408.140. Additional charges or fees prohibited, exceptions--no finance charges if purchases are paid for within certain time limit, exception.
Additional charges or fees prohibited, exceptions--no finance chargesif purchases are paid for within certain time limit, exception.
408.140. 1. No further or other charge or amount whatsoever shall bedirectly or indirectly charged, contracted for or received for interest,service charges or other fees as an incident to any such extension ofcredit except as provided and regulated by sections 367.100 to 367.200,RSMo, and except:
(1) On loans for thirty days or longer which are other than "open-endcredit" as such term is defined in the federal Consumer Credit ProtectionAct and regulations thereunder, a fee, not to exceed five percent of theprincipal amount loaned not to exceed seventy-five dollars may be chargedby the lender; however, no such fee shall be permitted on any extension,refinance, restructure or renewal of any such loan, unless anyinvestigation is made on the application to extend, refinance, restructureor renew the loan;
(2) The lawful fees actually and necessarily paid out by the lenderto any public officer for filing, recording, or releasing in any publicoffice any instrument securing the loan, which fees may be collected whenthe loan is made or at any time thereafter; however, premiums for insurancein lieu of perfecting a security interest required by the lender may becharged if the premium does not exceed the fees which would otherwise bepayable;
(3) If the contract so provides, a charge for late payment on eachinstallment or minimum payment in default for a period of not less thanfifteen days in an amount not to exceed five percent of each installmentdue or the minimum payment due or fifteen dollars, whichever is greater,not to exceed fifty dollars. If the contract so provides, a charge forlate payment on each twenty-five dollars or less installment in default fora period of not less than fifteen days shall not exceed five dollars;
(4) If the contract so provides, a charge for late payment for asingle payment note in default for a period of not less than fifteen daysin an amount not to exceed five percent of the payment due; provided that,the late charge for a single payment note shall not exceed fifty dollars;
(5) Charges or premiums for insurance written in connection with anyloan against loss of or damage to property or against liability arising outof ownership or use of property as provided in section 367.170, RSMo;however, notwithstanding any other provision of law, with the consent ofthe borrower, such insurance may cover property all or part of which ispledged as security for the loan, and charges or premiums for insuranceproviding life, health, accident, or involuntary unemployment coverage;
(6) Reasonable towing costs and expenses of retaking, holding,preparing for sale, and selling any personal property in accordance withsection 400.9, RSMo;
(7) Charges assessed by any institution for processing a refusedinstrument plus a handling fee of not more than twenty-five dollars;
(8) If the contract or promissory note, signed by the borrower,provides for attorney fees, and if it is necessary to bring suit, suchattorney fees may not exceed fifteen percent of the amount due and payableunder such contract or promissory note, together with any court costsassessed. The attorney fees shall only be applicable where the contract orpromissory note is referred for collection to an attorney, and is nothandled by a salaried employee of the holder of the contract;
(9) Provided the debtor agrees in writing, the lender may collect afee in advance for allowing the debtor to defer up to three monthly loanpayments, so long as the fee is no more than the lesser of fifty dollars orten percent of the loan payments deferred, no extensions are made until thefirst loan payment is collected and no more than one deferral in atwelve-month period is agreed to and collected on any one loan; thissubdivision applies to nonprecomputed loans only and does not affect anyother subdivision;
(10) If the open-end credit contract is tied to a transaction accountin a depository institution, such account is in the institution's assetsand such contract provides for loans of thirty-one days or longer which are"open-end credit", as such term is defined in the federal Consumer CreditProtection Act and regulations thereunder, the creditor may charge a creditadvance fee of the lesser of twenty-five dollars or five percent of thecredit advanced from time to time from the line of credit; such creditadvance fee may be added to the open-end credit outstanding along with anyinterest, and shall not be considered the unlawful compounding of interestas that term is defined in section 408.120.
2. Other provisions of law to the contrary notwithstanding, anopen-end credit contract under which a credit card is issued by a company,financial institution, savings and loan or other credit issuing companywhose credit card operations are located in Missouri may charge an annualfee, provided that no finance charge shall be assessed on new purchasesother than cash advances if such purchases are paid for within twenty-fivedays of the date of the periodic statement therefor.
3. Notwithstanding any other provision of law to the contrary, inaddition to charges allowed pursuant to section 408.100, an open-end creditcontract provided by a company, financial institution, savings and loan orother credit issuing company which is regulated pursuant to this chaptermay charge an annual fee not to exceed fifty dollars.
(L. 1951 p. 875 § 408.032 (c), A.L. 1979 S.B. 305, A.L. 1980 H.B. 1195, A.L. 1981 S.B. 5 Revision, S.B. 326, A.L. 1984 S.B. 686, A.L. 1986 H.B. 1207, A.L. 1989 H.B. 386 merged with H.B. 615 & 563 merged with S.B. 192, A.L. 1990 H.B. 1630 merged with S.B. 768, A.L. 1992 S.B. 705 merged with S.B. 688, A.L. 1994 H.B. 1312, A.L. 1996 S.B. 683, A.L. 1998 S.B. 792, A.L. 2001 H.B. 738 merged with S.B. 186, A.L. 2002 S.B. 895, A.L. 2003 S.B. 346, A.L. 2004 H.B. 959 merged with S.B. 1233, et al.)