SB 524

Current law establishes criteria for selling and offering portable electronics

insurance and imposes certain requirements and restrictions relating to the sale of

portable electronics insurance. Portable electronics insurance is insurance

providing coverage for the repair or replacement of portable electronics that may

provide coverage for a portable electronic device against loss, theft, inoperability due

to mechanical failure, malfunction, or damage, but portable electronics insurance

does not include a service contract or extended warranty. A vendor of portable

electronics may sell or offer to its customers coverage under a policy of portable

electronics insurance issued by an insurer to the vendor and may bill and collect from

its customers charges for the portable electronics insurance coverage. The vendor

must make available for customers a brochure or other written material that

contains certain disclosures, including that a customer is not required to enroll in

portable electronics insurance as a condition of purchasing or leasing a portable

electronics device and that an enrolled customer may cancel coverage at any time

and receive a refund of any unearned premium.

Also under current law, the Wisconsin Consumer Act (WCA) imposes certain

requirements and restrictions on creditors that contract for insurance coverage in

connection with a consumer credit transaction. With a limited exception, a creditor

may not contract for or receive a separate charge for insurance against loss of or

damage to property unless the amount financed, exclusive of charges for the

insurance, is $800 or more and the value of the property is $800 or more. The WCA

also imposes other limitations on a creditor's ability to contract for or receive a

separate charge for insurance against loss of or damage to the customer's property.

For certain insurance products sold by a creditor, the WCA allows the customer to

cancel the insurance product within 30 days and the creditor must provide notice of

this 30-day cancellation period.

Under this bill, these provisions of the WCA do not apply to portable electronics

insurance.