GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF NORTH CAROLINA
SESSION 1999
SESSION LAW 2000-118
AN ACT TO AMEND ARTICLE 3 OF THE UNIFORM COMMERCIAL CODE.
The General Assembly of North Carolina enacts:
Section 1. G.S. 25-3-506 reads as rewritten:
"§ 25-3-506. Collection of processing fee for returned checks.
A person who accepts a check in payment for goods or services
or his assignee may charge and collect a processing fee, not to exceed
twenty-five dollars ($25.00), for a check on which payment has been refused by
the payor bank because of insufficient funds or because the drawer did not have
an account at that bank if at the time the consumer presented the check to
the person, a sign:
(1) Was
conspicuously posted on or in the immediate vicinity of the cash register or
other place where the check is received;
(2) Was in plain
view of anyone paying for goods or services by check;
(3) Was no
smaller than 8 by 11 inches; and
(4) Stated the
amount of the fee that would be charged for returned checks.
When the drawer sends a check by mail for payment of a
debt and the check is dishonored and returned, the processing fee may be
collected if the drawer was given prior written notice that a fee would be
charged for returned checks. Any document that clearly and conspicuously states
the amount of the fee that will be charged for returned checks and is delivered
to the drawer or his agent, or is mailed first-class mail to the drawer at his
last known address as part of any document requesting payment of a debt
satisfies this notice requirement for that payment only. bank.
If a collection agency collects or seeks to collect on behalf of its principal a processing fee as specified in this section in addition to the sum payable of a check, the amount of such processing fee must be separately stated on the collection notice. The collection agency shall not collect or seek to collect from the drawer any sum other than the actual amount of the returned check and the specified processing fee."
Section 2. This act becomes effective October 1, 2000, and applies to checks presented by the consumer on or after that date.
In the General Assembly read three times and ratified this the 6th day of July, 2000.
s/ Marc Basnight
President Pro Tempore of the Senate
s/ James B. Black
Speaker of the House of Representatives
s/ James B. Hunt, Jr.
Governor
Approved 8:39 a.m. this 14th day of July, 2000