2023 Tennessee Code › Title 47 - COMMERCIAL INSTRUMENTS AND TRANSACTIONS (§§ 47-1-101 — 47-50-121) › Chapter 18 - CONSUMER PROTECTION (§§ 47-18-101 — 47-18-5706) › Part 55 - UNIFORM DEBT-MANAGEMENT SERVICES ACT (§§ 47-18-5501 — 47-18-5543) › Section 47-18-5502 - Part definitions

In this part:
(1)
"Administrator" means the commissioner of commerce and insurance;
(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.
Acts 2009, ch. 469, § 1.