Larry and Lynda Hutchings v. Beneficial Finance Company of Oregon

Appellants, Larry and Lynda Hutchings, sued American Film Services and appellee, Beneficial Finance Co., for alleged violations of the Truth in Lending Act, 15 U.S.C. § 1601 et seq., and Regulation Z, 12 C.F.R. § 226 . The district court granted judgment in favor of Beneficial, and the Hutchings appealed. We affirm.

FACTS

The Hutchings executed a retail installment contract to purchase movie equipment from American Film. The contract stated that the deferred payment price was $859.66, when in fact it was $859.76. The contract also stated that the seller reserved a purchase money security interest in the goods sold, and that the contract would be sold to Beneficial, which would then be the customer’s creditor. The contract was assigned to Beneficial by American Film.

Under the master agreement between American Film and Beneficial, Beneficial drafted the printed portions of the retail installment contracts used by American Film. The contracts were filled out by American Film employees. Beneficial held classes to teach those employees how to fill out the contracts, and supplied them with charts to compute the interest rate, finance charge, and number of payments for each sale.…