Personal property within repossessed motor vehicles and providing a penalty. (FE)

Under current law, a consumer credit transaction that is entered into for personal, family, or household purposes is generally subject to the Wisconsin Consumer Act (WCA). A consumer credit transaction, which includes consumer loans and consumer credit sales, means in part a transaction between a merchant and a customer in which money or personal property is acquired on credit. A merchant is defined to include a creditor or a seller of personal property on credit.

Like the UCC, the WCA includes provisions relating to enforcement of a merchant's security interest in collateral resulting from a consumer credit transaction, including provisions specifically applicable when the collateral is a motor vehicle.

Under the WCA, a merchant may repossess collateral that is a motor vehicle if certain requirements are met, including giving notice to the debtor and law enforcement, the elapse of at least 15 days since both the debtor's default and the merchant's notice to the debtor, and repossession without breach of the peace.

This bill creates additional requirements under the WCA related to repossession of a motor vehicle. Under the bill, at the time a motor vehicle is repossessed, the person who repossesses the motor vehicle must make a written inventory of all personal property within the motor vehicle. No later than 48 hours after the repossession, the merchant or a person acting on behalf of the merchant (merchant) must deliver to the debtor from whom the motor vehicle was repossessed all personal property identified in this written inventory. The merchant may not impose a fee on the debtor for delivery of this personal property. The merchant is also responsible for safeguarding this personal property from the time of repossession to the time it is delivered to the debtor and must deliver the personal property in as good of a condition as it was in at the time the motor vehicle was repossessed. If a merchant intentionally fails to deliver the debtor's personal property within 48 hours after the motor vehicle was repossessed, the merchant is subject to the penalty for a Class A misdemeanor, which is a fine not exceeding $10,000 or imprisonment not exceeding nine months or both.

Because this bill creates a new crime or revises a penalty for an existing crime, the Joint Review Committee on Criminal Penalties may be requested to prepare a report concerning the proposed penalty and the costs or savings that are likely to result if the bill is enacted.