{"meta":{"key":"s_md--pass-03","task":"S_MD","title":"SMD Maryland consumer agreements and client-money duties","parent_title":"Maryland debt and debt relief law","edition":"pass-03","path":"/research/s_md--pass-03/","kind":"split_pass","category":"state","role":"state","area_numbers":[66],"groups":["collections"],"date":"2026-10-24","tables":5,"claims":44,"sources":9,"review_status":"revise","review_complete":true,"sha256":"2a35b236905edf860f956fc118409a0b7e102e4e0b4a68500ee9f106ec5b9354","headings":["A. Substantive findings","1. Agreement duties differ materially between DMP and debt settlement","Electronic agreement and delivery rules","Genuine exclusions relevant to contract application","2. Cancellation, termination, refunds, and legal time counting","DMP","DSS","3. Client-money custody, control, segregation, disbursement, statements, and records","DMP: provider receives money, but creditor funds become trust money","DSS: consumer-owned dedicated account, independent administrator","Classification control remains critical","Currentness reconciliation","Example 1 — DMP creditor-money custody","Example 2 — DMP misdirected payment","Example 3 — DMP special rescission after creditor refusal","Example 4 — DSS withdrawal before any debt has been altered","Example 5 — Seven-day statutory counting without inventing a date","Example 6 — DSS installment settlement: exact refund held","Example 7 — classification failure despite “settlement” label","Failed-route/dependency log","Actually freshly read for PASS-03","Historical/agency material","Not established in this pass"],"generation_provenance":{"actual_route":"regular_chat_adaptive_models","actual_model":"GPT-5.6 Sol","actual_mode":"Medium","provenance_limit":"Actual documented capture labels only; missing labels remain unknown. No preferred setting is inferred as actual execution."},"public_id":"S_MD/pass-03","facets":{"geography":["us","us-md"],"debt_type":[],"stage":["settlement"],"subject":["agreements-disclosures","counseling-dmp","settlement-negotiation","client-money"]},"scope":"Independent required agreements/cancellation/client-money duties; prior state-lawpayment/earning/refund and currentnessholds remain open.","pending_corrections":0},"markdown":"# S_MD PASS-03 — Maryland consumer agreements and client-money duties\n\n**Research date/current-source check:** October 24, 2026, Pacific.\n**Scope:** Maryland agreement formation/content, cancellation/termination, consumer-funds custody/control, accounting, records, and directly dependent classification issues. This does **not** reopen PASS-01 licensing/fee ceilings or adopt PASS-02's unresolved fee-trigger/per-debt conclusions as verified law.\n\n## A. Substantive findings\n\n### 1. Agreement duties differ materially between DMP and debt settlement\n\nMaryland uses two substantially different contract structures.\n\nA covered **debt-management-services (“DMP”)** arrangement is inherently a funds-receipt/distribution model: the statutory definition is receiving funds periodically from a consumer under an agreement for distribution among creditors. The “debt management services agreement” itself is statutorily a written contract, plan, or agreement. Maryland reaches Maryland consumers even when the provider has no Maryland office. [Maryland General Assembly+1](https://mgaleg.maryland.gov/2026RS/Statute_Web/gfi/12-901.pdf)\n\nA covered **debt-settlement-services (“DSS”)** arrangement instead turns on representing that the provider will renegotiate, settle, reduce, or otherwise alter terms of unsecured consumer debt. The consumer must reside in Maryland, the DSS agreement is statutorily written, nonprofit status does not itself remove coverage, and the statute expressly covers telephone, Internet, face-to-face, intrastate, and interstate provision. [Maryland General Assembly](https://mgaleg.maryland.gov/2026RS/Statute_Web/gfi/12-1001.pdf)\n\nThat distinction matters for money custody. A settlement provider can operate without receiving the consumer's creditor-payment money. If it **periodically receives funds** in connection with settlement, the specific §12-1002(b) exclusion from DMP treatment applies only if all its stated conditions are met, including compliance with Subtitle 10, principal-reduction negotiations, no more than six settlement payments per debt, and a qualifying separate dedicated account. If those conditions fail, the “settlement” label does not itself prevent DMP analysis. **[S_MD-P3-C001–C004]** [Maryland General Assembly](https://mgaleg.maryland.gov/2026RS/Statute_Web/gfi/12-1002.pdf)\n\n#### DMP pre-agreement and execution requirements\n\nBefore providing DMP services, the licensee must:\n\n- provide a consumer-education program;\n- provide a **written summary** of counseling options/strategies;\n- obtain a signed consumer acknowledgment that the summary was reviewed and the consumer elected to proceed;\n- have a certified counselor prepare a financial analysis and initial budget;\n- provide copies of both to the consumer;\n- identify, for **all creditors identified by the consumer**, which creditors the provider reasonably expects to participate and which it expects not to participate;\n- execute a DMP agreement describing the services;\n- have a reasonable, experience-based expectation that each creditor listed as participating will accept payments under the plan;\n- determine that the DMP is suitable and that the consumer can meet the payment obligations; and\n- provide the consumer a **copy of the completed agreement**. **[C005–C007]** [Maryland General Assembly+1](https://mgaleg.maryland.gov/mgawebsite/Laws/StatuteText?article=gfi&section=12-916)\n\nThere is also a separate written bankruptcy-related notice before DMP services begin. It tells the consumer about federal pre-bankruptcy counseling, whether the provider has U.S. Trustee Program approval, and where to obtain an approved-agency list. This is a Maryland-required disclosure referencing federal law; it is not a substitute for independent federal compliance analysis. [Maryland General Assembly](https://mgaleg.maryland.gov/mgawebsite/Laws/StatuteText?article=gfi&section=12-916)\n\n#### DMP mandatory agreement contents\n\nThe DMP agreement must be **signed and dated by both parties** and the required content must appear in **at least 12-point type**. It must include, among other things:\n\n- consumer and provider identity/contact information and the provider's license number;\n- description of services and consumer charges;\n- surety-bond disclosure;\n- name/address of the financial institution holding consumer creditor-payment funds;\n- notice that either party may rescind **at any time by written notice**;\n- the consumer-to-provider payment schedule, including each payment's amount/due date;\n- an itemization showing the provider-retained maintenance charge and the amount of each payment going to creditors;\n- participating creditors, amounts owed, and the provider-to-creditor amount/date schedule;\n- creditors reasonably expected not to participate;\n- disclosure that the provider may receive creditor compensation;\n- disclosures against conditioning enrollment on paid counseling/education/materials or requiring a “voluntary” contribution;\n- authorization allowing the trust-account institution to provide relevant records to the Commissioner;\n- credit-rating/score impact disclosure; and\n- the prescribed Commissioner complaint/read-before-signing/copy notice. **[C008–C010]** [Maryland General Assembly+2](https://mgaleg.maryland.gov/mgawebsite/Laws/StatuteText?article=gfi&section=12-916)\n\nThe statute does not merely require an abstract “payment plan”: it requires **both sides of the money schedule**—what the consumer pays the provider and what the provider pays each participating creditor.\n\nSection 12-918(g) separately requires a pre-service list identifying which services are free if the consumer enters a DMP, which cost money if no DMP is entered, and which separately charged services are outside the DMP. The provider may not make paid counseling, education, or materials a condition of entering the DMP. This is agreement-adjacent disclosure, not a substitute for the §12-916 agreement. **[C011]** [Maryland General Assembly](https://mgaleg.maryland.gov/2026RS/Statute_Web/gfi/12-918.pdf)\n\n#### DSS agreement requirements\n\nA DSS agreement likewise must be **signed and dated by the registrant and consumer** and use at least **12-point type**. It must state:\n\n- consumer and registrant identity/contact information;\n- services to be provided;\n- DSS fees plus the statutory statements concerning prohibited consultation/credit-report fees and required “voluntary” contributions;\n- each creditor/debt collector and the principal amount owed to each;\n- total principal included in the program;\n- a good-faith estimate of time necessary to obtain the represented results;\n- when settlement offers are contemplated, a good-faith estimate for **each creditor/debt collector** of when a bona fide offer will be made and how much money or what percentage of the debt the consumer must accumulate before the offer;\n- the unrestricted withdrawal right and no-penalty/earned-fee rule;\n- the applicable statutory student-loan disclosure, where relevant;\n- if a dedicated account is required/requested, disclosure that the consumer owns the funds and interest and of the statutory withdrawal-return obligation; and\n- the possible tax consequence of debt reduction. **[C012–C014]** [Maryland General Assembly+2](https://mgaleg.maryland.gov/mgawebsite/Laws/StatuteText?article=gfi&section=12-1012)\n\nThe statutory disclosures in §12-1012(a)(2)(vii) through (xii)—including timing, accumulation, withdrawal, dedicated-account, and tax disclosures—must be provided **clearly and conspicuously**. [Maryland General Assembly](https://mgaleg.maryland.gov/mgawebsite/Laws/StatuteText?article=gfi&section=12-1012)\n\n**Important delivery difference:** unlike DMP §12-916(a)(1)(vi), the DSS provisions freshly read in this pass do **not expressly say that a completed copy of the executed DSS agreement must be delivered to the consumer**. Because the agreement must be written, signed, dated, and contain prescribed consumer disclosures, other Maryland electronic-record or general contract law may affect delivery/use, but I did not find a Subtitle 10 clause equivalent to the DMP completed-copy mandate. That absence is not converted into permission to withhold the agreement. **[C015]**\n\n### Electronic agreement and delivery rules\n\nMaryland's UETA provides that electronic records/signatures cannot be denied effect solely because they are electronic; an electronic record can satisfy a writing requirement and an electronic signature can satisfy a signature requirement. But UETA applies to an electronic transaction only when each party has agreed to transact electronically. In an ordinary standard-form contract, an electronic-transactions clause generally must be conspicuous and separately consented to unless contained in a separate optional electronic agreement. [Maryland General Assembly+1](https://mgaleg.maryland.gov/2026RS/Statute_Web/gcl/21-104.pdf)\n\nWhere another law requires written information to be provided, sent, or delivered, the electronic record must be **capable of retention by the recipient at receipt**. A sender that inhibits printing/storage cannot enforce that electronic record against the recipient; another statute's specified delivery method or format remains controlling. [Maryland General Assembly](https://mgaleg.maryland.gov/mgawebsite/Laws/StatuteText?article=gcl&enactments=false&section=21-107)\n\nDMP §12-916 goes further for the financial-analysis/budget materials: Internet delivery is expressly permitted only if a counselor has reviewed/approved the program/application and the consumer is told counseling is available and given an opportunity to discuss the analysis/budget; Title 21 expressly applies to those transactions. **[C016–C018]** [Maryland General Assembly](https://mgaleg.maryland.gov/mgawebsite/Laws/StatuteText?article=gfi&section=12-916)\n\nI found **no Maryland DSS provision requiring paper-only execution**. That does not eliminate UETA consent/retention requirements or any independently applicable federal consumer-electronic-disclosure requirements.