TITLE 28

COMMERCIAL TRANSACTIONS

CHAPTER 45

REMEDIES AND PENALTIES

PART 1.

LIMITATIONS ON CREDITORS’ REMEDIES

28-45-103.  Restrictions on deficiency judgments. (1) This section applies to a regulated consumer credit sale of goods or services.

(2)  If the seller repossesses or voluntarily accepts surrender of goods which were the subject of the sale and in which he has a security interest and the cash price of the goods repossessed or surrendered was one thousand dollars ($1,000) or less, the buyer is not personally liable to the seller for the unpaid balance of the debt arising from the sale of the goods, and the seller is not obligated to resell the collateral.

(3)  If the seller repossesses or voluntarily accepts surrender of goods which were not the subject of the sale but in which he has a security interest to secure a debt arising from a sale of goods or services or a combined sale of goods and services and the cash price of the sale was one thousand dollars ($1,000) or less, the buyer is not personally liable to the seller for the unpaid balance of the debt arising from the sale.

(4)  For the purpose of determining the unpaid balance of consolidated debts or debts pursuant to open-end consumer credit, the allocation of payments to a debt shall be determined in the same manner as provided for determining the amount of debt secured by various security interests[,] section 28-43-303, Idaho Code.

(5)  The buyer may be liable in damages to the seller if the buyer has wrongfully damaged the collateral or if, after default and demand, the buyer has wrongfully failed to make the collateral available to the seller.

(6)  If the seller elects to bring an action against the buyer for a debt arising from a regulated consumer credit sale of goods or services, when under this section he would not be entitled to a deficiency judgment if he repossessed the collateral, and obtains judgment:

(a)  He may not repossess the collateral; and

(b)  The collateral is not subject to levy or sale on execution or similar proceedings pursuant to the judgment.

History:

[28-45-103, added 1983, ch. 119, sec. 3, p. 294.]