Source: http://jec.unm.edu/education/online-training/consumer-law-tutorial/retail-installment-sales
Timestamp: 2019-04-19 21:05:08+00:00

Document:
The state Retail Installment Sales Act, §§56-1-1 through -16, and the federal Truth in Lending Act, 15 U.S.C. §1601 et seq., both regulate retail installment contracts and retail charge agreements. In order to protect consumers, both acts require meaningful disclosure of credit terms to credit consumers. Meaningful disclosure of credit terms is intended to enable the consumer to “compare various credit terms . . . and avoid the uninformed use of credit.” 15 U.S.C. §1601(a).
1.	A retail installment contract is created when a customer agrees to buy goods through installment payments. Retail installment contracts are closed-end transactions for purposes of the Truth in Lending Act. For example, a consumer enters into a retail installment contract when she purchases an appliance on an installment plan or a car with a loan that has a repayment plan that fixes the number and amount of payments. §§56-1-1(H); 56-1-2.
2.	“Goods” include all personal property, except motor vehicles, that are used primarily for personal, family, or household purposes. Goods include mobile homes, but not if the retail installment contract also covers the real estate where the mobile home is located. §56-1-1(A).
3.	A retail charge agreement is created when a consumer agrees to the extension of a line of credit, as through a bank or store credit card or a cash-advancing checking account. Retail charge agreements are open-ended transactions for purposes of the Truth in Lending Act. §§56-1-1(I); 56-1-3.
For example, if Charlie agrees to buy a Thigh Blaster by making four easy monthly payments of $19.99, he has entered into a retail installment contract. However, if Charlie agrees to use a store credit card to pay for his Thigh Blaster, he has entered into a retail charge agreement.
Both the Retail Installment Sales Act and the Truth in Lending Act require creditors to make certain disclosures when offering consumers a retail installment contract. Although the requirements vary in their formulations, much of the same information is required by each act. A creditor who complies with the Truth in Lending Act and its regulations is deemed to comply with the Retail Installment Sales Act. NMSA §56-1-15.
p. If any installment (except the down payment) is more than double the average of all other installments, there must be a notice, printed in bold type, that the contract is not payable in installments of equal amounts.
§56-1-2. The retail installment contract does not have to be set forth in a single document.
•	An example of the payment terms that would result from an increase.
•	A statement that the variable-rate disclosures have been provided earlier.
15 U.S.C. §1638; 12 C.F.R. §226.18.
a. The disclosures must be in writing and the written disclosures must be given to the consumer to keep.
b. All of the required disclosures must be conspicuous, but information relating to the creditor’s identity, the annual percentage rate, and the finance charge, must be more conspicuously disclosed than all other disclosures. 15 U.S.C §1632(a).
c. Most of the required disclosures must be segregated from other information not directly related to those required disclosures. 12 C.F.R. §226.17(a). The creditor may segregate the information in a variety of ways: by printing them on a separate sheet of paper, outlining them in a box, using bold dividing lines, using a different color background, or using different type faces. See Official Staff Commentary 12 C.F.R. §226.17(a)(1)-2.
•	The creditor’s identity, the variable rate example, the insurance disclosures, and the security interest charges may be included or excluded from the segregated disclosures. 12 C.F.R. §226.17(a)(1), fn. 38.
Any buyer may prepay in full the unpaid balance on the installment contract at any time before its final due date, even if the retail installment contract states otherwise. §56-1-2(J).
Sometimes a retail buyer makes subsequent purchases from the seller from whom he had bought goods under a retail installment contract. At the seller’s option, those subsequent purchases may be included in and consolidated with the previous retail installment contract. Under the Retail Installment Sales Act, the subsequent purchases are treated as separate installment agreements, even though they may have been consolidated in the previous contract. §56-1-2(M).
When subsequent purchases are consolidated into the previous installment contract, the buyer does not have to execute a new contract covering each subsequent purchase. Instead, it is sufficient if the seller prepares a written memorandum containing the information in items f-m listed above for the requirements for a retail installment contract. §56-1-2(M)(2).

References: §1601
 §1601
 §56
 §56

§56
 §1638
 §226
 §1632
 §226
 §226
 §226
 §56
 §56
 §56