\n\n### Genuine exclusions relevant to contract application\n\nNo generic “nonprofit” exception exists for these duties. DSS expressly defines the provider to include for-profit **and nonprofit** providers. [Maryland General Assembly](https://mgaleg.maryland.gov/2026RS/Statute_Web/gfi/12-1001.pdf)\n\nFor DMP, §12-902 contains activity-specific exclusions for attorneys, escrow agents, CPAs, specified financial institutions, qualifying bill payers, accelerated-mortgage-payment providers, title entities, judicial/court-order actors, certain business-dissolution services, trade/mercantile associations in the stated circumstances, and a licensed mortgage lender that does not receive consumer funds for creditor distribution. [Maryland General Assembly](https://mgaleg.maryland.gov/2026RS/Statute_Web/gfi/12-902.pdf)\n\nDSS exclusions are separately framed. The attorney exclusion requires a lawyer admitted to the Maryland Bar **while providing professional legal services in an attorney-client relationship**; other exclusions are likewise activity/entity conditioned. A licensed collection agency is excluded only while engaged in the defined collection-agency business. [Maryland General Assembly+1](https://mgaleg.maryland.gov/2026RS/Statute_Web/gfi/12-1003.pdf)\n\nThese exceptions determine whether §§12-916/917 or §§12-1010/1012 apply; an attorney relationship or institutional label cannot be presumed from marketing.\n\n## 2. Cancellation, termination, refunds, and legal time counting\n\n### DMP\n\nThere is **no general fixed three-day or other Maryland cooling-off period in the DMP provisions read**. Instead, §12-916 requires the agreement to state that **either party may rescind at any time by giving written notice to the other party**. **[C019]** [Maryland General Assembly](https://mgaleg.maryland.gov/mgawebsite/Laws/StatuteText?article=gfi&section=12-916)\n\nThere is a special creditor-nonparticipation protection. If a creditor listed as participating declines to participate, the provider must notify the consumer by **certified mail or another verifiable means approved by the consumer**, at least **five business days before the next scheduled consumer payment**. The notice must identify the creditor and state the consumer's right to modify or rescind. A consumer rescinding **under that subsection** is entitled to return of **all unexpended funds paid to the licensee for reduction of debt**. [Maryland General Assembly+1](https://mgaleg.maryland.gov/2026RS/Statute_Web/gfi/12-918.pdf)\n\nThat is narrower than saying “all fees must be refunded.” The statute distinguishes creditor-reduction funds from fees. Section 12-918(e) separately prohibits a rescission fee, and §12-918(j) requires return of unauthorized amounts and voids the agreement for non-bona-fide-error unauthorized receipts. PASS-01 fee conclusions are not re-adjudicated here. **[C020–C022]** [Maryland General Assembly](https://mgaleg.maryland.gov/2026RS/Statute_Web/gfi/12-918.pdf)\n\nOn any DMP cancellation or termination, the provider must issue the consumer the statutory written accounting showing funds received for creditor payment since the previous report and amounts/dates disbursed to each creditor. That accounting is otherwise due at least once per calendar quarter. **[C023]** [Maryland General Assembly](https://mgaleg.maryland.gov/2026RS/Statute_Web/gfi/12-919.pdf)\n\nI found **no general Subtitle 9 clause in the freshly read provisions specifying a number of days after ordinary written rescission within which all remaining trust funds must be returned**. The special nonparticipating-creditor refund is clear as to entitlement, but §12-918(h)(4) itself does not state a separate refund deadline. Exact ordinary-termination remittance timing therefore remains a focused hold unless another governing funds/trust provision supplies it. **[C024]**\n\n### DSS\n\nMaryland gives the consumer the right to withdraw from the DSS agreement **at any time**. The registrant may not impose a withdrawal penalty; it may collect only DSS fees “earned” in compliance with §12-1010. [Maryland General Assembly](https://mgaleg.maryland.gov/2026RS/Statute_Web/gfi/12-1010.pdf)\n\nWhere the program uses the statutory dedicated account, consumer withdrawal triggers a separate funds-return rule: **within seven days after the consumer's request**, all funds in the account, including accrued interest, must be paid to the consumer **less only DSS fees earned in compliance with §12-1010**. The DSS agreement must disclose this rule. [Maryland General Assembly+1](https://mgaleg.maryland.gov/2026RS/Statute_Web/gfi/12-1010.pdf)\n\nThe statute says “requests to withdraw”; unlike the DMP general rescission clause, it does **not** say the DSS request must be written. I found no Subtitle 10 provision in this pass authorizing the contract to transform that statutory right into a written-notice-only right. **[C025–C027]**\n\nThere is likewise **no separate cooling-off waiting period** in the DSS provisions read: the consumer can withdraw at any time.\n\n#### Seven-day counting rule\n\nFor a period “described in a statute,” Maryland General Provisions §1-302 says:\n\n1. exclude the day of the triggering act/event;\n2. ordinarily include the final day;\n3. if the final day is Sunday or a legal holiday, extend to the next day that is neither; and\n4. for a period of **seven days or less**, intermediate Sundays and legal holidays are **not counted**. [Maryland General Assembly](https://mgaleg.maryland.gov/mgawebsite/Laws/StatuteText?article=ggp&section=1-302)\n\nTherefore §12-1010(d)(5)'s “within 7 days after the consumer's request” should not casually be converted to seven ordinary consecutive calendar days. Saturdays are not excluded by §1-302 merely because they are Saturdays; Sundays and Maryland legal holidays are excluded for this seven-day statutory period. **[C028]**\n\nI do not assign a real-calendar endpoint without the withdrawal date and applicable Maryland holiday facts.\n\n#### PASS-02 earning/refund hold expressly preserved\n\nPASS-03 does **not** resolve what amount is “earned” where a settlement involves installments, an incomplete later debt, a failed installment arrangement, or the unresolved Maryland-only §12-1010(c)(3) payment trigger. Section 12-1010(d)(5)/(f) gives the refund formula conceptually, but the **earned-fee input may still be legally unresolved** under PASS-02. An earlier debt triggering some fee entitlement cannot silently establish entitlement to fees allocated to every later debt. **[C029]**\n\nFederal TSR requirements may independently be stricter in covered transactions, but they are not used here to rewrite Maryland's statutory wording.\n\n## 3. Client-money custody, control, segregation, disbursement, statements, and records\n\n### DMP: provider receives money, but creditor funds become trust money\n\nA DMP under §12-901(h) is based on periodic consumer funds received for creditor distribution. Maryland defines the required “trust account” as an account:\n\n- at a **federally insured financial institution**;\n- separate from the provider's operating account;\n- designated as a trust or equivalently designated so the funds are identified as **not provider/officer/employee/agent funds**;\n- unavailable to the provider's creditors; and\n- used to hold consumer funds for disbursement to consumers' creditors. **[C030]** [Maryland General Assembly+1](https://mgaleg.maryland.gov/2026RS/Statute_Web/gfi/12-901.pdf)\n\nSection 12-917 then imposes operational timing and segregation duties:\n\n- deposit consumer creditor-payment funds in the trust account **within two business days after receipt**;\n- maintain **separate account records for each consumer**;\n- disburse consumer funds to creditors **within eight business days after receipt**;\n- correct misdirected payments caused by provider error;\n- reimburse the consumer for actual creditor fees/charges caused by that misdirection; and\n- never commingle the consumer-benefit trust account with provider operating accounts. **[C031–C033]** [Maryland General Assembly](https://mgaleg.maryland.gov/2026RS/Statute_Web/gfi/12-917.pdf)\n\nThe agreement itself must identify the financial institution that will hold the creditor funds, itemize provider-retained amounts versus creditor-directed money, identify participating creditors, and specify creditor disbursement amounts/dates. [Maryland General Assembly](https://mgaleg.maryland.gov/mgawebsite/Laws/StatuteText?article=gfi&section=12-916)\n\n#### Third-party trust-account management\n\nThe licensing application must identify an agent acting for the provider to manage the §12-917 trust account, and the provider cannot simply change the person controlling/managing that account without the Commissioner-related approval mechanism described in §12-915. The presence of a third-party agent therefore does **not** eliminate the statutory DMP trust obligations. The provider remains subject to the consumer-specific accounting/record regime. **[C034]**\n\nThis pass does not reopen the bond/insurance conditions.\n\n#### DMP statements and reconciliation\n\nConsumers must receive a **written accounting at least once each calendar quarter** and again upon cancellation/termination. It must state creditor-payment funds received since the previous report and the amount/date of each creditor disbursement. [Maryland General Assembly](https://mgaleg.maryland.gov/2026RS/Statute_Web/gfi/12-919.pdf)\n\nSeparately, DMP licensees must preserve for at least **seven years**:\n\n- general ledger;\n- each DMP agreement;\n- books/records for each consumer;\n- bank statements and **bank reconciliation records**;\n- each required counseling-options summary; and\n- each signed acknowledgment. [Maryland General Assembly+1](https://mgaleg.maryland.gov/2026RS/Statute_Web/gfi/12-922.pdf)\n\nRecords may be stored elsewhere if the Commissioner is notified and they can be made available in Maryland within seven days after a written examination request. They may be kept in original or Commissioner-approved photographic/electronic/similar form. Consumer records are confidential except for the specified persons, and these record obligations extend to relevant records held by a subsidiary, affiliate, or **other person** concerning the DMP business. **[C035–C037]** [Maryland General Assembly](https://mgaleg.maryland.gov/2026RS/Statute_Web/gfi/12-922.pdf)\n\nThus outsourcing custody/account administration does not erase Maryland record accountability.\n\n#### Remote-work restriction relevant to custody\n\nCurrent COMAR 09.03.02.08 expressly includes DMP licenses within its definition of covered “license.” A qualifying employee may work remotely, but the remote location may **not receive or dispense cash, negotiable instruments, or other monetary value** in the licensed business, and generally may not be used to store business records except under the specified secure-transmission/storage exceptions. [Maryland Regulations+1](https://regs.maryland.gov/us/md/exec/comar/09.03.02/index.full.html)\n\nThe Commissioner adopted permanent Regulation .08 on March 22, 2021, effective **April 19, 2021**. The actual Maryland Register final-action page states it was adopted as proposed. [Maryland State Archives](https://msa.maryland.gov/megafile/msa/speccol/sc5300/sc5339/000113/024900/024973/20210117e.pdf)\n\nThis COMAR remote-work provision enumerates DMP licensure under Subtitle 9; it does **not** list a Subtitle 10 DSS registration. I therefore do not extend this specific remote-location cash prohibition to DSS registrants without additional authority.