§ 12-506. Open end accounts generally
West's Annotated Code of MarylandCommercial Law
MD Code, Commercial Law, § 12-506
§ 12-506. Open end accounts generally
(d) In an open end account, (1) the finance charge in any given month may not exceed an amount which may be assessed pursuant to subsection (c)(2) of this section; and (2) if there is no balance at the beginning of a billing cycle, a finance charge may not be assessed on any charge added to the account during that billing cycle from the date of purchase to the end of that billing cycle.
(f)(1) If a seller or financial institution establishes two or more open end accounts for an individual buyer, the seller or financial institution may not impose a higher rate of finance charge than would be obtained if there was but one open end account between the buyer and the seller or financial institution.
(2) A seller does not establish two open end accounts within the meaning of this subsection solely because the seller accepts payment from a financial institution, as directed by a buyer by use of a credit card issued to the buyer by the financial institution, and also establishes an account directly payable to him by the buyer.
(g) Regardless of the date of actual posting of a payment to an account, the payment shall be credited to the customer's account as of the date the payment is received by the creditor, and no finance charge, late payment charge, or other charge shall be imposed with respect to the amount of the payment which is properly received by the creditor on or before the time indicated by the creditor as necessary to avoid imposition thereof, provided that:
(1) If a creditor fails to post the customer's payment in time to avoid the imposition of finance charges, late payment charges, or other charges, the creditor shall adjust the customer's account so that the finance charges, late payment charges, or other charges are credited to the account during the customer's next billing cycle.
(i) If no particular hour of the day has been clearly specified by the creditor as the time by which payment must be received by the creditor in order to obtain crediting to the customer's account as of that date, payments received prior to the close of business on that day must be credited as of that date;
(3) If the creditor accepts payment at locations other than those specified under paragraph (g)(2)(ii) of this section, the creditor shall credit the customer's account promptly (in no case later than five days from the date of receipt), provided that the possibility of the delay is clearly disclosed to the customer on the periodic statement or on accompanying material that need not be retained by the customer.
(h)(1) A seller or financial institution that imposes a finance charge in connection with an open end account may not directly or indirectly contract for, charge, or receive from the buyer any finance charge, discount, fine, commission, charge, brokerage, or other consideration on that account in excess of that permitted by this section.
Credits
Added by Acts 1975, c. 49, § 3, eff. July 1, 1975. Amended by Acts 1976, c. 64; Acts 1977, c. 534; Acts 1980, c. 362; Acts 1980, c. 691; Acts 1980, c. 866; Acts 1981, c. 509; Acts 1982, c. 753; Acts 1982, c. 797; Acts 1982, c. 857; Acts 1984, c. 403; Acts 1985, c. 150; Acts 1986, c. 5, § 1.
Formerly Art. 83, § 153D.
MD Code, Commercial Law, § 12-506, MD COML § 12-506
Current through legislation effective through April 25, 2024, from the 2024 Regular Session of the General Assembly. Some statute sections may be more current, see credits for details.
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