By: Carona S.B. No. 1096
(In the Senate - Filed February 24, 2009; March 13, 2009, read
first time and referred to Committee on Business and Commerce;
April 8, 2009, reported favorably by the following vote: Yeas 8,
Nays 0; April 8, 2009, sent to printer.)
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to certain charges included in a retail installment
agreement.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Subsections (b) and (c), Section 345.251,
Finance Code, are amended to read as follows:
(b) If a documentary fee is charged under this section the
fee:
(1) must be charged to cash buyers and credit buyers;
(2) may not exceed $100 [$50]; and
(3) must be disclosed on the retail installment
contract as a separate itemized charge.
(c) A preliminary work sheet on which a sale price is
computed and that is shown to the retail buyer, an order from the
buyer, or a retail installment contract must include in reasonable
proximity to the place on the document where the documentary fee is
disclosed:
(1) the amount of the fee; and
(2) the following notice in type that is bold-faced,
capitalized, or underlined or otherwise conspicuously set out from
the surrounding written material:
"A DOCUMENTARY FEE IS NOT AN OFFICIAL FEE. A DOCUMENTARY FEE IS NOT
REQUIRED BY LAW, BUT MAY BE CHARGED TO BUYERS FOR HANDLING DOCUMENTS
AND PERFORMING SERVICES RELATING TO THE CLOSING OF A SALE. A
DOCUMENTARY FEE MAY NOT EXCEED $100 [$50]. THIS NOTICE IS REQUIRED
BY LAW."
SECTION 2. Subsection (c), Section 348.006, Finance Code,
is amended to read as follows:
(c) For a documentary fee to be included in the principal
balance of a retail installment contract:
(1) the retail seller must charge the documentary fee
to cash buyers and credit buyers;
(2) the documentary fee may not exceed $100 [$50] for a
motor vehicle retail installment contract or a reasonable amount
agreed to by the retail seller and retail buyer for a heavy
commercial vehicle retail installment contract; and
(3) the buyer's order and the retail installment
contract must include:
(A) a statement of the amount of the documentary
fee; and
(B) in reasonable proximity to the place in each
where the amount of the documentary fee is disclosed, the following
notice in type that is bold-faced, capitalized, underlined, or
otherwise conspicuously set out from surrounding written material:
"A DOCUMENTARY FEE IS NOT AN OFFICIAL FEE. A DOCUMENTARY FEE IS NOT
REQUIRED BY LAW, BUT MAY BE CHARGED TO BUYERS FOR HANDLING DOCUMENTS
AND PERFORMING SERVICES RELATING TO THE CLOSING OF A SALE. A
DOCUMENTARY FEE MAY NOT EXCEED $100 [$50] FOR A MOTOR VEHICLE
CONTRACT OR A REASONABLE AMOUNT AGREED TO BY THE PARTIES FOR A HEAVY
COMMERCIAL VEHICLE CONTRACT. THIS NOTICE IS REQUIRED BY LAW."
SECTION 3. This Act takes effect immediately if it receives
a vote of two-thirds of all the members elected to each house, as
provided by Section 39, Article III, Texas Constitution. If this
Act does not receive the vote necessary for immediate effect, this
Act takes effect September 1, 2009.
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