\n\n### DSS: consumer-owned dedicated account, independent administrator\n\nA DSS provider is not inherently custodial in the DMP sense. The statutory dedicated-account option allows the registrant to request/require funds to be deposited for DSS fees and creditor/debt-collector payments only if:\n\n- the funds are held at an **insured financial institution**;\n- the **consumer owns the funds and accrued interest**;\n- the institution/entity administering the account is not owned/controlled by or affiliated with the registrant;\n- the administrator does not pay or accept referral compensation involving the registrant, although it may charge account-related fees; and\n- upon a qualifying withdrawal request, the account balance and accrued interest, less legally earned compliant DSS fees, go back to the consumer within the statutory period. **[C038–C040]** [Maryland General Assembly+1](https://mgaleg.maryland.gov/2026RS/Statute_Web/gfi/12-1010.pdf)\n\nThis is fundamentally different from DMP trust custody:\n\n| Issue | DMP trust account | DSS dedicated account |\n| --- | --- | --- |\n| Funds received by provider? | Statutory model contemplates provider receipt for creditor distribution | Provider may be noncustodial; qualifying dedicated account can be used |\n| Beneficial ownership | Designated not provider funds; held for consumer benefit/creditor disbursement | Statute expressly says **consumer owns funds and interest** |\n| Institution | Federally insured financial institution | Insured financial institution under FI §1-101 |\n| Provider/administrator relationship | Provider may have identified agent managing account; provider remains regulated | Administrator must be independent—not owned, controlled, or affiliated with registrant |\n| Commingling | Trust cannot be commingled with operating accounts | Dedicated-account structure and consumer ownership/independence apply |\n| Creditor-disbursement deadline | 8 business days from provider receipt | **No parallel Subtitle 10 deadline located in §12-1010** |\n| Consumer statements | Written accounting quarterly + cancellation/termination | **No parallel periodic account-statement mandate located in Subtitle 10 provisions checked** |\n| Reconciliation/retention | Seven-year records incl. bank statements/reconciliations | **No parallel Subtitle 10 reconciliation/retention provision located in the provisions checked** |\n\nThe historical OFR DSS advisory repeats the statutory independent-account/consumer-ownership/withdrawal framework and is consistent with §12-1010, but it is a **September 22, 2011 historical agency advisory**, not a later formal interpretation creating additional custody duties. **[C041]** [MD Labor](https://www.labor.maryland.gov/finance/advisories/advisorydebtsettlement.shtml)\n\nThe absence of a parallel Subtitle 10 disbursement/reconciliation clause in the sources read is **not** a finding that no other Maryland law, account agreement, financial-institution law, fiduciary rule, or independently applicable federal requirement can impose one. That broader question remains open.\n\n### Classification control remains critical\n\nA company cannot choose the more convenient account regime by calling itself “settlement.” If it periodically receives consumer funds and fails §12-1002(b)'s settlement carveout, Subtitle 9/DMP classification has to be reexamined. Conversely, a true noncustodial settlement model should not be mechanically subjected to §12-917 simply because money is being accumulated by the consumer elsewhere. **[C003–C004, C042]** [Maryland General Assembly](https://mgaleg.maryland.gov/2026RS/Statute_Web/gfi/12-1002.pdf)\n\n# B. PASS-03 source table\n\nAll sources below were actually accessed/read on **October 24, 2026 Pacific**, unless expressly labeled historical. The “Direct source” links are the official public routes used.\n\n| Source ID | Issuer/title and direct source | Exact passages actually read | Version/effective status | Limitations |\n| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |\n| **S_MD-P3-S001** | Maryland General Assembly/DLS, **Financial Institutions Article, Subtitle 9 — Debt Management Services**: [§12-901](https://mgaleg.maryland.gov/2026RS/Statute_Web/gfi/12-901.pdf?utm_source=chatgpt.com); [§12-902](https://mgaleg.maryland.gov/2026RS/Statute_Web/gfi/12-902.pdf?utm_source=chatgpt.com); [§12-906](https://mgaleg.maryland.gov/2026RS/Statute_Web/gfi/12-906.pdf?utm_source=chatgpt.com); [§12-916](https://mgaleg.maryland.gov/mgawebsite/Laws/StatuteText?article=gfi&section=12-916&utm_source=chatgpt.com); [§12-917](https://mgaleg.maryland.gov/2026RS/Statute_Web/gfi/12-917.pdf?utm_source=chatgpt.com); [§12-918](https://mgaleg.maryland.gov/2026RS/Statute_Web/gfi/12-918.pdf?utm_source=chatgpt.com); [§12-919](https://mgaleg.maryland.gov/2026RS/Statute_Web/gfi/12-919.pdf?utm_source=chatgpt.com); [§12-922](https://mgaleg.maryland.gov/2026RS/Statute_Web/gfi/12-922.pdf?utm_source=chatgpt.com) | §§12-901(d),(h),(i),(r); 12-902; 12-906(a)–(b); 12-916(a)–(c); 12-917(a)–(c); relevant §12-918(a),(g)–(j); 12-919; 12-922(a)–(f). PDFs visually inspected for key money/record provisions. | Current official 2026 statutory text, checked against S008 currentness materials. | Fee maxima not reassessed. §12-915 trust-manager dependency read in research but not independently analyzed as complete licensing architecture. |\n| **S_MD-P3-S002** | Maryland General Assembly/DLS, **Financial Institutions Article, Subtitle 10 — Debt Settlement Services**: [§12-1001](https://mgaleg.maryland.gov/2026RS/Statute_Web/gfi/12-1001.pdf?utm_source=chatgpt.com); [§12-1002](https://mgaleg.maryland.gov/2026RS/Statute_Web/gfi/12-1002.pdf?utm_source=chatgpt.com); [§12-1003](https://mgaleg.maryland.gov/2026RS/Statute_Web/gfi/12-1003.pdf?utm_source=chatgpt.com); [§12-1010](https://mgaleg.maryland.gov/2026RS/Statute_Web/gfi/12-1010.pdf?utm_source=chatgpt.com); [§12-1012](https://mgaleg.maryland.gov/mgawebsite/Laws/StatuteText?article=gfi&section=12-1012&utm_source=chatgpt.com) | §§12-1001(b),(d)–(i); 12-1002; 12-1003; 12-1010(c)–(f); 12-1012(a)–(b). PDF page images inspected for §12-1010. | Current official 2026 text subject to S008 currentness check. | PASS-02 §12-1010(c)(3)/per-debt earning interpretation remains held. No broad DSS record-retention inference from silence. |\n| **S_MD-P3-S003** | Maryland General Assembly/DLS, **Commercial Law Title 21, Maryland UETA**: [§21-104](https://mgaleg.maryland.gov/2026RS/Statute_Web/gcl/21-104.pdf?utm_source=chatgpt.com); [§21-106](https://mgaleg.maryland.gov/mgawebsite/Laws/StatuteText?article=gcl&section=21-106&utm_source=chatgpt.com); [§21-107](https://mgaleg.maryland.gov/mgawebsite/Laws/StatuteText?article=gcl&section=21-107&utm_source=chatgpt.com) | §21-104(a)–(c); §21-106(a)–(d); §21-107(a)–(d). | Current Maryland electronic-transactions statute. | Does not displace specified methods/formats in other laws; federal E-SIGN consumer requirements not analyzed here. |\n| **S_MD-P3-S004** | Maryland General Assembly/DLS, **General Provisions §1-302 — Computation of statutory time**: [official text](https://mgaleg.maryland.gov/mgawebsite/Laws/StatuteText?article=ggp&section=1-302&utm_source=chatgpt.com) | §1-302(a)–(c). | Current enacted rule. | Applied here only to statutory “7 days”; “business day” definitions are separate. |\n| **S_MD-P3-S005** | Maryland Division of State Documents, **COMAR 09.03.02.08 — Remote Work for Employees of Licensees**: [current chapter text](https://regs.maryland.gov/us/md/exec/comar/09.03.02/index.full.html?utm_source=chatgpt.com) | .08A–I, especially definitions of employee/license and .08D(6),(8), security/records. | Current operative regulation. Permanent rule effective Apr.19,2021; adoption corroborated by S006. | Definition includes DMP Subtitle 9; no DSS Subtitle 10 registration listed. |\n| **S_MD-P3-S006** | Maryland Register, Vol.48 Issue8, **Notice of Final Action [21-009-F]**, p.308: [official State Archives PDF](https://msa.maryland.gov/megafile/msa/speccol/sc5300/sc5339/000113/024900/024973/20210117e.pdf?utm_source=chatgpt.com) | Printed p.308, actual page image read: Commissioner adopted new COMAR 09.03.02.08 on Mar.22,2021 as proposed; effective Apr.19,2021. | **Final adopted rule**, not proposal/emergency-only text. [Maryland State Archives](https://msa.maryland.gov/megafile/msa/speccol/sc5300/sc5339/000113/024900/024973/20210117e.pdf) | Establishes adoption/effective status, not all later amendments to chapter. |\n| **S_MD-P3-S007** | OFR, **Maryland Debt Settlement Services Provider Advisory Notice**, Sept.22,2011: [official OFR advisory](https://www.labor.maryland.gov/finance/advisories/advisorydebtsettlement.shtml?utm_source=chatgpt.com) | Advisory heading and implementation summary; account/withdrawal requirements checked against current statute. | Historical agency implementation guidance following 2011 Act. | Not a current formal interpretive order; current statute controls. |\n| **S_MD-P3-S008** | MGA/DLS, **2026 Financial Institutions Statutes Affected**: [official table](https://mgaleg.maryland.gov/mgawebsite/Laws/StatutesAffected?statuteText=Financial+Institutions+-+(gfi)&statuteValue=gfi&utm_source=chatgpt.com) | Target range checked: table goes from §12-802 to §12-1101 without listing target Subtitle 9/10 sections. | Page current on Oct.24; displayed 2026 affected-section information. [Maryland General Assembly](https://mgaleg.maryland.gov/mgawebsite/Laws/StatutesAffected?statuteText=Financial+Institutions+-+%28gfi%29&statuteValue=gfi) | Supports currentness check but does not itself reproduce substantive statutory text. |\n| **S_MD-P3-S009** | MGA statutes interface/current-session enactment presentation | Official statutes interface displayed option to show statutes in effect as of Oct.1,2026; per-section enactments=true routes were separately attempted. | Currentness support. | Individual enactments=true target-section requests returned tool-side errors; treated as access gap, not substantive authority. |\n\n### Currentness reconciliation\n\nThe operative statutory passages above are the official 2026 Maryland texts freshly read. The 2026 Financial Institutions “Statutes Affected” table shows §12-802 and then §12-1101 as the next affected Title 12 entries—none of the Subtitle 9/10 sections used in this pass appears in that interval. [Maryland General Assembly](https://mgaleg.maryland.gov/mgawebsite/Laws/StatutesAffected?statuteText=Financial+Institutions+-+%28gfi%29&statuteValue=gfi)\n\nThe MGA statutes interface also indicated statutes could be shown in effect **as of October 1, 2026**. Direct target-section requests using its “include enactments” parameter nevertheless failed in the public tool, so I do **not** represent those failed views as read. The substantive text plus 2026 affected-section check is the currentness chain used here.\n\nCOMAR .08 is not merely an old emergency rule: the actual 2021 final-action notice records permanent adoption and an April 19, 2021 effective date. [Maryland State Archives](https://msa.maryland.gov/megafile/msa/speccol/sc5300/sc5339/000113/024900/024973/20210117e.pdf)\n\n# C. Material claim table\n\n| Claim ID | Precise assertion | Sources / pinpoint | Conditions, exceptions, currentness, confidence |\n| --- | --- | --- | --- |\n| **S_MD-P3-C001** | DMP is periodic consumer-fund receipt under an agreement for creditor distribution; the DMP agreement is written. | S001 §12-901(h),(i) | **High—current text.