased by the buyer from the seller, the seller shall make application of payments received, for the purpose of determining the amount of the debt secured by the various security interests, as follows:

(1) The entire amount of all payments made prior to such subsequent purchase shall be deemed to have been applied to the previous purchases, and

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(2) Unless otherwise designated by the buyer, the amount of down payment on such subsequent purchase shall be applied to the subsequent purchase, and

(3) All subsequent payments shall be applied first to finance charges and then to principal. The application of payments to principal shall be applied to the various purchases on the basis that the first sums paid in shall be deemed applied to the oldest purchase or obligation assumed to satisfy the original debt secured by the purchase money security interest until payment is received in full and other payments shall be applied accordingly to all other purchases in the order that each obligation is assumed. At the time any original debt would have been satisfied by subsequent payments, the purchase money security interest in said purchase shall be extinguished.

(b) Where a seller and a buyer agree to consolidate two or more consumer credit installment sale contracts pursuant to N.C. Gen. Stat. § 25A-31, the seller shall apply payments received, for the purpose of determining the amount of the debt secured by the various security interests, as follows:

(1) The entire amount of all payments received prior to the consolidation shall be applied to the respective contracts under which the payments were made, and

(2) All subsequent payments shall be applied first to finance charges and then to principal. The application of payments to principal shall be applied to the various purchases on the basis that the first sums paid in shall be deemed applied to the oldest purchase or obligation assumed to satisfy the original debt secured by the purchase money security interest until payment is received in full and other payments shall be applied accordingly to all other purchases in the order that each obligation is assumed. At the time any original debt would have been satisfied by subsequent payments, the purchase money security interest in said purchase shall be extinguished.

(c) For payments received by a seller on or after October 1, 1988, but before October 1, 1993, a seller may elect to apply the provisions of this section as the section read October 1, 1993, or as the section read September 30, 1993. A seller made this election when the seller determined, and disclosed to the buyer, how payments received on a consumer credit sale would be applied: either on a proportional basis or on a “first in – first out” basis with the payments applied first to finance charges and then to principal in the order that each obligation is assumed.

(d) The exclusive remedy for failure of a seller to apply payments of a buyer as required by subdivision (a)(3) or (b)(2) of this section during the period October 1, 1993, through October 1, 1996, is an order that the seller apply the payments as required by those provisions. (1971, c. 796, s. 1; 1993, c. 370, s. 2; 1993 (Reg. Sess., 1994), c. 745, s. 38.3(a).)