Section 403. Restrictions on retail instalment contracts and obligations  


Latest version.
  • 1. No contract or obligation shall require or entail  the  execution  of
      any  note  or  series  of  notes  by  the  buyer,  which when separately
      negotiated, will cut off as to third parties  any  right  of  action  or
      defense which the buyer may have against the seller.
        2. No contract or obligation shall contain any provision by which:
        (a)  The  buyer  agrees  not  to assert against an assignee a claim or
      defense arising out of the sale, but it may contain such a provision  as
      to  an assignee who acquires the contract or obligation on the sale of a
      boat, where the principal balance at  the  time  of  sale  exceeds  five
      thousand dollars, and to whom the buyer has not mailed written notice of
      the facts giving rise to the claim or defense within ten days after such
      assignee  mails  to  the  buyer, at his address shown on the contract or
      obligation, notice of the assignment, indicating or  containing  in  the
      notice  or  in an enclosure with the notice: the name and address of the
      assignee, the names of the seller and the buyer and a description of the
      boat  which  is  the  subject  matter  of  the  contract  or  obligation
      (including  the  make  and model), the time balance of the contract, the
      number and amount of installments in which the time balance  is  payable
      and  the  due date or period thereof, together with the following legend
      printed or typewritten in a size equal to  at  least  eight  point  bold
      type:
        NOTICE:
        1.  IF THE WITHIN STATEMENT OF YOUR TRANSACTION WITH THE SELLER IS NOT
      CORRECT IN EVERY RESPECT, OR
        2. IF THE BOAT DESCRIBED IN OR IN AN ENCLOSURE WITH  THIS  NOTICE  HAS
      NOT  BEEN  DELIVERED  TO  YOU  BY  THE  SELLER  OR  IS  NOT  NOW IN YOUR
      POSSESSION, OR
        3. IF THE SELLER HAS NOT FULLY PERFORMED ALL OF  HIS  AGREEMENTS  WITH
      YOU:   YOU MUST NOTIFY THE ASSIGNEES IN WRITING AT THE ADDRESS INDICATED
      IN OR IN AN ENCLOSURE WITH THIS NOTICE WITHIN TEN DAYS FROM THE DATE  OF
      THE  MAILING  OF  THIS  NOTICE,  OTHERWISE,  YOU WILL LOSE YOUR RIGHT TO
      ASSERT AGAINST THE ASSIGNEE ANY RIGHT OF ACTION OR DEFENSE  ARISING  OUT
      OF THE SALE WHICH YOU MIGHT OTHERWISE HAVE AGAINST THE SELLER.
        (b) In the absence of the buyer's default, the holder may, arbitrarily
      and without reasonable cause, accelerate the maturity of any part or all
      of the amount owing thereunder.
        (c) A power-of-attorney is given to confess judgment in this state, or
      an assignment of wages is given.
        (d) The seller or holder of the contract or obligation or other person
      acting  on  his  behalf  is  given  authority  to enter upon the buyer's
      premises unlawfully or  to  commit  any  breach  of  the  peace  in  the
      repossession of goods.
        (e)  The buyer waives any right of action against the seller or holder
      of the contract or obligation, or other person acting on his behalf, for
      any illegal act committed  in  the  collection  of  payments  under  the
      contract or obligation or in the repossession of goods.
        (f)  The  buyer  executes a power-of-attorney appointing the seller or
      holder of the contract or obligation, or  other  person  acting  on  his
      behalf,  as  the  buyer's  agent  in  collection  of  payments under the
      contract or obligation  or  in  the  repossession  of  goods;  provided,
      however,  that  this  paragraph  shall  not  prohibit the inclusion in a
      contract or obligation of a limited power of attorney or other provision
      authorizing the holder to execute in the name of the buyer any proofs of
      insurance claims or losses or to endorse the name of the  buyer  on  any
      insurance settlement draft or check.
        (g)  The  buyer  relieves  the  seller  from  liability  for any legal
      remedies which the buyer may have against the seller under the  contract
    
      or   obligation  or  any  separate  instrument  executed  in  connection
      therewith.
        (h)  The  buyer  waives  any right to a trial by jury in any action or
      proceeding arising out of the contract or obligation.
        Any such prohibited provision shall be void but  shall  not  otherwise
      affect the validity of the contract or obligation.
        3.  No retail instalment contract shall contain any provision by which
      the maturity of  any  part  or  all  of  the  amount  owing  thereon  is
      accelerated  where, following a default consisting solely of the failure
      to make timely instalment payments and the  subsequent  repossession  of
      the  goods,  the  buyer  makes timely tender of an amount which would be
      sufficient to redeem the goods in the absence of such provision.
        4. Except as provided in paragraph (a)  of  subdivision  two  of  this
      section,  the  assignee  of  a retail installment contract or obligation
      shall be subject to all claims and defenses of  the  buyer  against  the
      seller  arising  from  the  sale  notwithstanding  any  agreement to the
      contrary, but the assignee's liability under this subdivision shall  not
      exceed the amount owing to the assignee at the time the claim or defense
      is asserted against the assignee.