** Classification turns on actual money flow. |\n| **S_MD-P3-C002** | DSS is represented alteration of unsecured consumer debt terms; Maryland resident/consumer debt and interstate/Internet channels are expressly covered. | S002 §12-1001(b),(d),(e),(g),(i) | **High—current text.** |\n| **S_MD-P3-C003** | A settlement provider that periodically receives funds avoids DMP treatment under §12-1002(b) only if all statutory conditions are met. | S002 §12-1002(b)(1)–(3) | **High—current text.** No label-based exemption. |\n| **S_MD-P3-C004** | A DSS dedicated account must be separate from a DMP trust account and cannot be created solely to hold provider fees for the §12-1002(b) carveout. | S002 §12-1002(b)(3) | **High—current text.** |\n| **S_MD-P3-C005** | Before DMP services, consumer education, written options summary, signed acknowledgment, counselor analysis/budget, and copies are required. | S001 §12-916(a)(1)(i)–(ii) | **High.** |\n| **S_MD-P3-C006** | DMP pre-service creditor lists must identify expected participants/nonparticipants, and the provider must have reasonable experience-based expectations for listed participants. | S001 §12-916(a)(1)(ii)3,(iv) | **High.** |\n| **S_MD-P3-C007** | DMP services cannot begin until a completed agreement has been executed and a copy provided to the consumer, plus suitability/ability-to-pay determinations. | S001 §12-916(a)(1)(iii),(v),(vi) | **High.** |\n| **S_MD-P3-C008** | DMP agreement must be signed/dated and prescribed contents must be at least 12-point type. | S001 §12-916(b)(1)–(2) | **High.** |\n| **S_MD-P3-C009** | DMP contract must disclose consumer payment amounts/dates and distinguish retained maintenance amounts from creditor amounts, plus creditor-level disbursement schedules. | S001 §12-916(b)(2)(vii)–(viii) | **High.** |\n| **S_MD-P3-C010** | DMP contract must contain the specified rescission, trust institution, creditor-compensation, credit-impact and Commissioner/copy disclosures. | S001 §12-916(b)(2)(v)–(xiv) | **High.** Bond details deferred. |\n| **S_MD-P3-C011** | Before DMP service, provider must give a service/charge menu; paid counseling/education/materials cannot be mandatory for DMP enrollment. | S001 §12-918(g) | **High.** Fee amounts not revisited. |\n| **S_MD-P3-C012** | DSS agreement must be written, signed/dated by both parties and use at least 12-point type for required contents. | S002 §§12-1001(e),12-1012(a)(1)–(2) | **High.** |\n| **S_MD-P3-C013** | DSS agreement must identify each creditor/debt collector and individual principal, total principal, expected result timing, and where settlement offers are contemplated, creditor-specific timing/accumulation estimates. | S002 §12-1012(a)(2)(v)–(viii) | **High.** |\n| **S_MD-P3-C014** | Specified DSS disclosures, including withdrawal/dedicated-account/tax information, must be clear and conspicuous. | S002 §12-1012(a)(2)(vii)–(xii),(b) | **High.** |\n| **S_MD-P3-C015** | No Subtitle 10 clause equivalent to §12-916(a)(1)(vi)'s explicit completed-copy delivery requirement was located. | S002 §§12-1010,12-1012 compared with S001 §12-916(a)(1)(vi) | **Bounded textual finding.** Not permission to withhold; broader contract/electronic law may apply. |\n| **S_MD-P3-C016** | Maryland UETA allows electronic records/signatures to satisfy writing/signature requirements if applicable. | S003 §§21-104,21-106 | **High—current statute.** |\n| **S_MD-P3-C017** | Electronic transaction consent cannot simply be inferred; standard-form e-consent generally must be conspicuous and separately consented unless separate optional agreement. | S003 §21-104(b) | **High.** |\n| **S_MD-P3-C018** | Required electronic written delivery must be retainable at receipt; specified statutory delivery methods/formats survive UETA. | S003 §21-107(a)–(d); S001 §12-916(a)(2) | **High.** |\n| **S_MD-P3-C019** | DMP has no fixed general cooling-off period in provisions read; either party instead has contractual/statutory right to rescind at any time by written notice. | S001 §12-916(b)(2)(vi) | **High as to inspected Subtitle 9 text.** |\n| **S_MD-P3-C020** | Participating-creditor refusal requires certified mail or consumer-approved verifiable notice ≥5 business days before next payment. | S001 §12-918(h)(1)–(3) | **High.** |\n| **S_MD-P3-C021** | Consumer rescinding under §12-918(h) receives all unexpended funds paid to provider for debt reduction. | S001 §12-918(h)(4) | **High.** Does not say every prior lawful fee is refunded. |\n| **S_MD-P3-C022** | Unauthorized DMP receipts generally void the agreement and require return of the unauthorized amount, subject to accidental bona fide error clause. | S001 §12-918(j) | **High.** Full remedies excluded. |\n| **S_MD-P3-C023** | DMP written accounting is due quarterly and at cancellation/termination. | S001 §12-919 | **High.** |\n| **S_MD-P3-C024** | No general Subtitle 9 deadline for return of residual trust funds after ordinary rescission was located in provisions checked. | S001 §§12-916–919 | **Held/bounded negative.** Special §918(h) entitlement remains clear. |\n| **S_MD-P3-C025** | DSS consumer may withdraw at any time without penalty. | S002 §12-1010(f) | **High.** |\n| **S_MD-P3-C026** | DSS statutory withdrawal request is not expressly required to be written in §12-1010(d)(5)/(f). | S002 §12-1010(d)(5),(f); §12-1012(a)(2)(ix),(xi) | **High textual observation.** No contrary formal interpretation located. |\n| **S_MD-P3-C027** | Qualifying dedicated-account balance plus interest must be returned within seven statutory days after request, less compliant earned DSS fees. | S002 §12-1010(d)(5); §12-1012(a)(2)(xi) | **High text; earned-fee input retains PASS-02 hold.** |\n| **S_MD-P3-C028** | GP §1-302 governs statutory seven-day computation: trigger day excluded; intermediate Sundays/legal holidays excluded for ≤7-day periods; final Sunday/holiday extends. | S004 §1-302(a)–(c) | **High.** Actual endpoint requires trigger/holiday facts. |\n| **S_MD-P3-C029** | PASS-02's state-only §1010(c)(3), installment/per-debt earning and related refund questions remain unresolved and are not cured by an earlier fee-trigger event. | S002 §12-1010(c),(d),(e),(f); prior PASS-02 provenance | **Express hold.** |\n| **S_MD-P3-C030** | DMP trust account must be federally insured, segregated from operations, designated as non-provider funds, protected from provider creditors, and used for consumer creditor funds. | S001 §12-901(r) | **High.** |\n| **S_MD-P3-C031** | DMP creditor funds must be deposited into trust within 2 business days after receipt and creditor-disbursed within 8 business days after receipt. | S001 §12-917(a),(b)(2) | **High.** No calendar endpoint without business-day facts. |\n| **S_MD-P3-C032** | DMP provider must maintain separate consumer account records and cannot commingle trust and operating accounts. | S001 §12-917(b)(1),(c) | **High.** |\n| **S_MD-P3-C033** | Provider must correct its misdirected payments and reimburse actual creditor fees/charges resulting from its error. | S001 §12-917(b)(3) | **High.** |\n| **S_MD-P3-C034** | Third-party trust-account management does not eliminate provider accountability; Subtitle 9 contemplates identified account-management agents. | S001 §§12-908,12-915,12-917,12-922(f) | **High structural conclusion; licensing-change mechanics otherwise excluded.** |\n| **S_MD-P3-C035** | DMP must preserve specified books/accounts/records at least 7 years, including consumer records, bank statements and reconciliations. | S001 §12-922(a) | **High.** |\n| **S_MD-P3-C036** | DMP records may be electronic or similar Commissioner-approved form and may be stored elsewhere subject to notification/access requirements. | S001 §12-922(b),(c) | **High.** |\n| **S_MD-P3-C037** | DMP consumer records are confidential under §12-922 and record duties extend to relevant records held by affiliates/other persons. | S001 §12-922(e),(f) | **High.** |\n| **S_MD-P3-C038** | DSS statutory dedicated-account funds must be held at an insured financial institution and are expressly owned by the consumer, including interest. | S002 §12-1010(d)(1)–(2) | **High.** |\n| **S_MD-P3-C039** | DSS account administrator must be unaffiliated/uncontrolled by registrant and cannot exchange referral compensation with registrant. | S002 §12-1010(d)(3)–(4) | **High.** Account-related fees are statutorily contemplated; amount not revisited. |\n| **S_MD-P3-C040** | Subtitle 10 provisions read do not supply a DMP-like 8-business-day disbursement mandate, quarterly statement mandate, or seven-year bank-reconciliation regime for the dedicated account. | S002 §§12-1010–1012 compared with S001 §§12-917,919,922 | **Bounded negative finding.** Other applicable law remains open. |\n| **S_MD-P3-C041** | 2011 OFR DSS advisory is consistent with consumer ownership/independent-account/withdrawal rules but is historical guidance, not a current formal adjudication. | S007 | **High characterization.** |\n| **S_MD-P3-C042** | Actual custody/control can change classification; a provider cannot rely on a settlement label when §12-1002(b)'s money-receipt carveout fails. | S002 §12-1002(b); S001 §12-901(h) | **High statutory dependency.** |\n| **S_MD-P3-C043** | Current COMAR .08 permits qualifying DMP employee remote work but forbids the remote location from receiving/dispensing money and tightly restricts record storage. | S005 .08B–F | **High; DMP only for this use.** |\n| **S_MD-P3-C044** | COMAR .08's permanent rule was adopted Mar.22,2021 and effective Apr.19,2021. | S006 p.308 | **High—final adoption notice.** |\n\n# D. Bounded examples\n\nThese examples use only verified agreement/funds clauses. They do **not** invent a Maryland fee entitlement.\n\n### Example 1 — DMP creditor-money custody\n\n**Inputs**\n\nConsumer sends the licensed DMP provider **$600**, all expressly designated under the agreement for creditor payments. Assume the agreement is valid and no part of this $600 is provider compensation.\n\n**Base:** $600 consumer creditor funds.\n**Operator:** §12-917(a)/(b).\n**Intermediate:** trust deposit = $600; creditor-disbursement pool = $600.\n**Result:** provider must place **$600** into the qualifying trust account within **2 business days after receipt** and disburse that money to creditors within **8 business days after receipt**, following the creditor schedule. No rounding arises. [Maryland General Assembly](https://mgaleg.maryland.gov/2026RS/Statute_Web/gfi/12-917.pdf)\n\nNo exact dates are assigned because “business day” depends on the actual receipt date and applicable nonbusiness days.\n\n### Example 2 — DMP misdirected payment\n\n**Inputs**\n\nProvider should send $400 to Creditor A and $200 to Creditor B but mistakenly sends the $200 payment to the wrong creditor. Creditor B imposes a documented **$25 late charge** because of the provider's error.\n\n**Operator:** §12-917(b)(3).\n\n**Result:** provider must correct the misdirected payment and reimburse the consumer the **actual $25 creditor charge** caused by the error. Refund arithmetic: $25 actual caused charge × 100% reimbursement = **$25**. No rounding. [Maryland General Assembly](https://mgaleg.maryland.gov/2026RS/Statute_Web/gfi/12-917.pdf)\n\nThis is not an assumed consequential-damages rule; it is the specific statutory actual-fee/charge reimbursement duty.\n\n### Example 3 — DMP special rescission after creditor refusal\n\n**Inputs**\n\nConsumer has paid **$800 specifically for debt reduction**. Provider has already disbursed **$500** to creditors. A creditor listed as participating later refuses, proper §12-918(h) notice is given, and the consumer rescinds under that subsection.