§476-3  General requirements of credit sale contracts.  (a)  Every credit sale contract shall:

     (1)  Be in writing;

     (2)  Contain, incorporate by reference, or otherwise clearly refer to all the agreement of the parties; provided that if a portion of the agreements are to be filed or recorded with any governmental agency, it may be contained in a separate part; and

     (3)  Be signed by the parties; provided that if a portion of the agreements is contained in a separate part, the separate part shall be separately signed.  If the contract provides for the extension of open-end credit, it shall be deemed to have been signed by the buyer if the buyer has signed an application for the open-end credit plan and, after receipt from the seller of a copy of the contract, has made purchases under the plan.  The parties' signatures shall be made by use of any name, including any trade or assumed name, upon the credit sale contract, or by any word or mark used in lieu of a written signature.

     (b)  The contract may provide for purchases to be made by the buyer from time to time and shall be effective as to such purchases.  If the contract provides for purchases to be made from time to time, the sales slip or other written statement or evidence with respect to each purchase shall be furnished to the buyer promptly following each purchase and shall set forth the amount and date of the transaction and the seller's name or trade name.

     (c)  The printed, handwritten, or typewritten portion of the contract shall be in a size at least equivalent to eight-point type.  The contract shall contain, in a size and style equal at least to ten-point bold type if printed, upper case elite type if typewritten and equivalent thereto if handwritten, the words, "CREDIT SALE CONTRACT" both at the top of the contract and directly above the space reserved for the signature of the buyer.

     (d)  Immediately above the words "CREDIT SALE CONTRACT" where they appear directly above the space reserved for the signature of the buyer there shall appear a notice substantially similar to the following:

"NOTICE TO THE BUYER:  Do not sign this contract before you read it.  When you sign this contract, you are entitled to a copy of it that is filled in, in every necessary respect.  You should keep it.  This contract is covered by Hawaii's credit sale law, and you have the rights of a buyer under that law.  You also may have rights under other state and federal laws."

     (e)  The contract shall contain the names or trade names of the parties and their respective places of business or residence or their mailing addresses.  If the contract does not provide for purchases to be made from time to time, either the contract, or the sales slip, or other written statement or evidence of the purchase required to be furnished to the buyer under this section, shall contain an indication of the types or a description of the goods, services, or both. [L 1961, c 102, pt of §1; am L 1963, c 68, §2; Supp, §201A-2; am L 1967, c 285, §2; HRS §476-2; am L 1969, c 131, §1; am L 1976, c 32, §2; am and ren L 1984, c 86, pt of §1]

Cross References

  Sales, Uniform Commercial Code, see chapter 490, article 2.