(1) With respect to a consumer credit sale, refinancing, or consolidation, including a revolving charge account, the parties may contract for a delinquency charge on any installment not paid in full within ten (10) days after its scheduled due date as follows:

(a)an amount, not exceeding the greater of five percent (5%) of the unpaid portion of the scheduled installment or Five Dollars ($5.00), subject to adjustment pursuant to Section 1-106 of this title; or

(b)the deferral charge, as set forth in subsection (1) of Section 2-204 of this title, that would be permitted to defer the unpaid amount of the installment for the period that it is delinquent.

However, a minimum late fee of Five Dollars ($5.00) may be contracted for by the parties under either paragraph (a) or (b) of this subsection.

(2) A delinquency charge under paragraph (a) of subsection (1) of this section may be collected only once on an installment however long it remains in default. No delinquency charge may be collected if the installment has been deferred and a deferral charge, Section 2-204 of this title, has been paid or incurred. A delinquency charge may be collected at the time it accrues or at any time thereafter.

(3) No delinquency charge may be collected on an installment which is paid in full within ten (10) days after its scheduled installment due date even though an earlier maturing installment or a delinquency charge on an earlier installment may not have been paid in full. For purposes of this subsection payments are applied first to current installments and then to delinquent installments.

(4) With regard to a revolving account, no more than one delinquency charge may be imposed in each billing cycle and it may be collected at any time after it accrues either independently of any payment made on the account or from a payment made if the seller discloses delinquency charges to the buyer on the billing statement.

Added by Laws 1969, c. 352, § 2-203, eff. July 1, 1969. Amended by Laws 1988, c. 35, § 1, operative July 1, 1988; Laws 1989, c. 122, § 2, eff. July 1, 1989; Laws 2000, c. 217, § 3, eff. July 1, 2000; Laws 2002, c. 249, § 2, eff. Nov. 1, 2002.