\n\n**Base:** $800 debt-reduction funds.\n**Operator:** unexpended funds = paid debt-reduction funds − already expended creditor funds.\n**Intermediate:** $800 − $500 = $300.\n**Result:** **$300** must be refunded as unexpended debt-reduction funds under §12-918(h)(4). [Maryland General Assembly](https://mgaleg.maryland.gov/2026RS/Statute_Web/gfi/12-918.pdf)\n\nThis does **not** assume that every earlier lawfully earned provider fee is separately refundable. No rescission fee may be imposed.\n\n### Example 4 — DSS withdrawal before any debt has been altered\n\n**Inputs**\n\nConsumer has **$1,250** in the qualifying dedicated account, including accrued interest. The DSS agreement exists, but **no individual debt has yet been renegotiated, settled, reduced, or otherwise altered**. Consumer requests withdrawal. Assume no independent administrator charge is outstanding.\n\n**Legal dependency:** §12-1010(c)(2) has not occurred, so the registrant has not satisfied the statutory predicates for charging a DSS fee under subsection (c). This example does not depend on the unresolved (c)(3) interpretation.\n\n**Operator:** account funds + interest − legally earned DSS fees.\n\n**Intermediate:** $1,250 − $0 = $1,250.\n\n**Result:** **$1,250** is the statutory account-return amount on these assumptions. The return period is governed by §12-1010(d)(5) and GP §1-302. [Maryland General Assembly+2](https://mgaleg.maryland.gov/2026RS/Statute_Web/gfi/12-1010.pdf)\n\nNo calendar date is fabricated.\n\n### Example 5 — Seven-day statutory counting without inventing a date\n\n**Inputs**\n\nWithdrawal request occurs on a hypothetical **Monday**. Assume no Maryland legal holiday occurs during the following period.\n\n**Counting rule first:** exclude request day; because the period is seven days, do not count intermediate Sundays or legal holidays; Saturday is not excluded merely for being Saturday. [Maryland General Assembly](https://mgaleg.maryland.gov/mgawebsite/Laws/StatuteText?article=ggp&section=1-302)\n\n**Count:** Tuesday=1; Wednesday=2; Thursday=3; Friday=4; Saturday=5; Sunday excluded; Monday=6; Tuesday=7.\n\n**Result:** under those stated assumptions, the seventh counted day is the following **Tuesday**. If a Maryland legal holiday intervenes, the result changes.\n\n### Example 6 — DSS installment settlement: exact refund held\n\n**Inputs**\n\nDedicated-account balance including interest = **$2,400**. A creditor has accepted a multi-installment settlement; some installments have been paid. Provider asserts **$600** has been “earned.”\n\n**Known statutory operator:** refund = account balance − DSS fees actually earned in compliance with §12-1010.\n\n**Unknown input:** legally earned fee **E**, because PASS-02 did not resolve Maryland's installment/per-debt earning rule.\n\n**Result:** refund = **$2,400 − E**. It is **not permissible from the authority presently verified to substitute $600 for E merely because the provider asserts it**.\n\nNo exact refund is stated. That is the required legal hold, not an arithmetic gap. **[C029]**\n\n### Example 7 — classification failure despite “settlement” label\n\n**Inputs**\n\nA provider calls its program “debt settlement,” periodically receives consumer funds, negotiates principal reduction, but plans **eight provider-controlled settlement payments for one debt**.\n\n**Operator:** §12-1002(b)(2)(ii) allows the specific DMP carveout only if there are no more than six settlement payments per debt.\n\n**Intermediate:** 8 > 6.\n\n**Result:** the provider cannot rely on that particular §12-1002(b) exclusion from DMP treatment. Its custody structure must be reclassified before using the DSS-only dedicated-account assumptions. No fee or contract validity is invented from these facts. [Maryland General Assembly](https://mgaleg.maryland.gov/2026RS/Statute_Web/gfi/12-1002.pdf)\n\n# E. Component coverage and exact remaining investigations\n\n| PASS-03 issue | Status | Claims | Exact remaining authority / next action |\n| --- | --- | --- | --- |\n| DMP mandatory pre-service counseling/analysis materials | **Answered** | C005–C007 | None for statutory baseline; actual provider implementation would require document-by-document review. |\n| DMP agreement form, execution, copy, type size | **Answered** | C007–C010 | No broader contract-law validity conclusion intended. |\n| DMP payment schedules/creditor participation disclosures | **Answered** | C006,C009 | Actual creditor participation remains factual and can change after signing. |\n| DSS agreement form, contents, clarity | **Answered** | C012–C014 | Student-loan sector details remain later sector pass beyond required agreement statement. |\n| DSS completed-copy delivery | **Partial / unresolved beyond Subtitle 10** | C015–C018 | Search controlling Maryland contract/UETA or OFR interpretation specifically requiring post-execution DSS copy delivery; no Subtitle 10 analogue located. |\n| Electronic signatures/records | **Answered at Maryland UETA level** | C016–C018 | Independently applicable federal E-SIGN consumer-consent specifics remain outside this pass. |\n| DMP ordinary rescission method | **Answered** | C019 | Written notice to other party. |\n| DMP cooling-off period | **Answered boundedly: none located** | C019 | Broader contract/consumer statutes could be tested in later cross-cutting pass. |\n| DMP creditor-nonparticipation notice/refund | **Answered** | C020–C022 | Exact “business day” calendar depends on actual dates. |\n| Ordinary DMP residual-trust-fund return deadline | **Unresolved** | C024 | Search OFR formal interpretations, controlling cases, or additional trust/account regulations for a post-termination remittance deadline. |\n| DMP statements/accountings | **Answered** | C023 | Quarterly and cancellation/termination. |\n| DMP trust segregation/deposit/disbursement | **Answered** | C030–C033 | Other money-transmission/fiduciary classifications remain later if actual model warrants. |\n| DMP reconciliation/record retention | **Answered** | C035–C037 | Seven years, bank statements/reconciliations, consumer records. |\n| DMP third-party account manager | **Answered enough for this component** | C034,C037 | Full approval/change-control/licensing procedure remains excluded licensing pass. |\n| DMP remote-location receipt/storage | **Answered** | C043–C044 | Current COMAR applies to DMP licensee employees, not automatically contractors/DSS. |\n| DSS withdrawal right/method | **Answered in core** | C025–C027 | No written-request requirement located; contrary formal interpretation not found. |\n| DSS seven-day counting | **Answered** | C027–C028 | Exact date requires request date + Maryland legal-holiday facts. |\n| DSS dedicated-account ownership/independence | **Answered** | C038–C039 | Actual account administrator relationship must satisfy facts. |\n| DSS periodic statements/reconciliation/records | **Partial / no parallel Subtitle 10 duty located** | C040–C041 | Search bank/account-administrator law, OFR formal interpretations, and any controlling decisions before concluding no duty exists elsewhere. |\n| DSS creditor-disbursement deadline | **Partial / no parallel Subtitle 10 deadline located** | C040 | Same next action; do not import DMP 8-business-day rule. |\n| PASS-02 §1010(c)(3) state payment trigger | **Expressly unresolved / excluded from redecision** | C029 | Retain PASS-02 hold pending its coordinator review/additional controlling interpretation. |\n| Installment/per-debt DSS earning/refund | **Expressly unresolved** | C029 | Need controlling Maryland interpretation/decision; no arithmetic substitute. |\n| Nonprofit/attorney/institution boundaries necessary to apply contract rules | **Answered at statutory baseline** | C001–C004 | Entity/factual application remains provider-specific. |\n| Currentness/adoption of consequential COMAR rule | **Answered** | C043–C044 | Final adoption order actually read. |\n| 2026 statutory currentness | **Substantially answered with access caveat** | All current-statute claims | Target enactments=true pages failed; official substantive texts + 2026 affected-section table used instead. |\n| Bonds/insurance | **Excluded** | — | Later required pass. |\n| Examination, complaints, full enforcement/private remedies | **Excluded except direct contract/funds consequences** | C022,C035–C037 | Later required pass. |\n| Full collection/litigation/limitations/debtor exemptions/secured debt/sector/local/tribal/general contract/case-law architecture | **Open / excluded** | — | Separate parent passes required. |\n\n### Failed-route/dependency log\n\n| Route/dependency | Actual result | Treatment |\n| --- | --- | --- |\n| MGA per-section current-text route with enactments=true for target FI sections | Public retrieval returned internal errors rather than readable operative passages. | Not cited as read. Currentness supported through official 2026 section texts plus official 2026 Statutes Affected check. |\n| Formal OFR interpretation specifically defining ordinary DMP termination-fund return timing | No responsive formal interpretation located in targeted public materials. | Deadline remains held. |\n| Formal OFR/court authority imposing DSS periodic dedicated-account statements/reconciliation comparable to DMP §§12-919/922 | No responsive Maryland authority located in this focused pass. | Do not infer absence under every other body of law; precise cross-law follow-up remains. |\n| Maryland appellate decision construing the specific agreement/funds provisions at issue | Targeted public primary searches did not surface a controlling decision needed to alter the plain statutory rules above. | Bounded negative search result, **not** full citator certification. |\n| COMAR .08 final adoption | Successfully recovered through a materially distinct official State Archives PDF and visually read at printed p.308. | Gap closed for adoption/effective status. [Maryland State Archives](https://msa.maryland.gov/megafile/msa/speccol/sc5300/sc5339/000113/024900/024973/20210117e.pdf) |\n\n# F. Researcher self-check\n\n### Actually freshly read for PASS-03\n\nI freshly read the operative Maryland statutory passages governing:\n\n- DMP definitions and trust-account definition;\n- DMP exclusions and out-of-state-provider nexus;\n- DMP pre-service education, counseling summary, signed acknowledgment, financial analysis/budget, creditor-participation lists, suitability/payment-ability determination, agreement execution and copy delivery;\n- every material DMP agreement-content clause in §12-916(b);\n- DMP trust deposit, separate consumer account records, creditor-disbursement timing, misdirection reimbursement and noncommingling;\n- directly relevant §12-918 service-list/rescission/refund/unauthorized-receipt provisions;\n- quarterly and cancellation accounting;\n- seven-year DMP records, bank statements/reconciliations, confidentiality, and third-party-held records;\n- DSS definitions, resident/interstate scope, settlement-vs-DMP money-flow carveout, and material exclusions;\n- DSS dedicated-account ownership/administrator/referral/withdrawal rules;\n- DSS agreement content and clear/conspicuous requirements;\n- Maryland UETA consent, electronic-signature/writing and retainable-delivery provisions;\n- Maryland statutory time-computation rule;\n- current COMAR 09.03.02.08's DMP remote-work/money/records restrictions; and\n- the actual Maryland Register **Final Action [21-009-F], printed p.308**, establishing permanent adoption/effective date. [Maryland State Archives](https://msa.maryland.gov/megafile/msa/speccol/sc5300/sc5339/000113/024900/024973/20210117e.pdf)\n\nKey PDF statutes were analyzed through their actual extracted text and page images where needed; the COMAR final-action PDF was visually inspected.\n\n### Historical/agency material\n\nThe September 22, 2011 OFR DSS advisory was treated as **historical agency guidance**, not as current statutory text or a formal adjudicatory interpretation. [MD Labor](https://www.labor.maryland.gov/finance/advisories/advisorydebtsettlement.shtml)\n\nNo enforcement allegation, search snippet, historical form, or proposal was used to create an operative contract/funds obligation.\n\n### Not established in this pass\n\nI do **not** claim to have established:\n\n- the unresolved PASS-02 Maryland-only §12-1010(c)(3) payment construction;\n- installment/per-debt DSS fee earning or failed-installment refund law;\n- a general ordinary-DMP residual-trust-fund return deadline;\n- a Subtitle 10-equivalent quarterly statement/reconciliation/retention regime where none was located;\n- every potentially applicable general contract, fiduciary, money-transmission, banking, privacy, or federal electronic-consent rule;\n- a full later-history/citator review of every Maryland case touching these statutes;\n- authorization of any named provider;\n- state completion, A066 acceptance, publication readiness, independent review, or any local saved artifact.\n\nThe user-supplied PASS-01/PASS-02 review provenance was not represented as a file I could inspect. PASS-02 remains not fully coordinator-reviewed, and its specified holds remain holds.\n\nNo Deep Research, Work, Codex, other chats, Chrome-permission changes, account changes, purchases, contacts, filings, private borrower data, website changes, or publication were used.\n\n**END S_MD PASS-03**\n\n","tables":[{"headers":["Issue","DMP trust account","DSS dedicated account"],"index":0,"links":[],"row_links":[[],[],[],[],[],[],[],[],[]],"rows":[["Issue","DMP trust account","DSS dedicated account"],["Funds received by provider?","Statutory model contemplates provider receipt for creditor distribution","Provider may be noncustodial; qualifying dedicated account can be used"],["Beneficial ownership","Designated not provider funds; held for consumer benefit/creditor disbursement","Statute expressly says consumer owns funds and interest"],["Institution","Federally insured financial institution","Insured financial institution under FI §1-101"],["Provider/administrator relationship","Provider may have identified agent managing account; provider remains regulated","Administrator must be independent—not owned, controlled, or affiliated with registrant"],["Commingling","Trust cannot be commingled with operating accounts","Dedicated-account structure and consumer ownership/independence apply"],["Creditor-disbursement deadline","8 business days from provider receipt","No parallel Subtitle 10 deadline located in §12-1010"],["Consumer statements","Written accounting quarterly + cancellation/termination","No parallel periodic account-statement mandate located in Subtitle 10 provisions checked"],["Reconciliation/retention","Seven-year records incl. bank statements/reconciliations","No parallel Subtitle 10 reconciliation/retention provision located in the provisions checked"]]},{"headers":["Source ID","Issuer/title and direct source","Exact passages actually read","Version/effective status","Limitations"],"index":1,"links":[{"href":"https://mgaleg.maryland.gov/2026RS/Statute_Web/gfi/12-901.pdf?utm_source=chatgpt.com","text":"§12-901"},{"href":"https://mgaleg.maryland.gov/2026RS/Statute_Web/gfi/12-902.pdf?utm_source=chatgpt.com","text":"§12-902"},{"href":"https://mgaleg.maryland.gov/2026RS/Statute_Web/gfi/12-906.pdf?utm_source=chatgpt.com","text":"§12-906"},{"href":"https://mgaleg.maryland.gov/mgawebsite/Laws/StatuteText?article=gfi&section=12-916&utm_source=chatgpt.com","text":"§12-916"},{"href":"https://mgaleg.maryland.gov/2026RS/Statute_Web/gfi/12-917.pdf?utm_source=chatgpt.com","text":"§12-917"},{"href":"https://mgaleg.maryland.gov/2026RS/Statute_Web/gfi/12-918.pdf?utm_source=chatgpt.com","text":"§12-918"},{"href":"https://mgaleg.maryland.gov/2026RS/Statute_Web/gfi/12-919.pdf?utm_source=chatgpt.com","text":"§12-919"},{"href":"https://mgaleg.maryland.gov/2026RS/Statute_Web/gfi/12-922.pdf?utm_source=chatgpt.com","text":"§12-922"},{"href":"https://mgaleg.maryland.gov/2026RS/Statute_Web/gfi/12-1001.pdf?utm_source=chatgpt.com","text":"§12-1001"},{"href":"https://mgaleg.maryland.gov/2026RS/Statute_Web/gfi/12-1002.pdf?utm_source=chatgpt.com","text":"§12-1002"},{"href":"https://mgaleg.maryland.gov/2026RS/Statute_Web/gfi/12-1003.pdf?utm_source=chatgpt.com","text":"§12-1003"},{"href":"https://mgaleg.maryland.gov/2026RS/Statute_Web/gfi/12-1010.pdf?utm_source=chatgpt.com","text":"§12-1010"},{"href":"https://mgaleg.maryland.gov/mgawebsite/Laws/StatuteText?article=gfi&section=12-1012&utm_source=chatgpt.com","text":"§12-1012"},{"href":"https://mgaleg.maryland.gov/2026RS/Statute_Web/gcl/21-104.pdf?utm_source=chatgpt.com","text":"§21-104"},{"href":"https://mgaleg.maryland.gov/mgawebsite/Laws/StatuteText?article=gcl&section=21-106&utm_source=chatgpt.com","text":"§21-106"},{"href":"https://mgaleg.maryland.gov/mgawebsite/Laws/StatuteText?article=gcl&section=21-107&utm_source=chatgpt.com","text":"§21-107"},{"href":"https://mgaleg.maryland.gov/mgawebsite/Laws/StatuteText?article=ggp&section=1-302&utm_source=chatgpt.com","text":"official text"},{"href":"https://regs.maryland.gov/us/md/exec/comar/09.03.02/index.full.html?utm_source=chatgpt.com","text":"current chapter text"},{"href":"https://msa.maryland.gov/megafile/msa/speccol/sc5300/sc5339/000113/024900/024973/20210117e.pdf?utm_source=chatgpt.com","text":"official State Archives PDF"},{"href":"https://msa.maryland.gov/megafile/msa/speccol/sc5300/sc5339/000113/024900/024973/20210117e.pdf","text":"Maryland State Archives"},{"href":"https://www.labor.maryland.gov/finance/advisories/advisorydebtsettlement.shtml?utm_source=chatgpt.com","text":"official OFR advisory"},{"href":"https://mgaleg.maryland.gov/mgawebsite/Laws/StatutesAffected?statuteText=Financial+Institutions+-+(gfi)&statuteValue=gfi&utm_source=chatgpt.com","text":"official table"},{"href":"https://mgaleg.maryland.gov/mgawebsite/Laws/StatutesAffected?statuteText=Financial+Institutions+-+%28gfi%29&statuteValue=gfi","text":"Maryland General Assembly"}],"row_links":[[],[{"href":"https://mgaleg.maryland.gov/2026RS/Statute_Web/gfi/12-901.pdf?utm_source=chatgpt.com","text":"§12-901"},{"href":"https://mgaleg.maryland.gov/2026RS/Statute_Web/gfi/12-902.pdf?utm_source=chatgpt.com","text":"§12-902"},{"href":"https://mgaleg.maryland.gov/2026RS/Statute_Web/gfi/12-906.pdf?utm_source=chatgpt.com","text":"§12-906"},{"href":"https://mgaleg.maryland.gov/mgawebsite/Laws/StatuteText?article=gfi&section=12-916&utm_source=chatgpt.com","text":"§12-916"},{"href":"https://mgaleg.maryland.gov/2026RS/Statute_Web/gfi/12-917.pdf?utm_source=chatgpt.com","text":"§12-917"},{"href":"https://mgaleg.maryland.gov/2026RS/Statute_Web/gfi/12-918.pdf?utm_source=chatgpt.com","text":"§12-918"},{"href":"https://mgaleg.maryland.gov/2026RS/Statute_Web/gfi/12-919.pdf?utm_source=chatgpt.com","text":"§12-919"},{"href":"https://mgaleg.maryland.gov/2026RS/Statute_Web/gfi/12-922.pdf?utm_source=chatgpt.com","text":"§12-922"}],[{"href":"https://mgaleg.maryland.gov/2026RS/Statute_Web/gfi/12-1001.pdf?utm_source=chatgpt.com","text":"§12-1001"},{"href":"https://mgaleg.maryland.gov/2026RS/Statute_Web/gfi/12-1002.pdf?utm_source=chatgpt.com","text":"§12-1002"},{"href":"https://mgaleg.maryland.gov/2026RS/Statute_Web/gfi/12-1003.pdf?utm_source=chatgpt.com","text":"§12-1003"},{"href":"https://mgaleg.maryland.gov/2026RS/Statute_Web/gfi/12-1010.pdf?utm_source=chatgpt.com","text":"§12-1010"},{"href":"https://mgaleg.maryland.gov/mgawebsite/Laws/StatuteText?article=gfi&section=12-1012&utm_source=chatgpt.com","text":"§12-1012"}],[{"href":"https://mgaleg.maryland.gov/2026RS/Statute_Web/gcl/21-104.pdf?utm_source=chatgpt.com","text":"§21-104"},{"href":"https://mgaleg.maryland.gov/mgawebsite/Laws/StatuteText?article=gcl&section=21-106&utm_source=chatgpt.com","text":"§21-106"},{"href":"https://mgaleg.maryland.gov/mgawebsite/Laws/StatuteText?article=gcl&section=21-107&utm_source=chatgpt.com","text":"§21-107"}],[{"href":"https://mgaleg.maryland.gov/mgawebsite/Laws/StatuteText?article=ggp&section=1-302&utm_source=chatgpt.com","text":"official text"}],[{"href":"https://regs.maryland.gov/us/md/exec/comar/09.03.02/index.full.html?utm_source=chatgpt.com","text":"current chapter text"}],[{"href":"https://msa.maryland.gov/megafile/msa/speccol/sc5300/sc5339/000113/024900/024973/20210117e.pdf?utm_source=chatgpt.com","text":"official State Archives PDF"},{"href":"https://msa.maryland.gov/megafile/msa/speccol/sc5300/sc5339/000113/024900/024973/20210117e.pdf","text":"Maryland State Archives"}],[{"href":"https://www.labor.maryland.gov/finance/advisories/advisorydebtsettlement.shtml?utm_source=chatgpt.com","text":"official OFR advisory"}],[{"href":"https://mgaleg.maryland.gov/mgawebsite/Laws/StatutesAffected?statuteText=Financial+Institutions+-+(gfi)&statuteValue=gfi&utm_source=chatgpt.com","text":"official table"},{"href":"https://mgaleg.maryland.gov/mgawebsite/Laws/StatutesAffected?statuteText=Financial+Institutions+-+%28gfi%29&statuteValue=gfi","text":"Maryland General Assembly"}],[]],"rows":[["Source ID","Issuer/title and direct source","Exact passages actually read","Version/effective status","Limitations"],["S_MD-P3-S001","Maryland General Assembly/DLS, Financial Institutions Article, Subtitle 9 — Debt Management Services: §12-901; §12-902; §12-906; §12-916; §12-917; §12-918; §12-919; §12-922","§§12-901(d),(h),(i),(r); 12-902; 12-906(a)–(b); 12-916(a)–(c); 12-917(a)–(c); relevant §12-918(a),(g)–(j); 12-919; 12-922(a)–(f). PDFs visually inspected for key money/record provisions.","Current official 2026 statutory text, checked against S008 currentness materials.","Fee maxima not reassessed. §12-915 trust-manager dependency read in research but not independently analyzed as complete licensing architecture."],["S_MD-P3-S002","Maryland General Assembly/DLS, Financial Institutions Article, Subtitle 10 — Debt Settlement Services: §12-1001; §12-1002; §12-1003; §12-1010; §12-1012","§§12-1001(b),(d)–(i); 12-1002; 12-1003; 12-1010(c)–(f); 12-1012(a)–(b). PDF page images inspected for §12-1010.","Current official 2026 text subject to S008 currentness check.","PASS-02 §12-1010(c)(3)/per-debt earning interpretation remains held. No broad DSS record-retention inference from silence."],["S_MD-P3-S003","Maryland General Assembly/DLS, Commercial Law Title 21, Maryland UETA: §21-104; §21-106; §21-107","§21-104(a)–(c); §21-106(a)–(d); §21-107(a)–(d).","Current Maryland electronic-transactions statute.","Does not displace specified methods/formats in other laws; federal E-SIGN consumer requirements not analyzed here."],["S_MD-P3-S004","Maryland General Assembly/DLS, General Provisions §1-302 — Computation of statutory time: official text","§1-302(a)–(c).","Current enacted rule.","Applied here only to statutory “7 days”; “business day” definitions are separate."],["S_MD-P3-S005","Maryland Division of State Documents, COMAR 09.03.02.08 — Remote Work for Employees of Licensees: current chapter text",".08A–I, especially definitions of employee/license and .08D(6),(8), security/records.","Current operative regulation. Permanent rule effective Apr.19,2021; adoption corroborated by S006.","Definition includes DMP Subtitle 9; no DSS Subtitle 10 registration listed."],["S_MD-P3-S006","Maryland Register, Vol.48 Issue8, Notice of Final Action [21-009-F], p.308: official State Archives PDF","Printed p.308, actual page image read: Commissioner adopted new COMAR 09.03.02.08 on Mar.22,2021 as proposed; effective Apr.19,2021.","Final adopted rule, not proposal/emergency-only text. \nMaryland State Archives","Establishes adoption/effective status, not all later amendments to chapter."],["S_MD-P3-S007","OFR, Maryland Debt Settlement Services Provider Advisory Notice, Sept.22,2011: official OFR advisory","Advisory heading and implementation summary; account/withdrawal requirements checked against current statute.","Historical agency implementation guidance following 2011 Act.","Not a current formal interpretive order; current statute controls."],["S_MD-P3-S008","MGA/DLS, 2026 Financial Institutions Statutes Affected: official table","Target range checked: table goes from §12-802 to §12-1101 without listing target Subtitle 9/10 sections.","Page current on Oct.24; displayed 2026 affected-section information. \nMaryland General Assembly","Supports currentness check but does not itself reproduce substantive statutory text."],["S_MD-P3-S009","MGA statutes interface/current-session enactment presentation","Official statutes interface displayed option to show statutes in effect as of Oct.1,2026; per-section enactments=true routes were separately attempted.","Currentness support.","Individual enactments=true target-section requests returned tool-side errors; treated as access gap, not substantive authority."]]},{"headers":["Claim ID","Precise assertion","Sources / pinpoint","Conditions, exceptions, currentness, confidence"],"index":2,"links":[],"row_links":[[],[],[],[],[],[],[],[],[],[],[],[],[],[],[],[],[],[],[],[],[],[],[],[],[],[],[],[],[],[],[],[],[],[],[],[],[],[],[],[],[],[],[],[],[]],"rows":[["Claim ID","Precise assertion","Sources / pinpoint","Conditions, exceptions, currentness, confidence"],["S_MD-P3-C001","DMP is periodic consumer-fund receipt under an agreement for creditor distribution; the DMP agreement is written.","S001 §12-901(h),(i)","High—current text. Classification turns on actual money flow."],["S_MD-P3-C002","DSS is represented alteration of unsecured consumer debt terms; Maryland resident/consumer debt and interstate/Internet channels are expressly covered.","S002 §12-1001(b),(d),(e),(g),(i)","High—current text."],["S_MD-P3-C003","A settlement provider that periodically receives funds avoids DMP treatment under §12-1002(b) only if all statutory conditions are met.","S002 §12-1002(b)(1)–(3)","High—current text. No label-based exemption."],["S_MD-P3-C004","A DSS dedicated account must be separate from a DMP trust account and cannot be created solely to hold provider fees for the §12-1002(b) carveout.","S002 §12-1002(b)(3)","High—current text."],["S_MD-P3-C005","Before DMP services, consumer education, written options summary, signed acknowledgment, counselor analysis/budget, and copies are required.","S001 §12-916(a)(1)(i)–(ii)","High."],["S_MD-P3-C006","DMP pre-service creditor lists must identify expected participants/nonparticipants, and the provider must have reasonable experience-based expectations for listed participants.","S001 §12-916(a)(1)(ii)3,(iv)","High."],["S_MD-P3-C007","DMP services cannot begin until a completed agreement has been executed and a copy provided to the consumer, plus suitability/ability-to-pay determinations.","S001 §12-916(a)(1)(iii),(v),(vi)","High."],["S_MD-P3-C008","DMP agreement must be signed/dated and prescribed contents must be at least 12-point type.","S001 §12-916(b)(1)–(2)","High."],["S_MD-P3-C009","DMP contract must disclose consumer payment amounts/dates and distinguish retained maintenance amounts from creditor amounts, plus creditor-level disbursement schedules.","S001 §12-916(b)(2)(vii)–(viii)","High."],["S_MD-P3-C010","DMP contract must contain the specified rescission, trust institution, creditor-compensation, credit-impact and Commissioner/copy disclosures.","S001 §12-916(b)(2)(v)–(xiv)","High. Bond details deferred."],["S_MD-P3-C011","Before DMP service, provider must give a service/charge menu; paid counseling/education/materials cannot be mandatory for DMP enrollment.","S001 §12-918(g)","High. Fee amounts not revisited."],["S_MD-P3-C012","DSS agreement must be written, signed/dated by both parties and use at least 12-point type for required contents.","S002 §§12-1001(e),12-1012(a)(1)–(2)","High."],["S_MD-P3-C013","DSS agreement must identify each creditor/debt collector and individual principal, total principal, expected result timing, and where settlement offers are contemplated, creditor-specific timing/accumulation estimates.","S002 §12-1012(a)(2)(v)–(viii)","High."],["S_MD-P3-C014","Specified DSS disclosures, including withdrawal/dedicated-account/tax information, must be clear and conspicuous.","S002 §12-1012(a)(2)(vii)–(xii),(b)","High."],["S_MD-P3-C015","No Subtitle 10 clause equivalent to §12-916(a)(1)(vi)'s explicit completed-copy delivery requirement was located.","S002 §§12-1010,12-1012 compared with S001 §12-916(a)(1)(vi)","Bounded textual finding. Not permission to withhold; broader contract/electronic law may apply."],["S_MD-P3-C016","Maryland UETA allows electronic records/signatures to satisfy writing/signature requirements if applicable.","S003 §§21-104,21-106","High—current statute."],["S_MD-P3-C017","Electronic transaction consent cannot simply be inferred; standard-form e-consent generally must be conspicuous and separately consented unless separate optional agreement.","S003 §21-104(b)","High."],["S_MD-P3-C018","Required electronic written delivery must be retainable at receipt; specified statutory delivery methods/formats survive UETA.","S003 §21-107(a)–(d); S001 §12-916(a)(2)","High."],["S_MD-P3-C019","DMP has no fixed general cooling-off period in provisions read; either party instead has contractual/statutory right to rescind at any time by written notice.","S001 §12-916(b)(2)(vi)","High as to inspected Subtitle 9 text."],["S_MD-P3-C020","Participating-creditor refusal requires certified mail or consumer-approved verifiable notice ≥5 business days before next payment.","S001 §12-918(h)(1)–(3)","High."],["S_MD-P3-C021","Consumer rescinding under §12-918(h) receives all unexpended funds paid to provider for debt reduction.","S001 §12-918(h)(4)","High. Does not say every prior lawful fee is refunded."],["S_MD-P3-C022","Unauthorized DMP receipts generally void the agreement and require return of the unauthorized amount, subject to accidental bona fide error clause.","S001 §12-918(j)","High. Full remedies excluded."],["S_MD-P3-C023","DMP written accounting is due quarterly and at cancellation/termination.","S001 §12-919","High."],["S_MD-P3-C024","No general Subtitle 9 deadline for return of residual trust funds after ordinary rescission was located in provisions checked.","S001 §§12-916–919","Held/bounded negative. Special §918(h) entitlement remains clear."],["S_MD-P3-C025","DSS consumer may withdraw at any time without penalty.","S002 §12-1010(f)","High."],["S_MD-P3-C026","DSS statutory withdrawal request is not expressly required to be written in §12-1010(d)(5)/(f).","S002 §12-1010(d)(5),(f); §12-1012(a)(2)(ix),(xi)","High textual observation. No contrary formal interpretation located."],["S_MD-P3-C027","Qualifying dedicated-account balance plus interest must be returned within seven statutory days after request, less compliant earned DSS fees.","S002 §12-1010(d)(5); §12-1012(a)(2)(xi)","High text; earned-fee input retains PASS-02 hold."],["S_MD-P3-C028","GP §1-302 governs statutory seven-day computation: trigger day excluded; intermediate Sundays/legal holidays excluded for ≤7-day periods; final Sunday/holiday extends.","S004 §1-302(a)–(c)","High. Actual endpoint requires trigger/holiday facts."],["S_MD-P3-C029","PASS-02's state-only §1010(c)(3), installment/per-debt earning and related refund questions remain unresolved and are not cured by an earlier fee-trigger event.","S002 §12-1010(c),(d),(e),(f); prior PASS-02 provenance","Express hold."],["S_MD-P3-C030","DMP trust account must be federally insured, segregated from operations, designated as non-provider funds, protected from provider creditors, and used for consumer creditor funds.","S001 §12-901(r)","High."],["S_MD-P3-C031","DMP creditor funds must be deposited into trust within 2 business days after receipt and creditor-disbursed within 8 business days after receipt.","S001 §12-917(a),(b)(2)","High. No calendar endpoint without business-day facts."],["S_MD-P3-C032","DMP provider must maintain separate consumer account records and cannot commingle trust and operating accounts.","S001 §12-917(b)(1),(c)","High."],["S_MD-P3-C033","Provider must correct its misdirected payments and reimburse actual creditor fees/charges resulting from its error.","S001 §12-917(b)(3)","High."],["S_MD-P3-C034","Third-party trust-account management does not eliminate provider accountability; Subtitle 9 contemplates identified account-management agents.","S001 §§12-908,12-915,12-917,12-922(f)","High structural conclusion; licensing-change mechanics otherwise excluded."],["S_MD-P3-C035","DMP must preserve specified books/accounts/records at least 7 years, including consumer records, bank statements and reconciliations.","S001 §12-922(a)","High."],["S_MD-P3-C036","DMP records may be electronic or similar Commissioner-approved form and may be stored elsewhere subject to notification/access requirements.","S001 §12-922(b),(c)","High."],["S_MD-P3-C037","DMP consumer records are confidential under §12-922 and record duties extend to relevant records held by affiliates/other persons.","S001 §12-922(e),(f)","High."],["S_MD-P3-C038","DSS statutory dedicated-account funds must be held at an insured financial institution and are expressly owned by the consumer, including interest.","S002 §12-1010(d)(1)–(2)","High."],["S_MD-P3-C039","DSS account administrator must be unaffiliated/uncontrolled by registrant and cannot exchange referral compensation with registrant.","S002 §12-1010(d)(3)–(4)","High. Account-related fees are statutorily contemplated; amount not revisited."],["S_MD-P3-C040","Subtitle 10 provisions read do not supply a DMP-like 8-business-day disbursement mandate, quarterly statement mandate, or seven-year bank-reconciliation regime for the dedicated account.","S002 §§12-1010–1012 compared with S001 §§12-917,919,922","Bounded negative finding. Other applicable law remains open."],["S_MD-P3-C041","2011 OFR DSS advisory is consistent with consumer ownership/independent-account/withdrawal rules but is historical guidance, not a current formal adjudication.","S007","High characterization."],["S_MD-P3-C042","Actual custody/control can change classification; a provider cannot rely on a settlement label when §12-1002(b)'s money-receipt carveout fails.","S002 §12-1002(b); S001 §12-901(h)","High statutory dependency."],["S_MD-P3-C043","Current COMAR .08 permits qualifying DMP employee remote work but forbids the remote location from receiving/dispensing money and tightly restricts record storage.","S005 .08B–F","High; DMP only for this use."],["S_MD-P3-C044","COMAR .08's permanent rule was adopted Mar.22,2021 and effective Apr.19,2021.","S006 p.308","High—final adoption notice."]]},{"headers":["PASS-03 issue","Status","Claims","Exact remaining authority / next action"],"index":3,"links":[],"row_links":[[],[],[],[],[],[],[],[],[],[],[],[],[],[],[],[],[],[],[],[],[],[],[],[],[],[],[],[],[]],"rows":[["PASS-03 issue","Status","Claims","Exact remaining authority / next action"],["DMP mandatory pre-service counseling/analysis materials","Answered","C005–C007","None for statutory baseline; actual provider implementation would require document-by-document review."],["DMP agreement form, execution, copy, type size","Answered","C007–C010","No broader contract-law validity conclusion intended."],["DMP payment schedules/creditor participation disclosures","Answered","C006,C009","Actual creditor participation remains factual and can change after signing."],["DSS agreement form, contents, clarity","Answered","C012–C014","Student-loan sector details remain later sector pass beyond required agreement statement."],["DSS completed-copy delivery","Partial / unresolved beyond Subtitle 10","C015–C018","Search controlling Maryland contract/UETA or OFR interpretation specifically requiring post-execution DSS copy delivery; no Subtitle 10 analogue located."],["Electronic signatures/records","Answered at Maryland UETA level","C016–C018","Independently applicable federal E-SIGN consumer-consent specifics remain outside this pass."],["DMP ordinary rescission method","Answered","C019","Written notice to other party."],["DMP cooling-off period","Answered boundedly: none located","C019","Broader contract/consumer statutes could be tested in later cross-cutting pass."],["DMP creditor-nonparticipation notice/refund","Answered","C020–C022","Exact “business day” calendar depends on actual dates."],["Ordinary DMP residual-trust-fund return deadline","Unresolved","C024","Search OFR formal interpretations, controlling cases, or additional trust/account regulations for a post-termination remittance deadline."],["DMP statements/accountings","Answered","C023","Quarterly and cancellation/termination."],["DMP trust segregation/deposit/disbursement","Answered","C030–C033","Other money-transmission/fiduciary classifications remain later if actual model warrants."],["DMP reconciliation/record retention","Answered","C035–C037","Seven years, bank statements/reconciliations, consumer records."],["DMP third-party account manager","Answered enough for this component","C034,C037","Full approval/change-control/licensing procedure remains excluded licensing pass."],["DMP remote-location receipt/storage","Answered","C043–C044","Current COMAR applies to DMP licensee employees, not automatically contractors/DSS."],["DSS withdrawal right/method","Answered in core","C025–C027","No written-request requirement located; contrary formal interpretation not found."],["DSS seven-day counting","Answered","C027–C028","Exact date requires request date + Maryland legal-holiday facts."],["DSS dedicated-account ownership/independence","Answered","C038–C039","Actual account administrator relationship must satisfy facts."],["DSS periodic statements/reconciliation/records","Partial / no parallel Subtitle 10 duty located","C040–C041","Search bank/account-administrator law, OFR formal interpretations, and any controlling decisions before concluding no duty exists elsewhere."],["DSS creditor-disbursement deadline","Partial / no parallel Subtitle 10 deadline located","C040","Same next action; do not import DMP 8-business-day rule."],["PASS-02 §1010(c)(3) state payment trigger","Expressly unresolved / excluded from redecision","C029","Retain PASS-02 hold pending its coordinator review/additional controlling interpretation."],["Installment/per-debt DSS earning/refund","Expressly unresolved","C029","Need controlling Maryland interpretation/decision; no arithmetic substitute."],["Nonprofit/attorney/institution boundaries necessary to apply contract rules","Answered at statutory baseline","C001–C004","Entity/factual application remains provider-specific."],["Currentness/adoption of consequential COMAR rule","Answered","C043–C044","Final adoption order actually read."],["2026 statutory currentness","Substantially answered with access caveat","All current-statute claims","Target enactments=true pages failed; official substantive texts + 2026 affected-section table used instead."],["Bonds/insurance","Excluded","—","Later required pass."],["Examination, complaints, full enforcement/private remedies","Excluded except direct contract/funds consequences","C022,C035–C037","Later required pass."],["Full collection/litigation/limitations/debtor exemptions/secured debt/sector/local/tribal/general contract/case-law architecture","Open / excluded","—","Separate parent passes required."]]},{"headers":["Route/dependency","Actual result","Treatment"],"index":4,"links":[{"href":"https://msa.maryland.gov/megafile/msa/speccol/sc5300/sc5339/000113/024900/024973/20210117e.pdf","text":"Maryland State Archives"}],"row_links":[[],[],[],[],[],[{"href":"https://msa.maryland.gov/megafile/msa/speccol/sc5300/sc5339/000113/024900/024973/20210117e.pdf","text":"Maryland State Archives"}]],"rows":[["Route/dependency","Actual result","Treatment"],["MGA per-section current-text route with enactments=true for target FI sections","Public retrieval returned internal errors rather than readable operative passages.","Not cited as read. Currentness supported through official 2026 section texts plus official 2026 Statutes Affected check."],["Formal OFR interpretation specifically defining ordinary DMP termination-fund return timing","No responsive formal interpretation located in targeted public materials.","Deadline remains held."],["Formal OFR/court authority imposing DSS periodic dedicated-account statements/reconciliation comparable to DMP §§12-919/922","No responsive Maryland authority located in this focused pass.","Do not infer absence under every other body of law; precise cross-law follow-up remains."],["Maryland appellate decision construing the specific agreement/funds provisions at issue","Targeted public primary searches did not surface a controlling decision needed to alter the plain statutory rules above.","Bounded negative search result, not full citator certification."],["COMAR .08 final adoption","Successfully recovered through a materially distinct official State Archives PDF and visually read at printed p.308.","Gap closed for adoption/effective status. \nMaryland State Archives"]]}],"claims":[{"claim_id":"S_MD-P3-C001","area_numbers":[66],"area_assignment_method":"task_scope_fallback","researcher_record":{"Claim ID":"S_MD-P3-C001","Precise assertion":"DMP is periodic consumer-fund receipt under an agreement for creditor distribution; the DMP agreement is written.","Sources / pinpoint":"S001 §12-901(h),(i)","Conditions, exceptions, currentness, confidence":"High—current text. Classification turns on actual money flow."},"coordinator_verification_status":"selected_scoped_review_with_limits_see_review"},{"claim_id":"S_MD-P3-C002","area_numbers":[66],"area_assignment_method":"task_scope_fallback","researcher_record":{"Claim ID":"S_MD-P3-C002","Precise assertion":"DSS is represented alteration of unsecured consumer debt terms; Maryland resident/consumer debt and interstate/Internet channels are expressly covered.","Sources / pinpoint":"S002 §12-1001(b),(d),(e),(g),(i)","Conditions, exceptions, currentness, confidence":"High—current text."},"coordinator_verification_status":"selected_scoped_review_with_limits_see_review"},{"claim_id":"S_MD-P3-C003","area_numbers":[66],"area_assignment_method":"task_scope_fallback","researcher_record":{"Claim ID":"S_MD-P3-C003","Precise assertion":"A settlement provider that periodically receives funds avoids DMP treatment under §12-1002(b) only if all statutory conditions are met.","Sources / pinpoint":"S002 §12-1002(b)(1)–(3)","Conditions, exceptions, currentness, confidence":"High—current text. No label-based exemption."},"coordinator_verification_status":"selected_scoped_review_with_limits_see_review"},{"claim_id":"S_MD-P3-C004","area_numbers":[66],"area_assignment_method":"task_scope_fallback","researcher_record":{"Claim ID":"S_MD-P3-C004","Precise assertion":"A DSS dedicated account must be separate from a DMP trust account and cannot be created solely to hold provider fees for the §12-1002(b) carveout.","Sources / pinpoint":"S002 §12-1002(b)(3)","Conditions, exceptions, currentness, confidence":"High—current text."},"coordinator_verification_status":"selected_scoped_review_with_limits_see_review"},{"claim_id":"S_MD-P3-C005","area_numbers":[66],"area_assignment_method":"task_scope_fallback","researcher_record":{"Claim ID":"S_MD-P3-C005","Precise assertion":"Before DMP services, consumer education, written options summary, signed acknowledgment, counselor analysis/budget, and copies are required.","Sources / pinpoint":"S001 §12-916(a)(1)(i)–(ii)","Conditions, exceptions, currentness, confidence":"High."},"coordinator_verification_status":"selected_scoped_review_with_limits_see_review"},{"claim_id":"S_MD-P3-C006","area_numbers":[66],"area_assignment_method":"task_scope_fallback","researcher_record":{"Claim ID":"S_MD-P3-C006","Precise assertion":"DMP pre-service creditor lists must identify expected participants/nonparticipants, and the provider must have reasonable experience-based expectations for listed participants.","Sources / pinpoint":"S001 §12-916(a)(1)(ii)3,(iv)","Conditions, exceptions, currentness, confidence":"High."},"coordinator_verification_status":"selected_scoped_review_with_limits_see_review"},{"claim_id":"S_MD-P3-C007","area_numbers":[66],"area_assignment_method":"task_scope_fallback","researcher_record":{"Claim ID":"S_MD-P3-C007","Precise assertion":"DMP services cannot begin until a completed agreement has been executed and a copy provided to the consumer, plus suitability/ability-to-pay determinations.","Sources / pinpoint":"S001 §12-916(a)(1)(iii),(v),(vi)","Conditions, exceptions, currentness, confidence":"High."},"coordinator_verification_status":"selected_scoped_review_with_limits_see_review"},{"claim_id":"S_MD-P3-C008","area_numbers":[66],"area_assignment_method":"task_scope_fallback","researcher_record":{"Claim ID":"S_MD-P3-C008","Precise assertion":"DMP agreement must be signed/dated and prescribed contents must be at least 12-point type.","Sources / pinpoint":"S001 §12-916(b)(1)–(2)","Conditions, exceptions, currentness, confidence":"High."},"coordinator_verification_status":"selected_scoped_review_with_limits_see_review"},{"claim_id":"S_MD-P3-C009","area_numbers":[66],"area_assignment_method":"task_scope_fallback","researcher_record":{"Claim ID":"S_MD-P3-C009","Precise assertion":"DMP contract must disclose consumer payment amounts/dates and distinguish retained maintenance amounts from creditor amounts, plus creditor-level disbursement schedules.","Sources / pinpoint":"S001 §12-916(b)(2)(vii)–(viii)","Conditions, exceptions, currentness, confidence":"High."},"coordinator_verification_status":"selected_scoped_review_with_limits_see_review"},{"claim_id":"S_MD-P3-C010","area_numbers":[66],"area_assignment_method":"task_scope_fallback","researcher_record":{"Claim ID":"S_MD-P3-C010","Precise assertion":"DMP contract must contain the specified rescission, trust institution, creditor-compensation, credit-impact and Commissioner/copy disclosures.","Sources / pinpoint":"S001 §12-916(b)(2)(v)–(xiv)","Conditions, exceptions, currentness, confidence":"High. Bond details deferred."},"coordinator_verification_status":"selected_scoped_review_with_limits_see_review"},{"claim_id":"S_MD-P3-C011","area_numbers":[66],"area_assignment_method":"task_scope_fallback","researcher_record":{"Claim ID":"S_MD-P3-C011","Precise assertion":"Before DMP service, provider must give a service/charge menu; paid counseling/education/materials cannot be mandatory for DMP enrollment.","Sources / pinpoint":"S001 §12-918(g)","Conditions, exceptions, currentness, confidence":"High. Fee amounts not revisited."},"coordinator_verification_status":"selected_scoped_review_with_limits_see_review"},{"claim_id":"S_MD-P3-C012","area_numbers":[66],"area_assignment_method":"task_scope_fallback","researcher_record":{"Claim ID":"S_MD-P3-C012","Precise assertion":"DSS agreement must be written, signed/dated by both parties and use at least 12-point type for required contents.","Sources / pinpoint":"S002 §§12-1001(e),12-1012(a)(1)–(2)","Conditions, exceptions, currentness, confidence":"High."},"coordinator_verification_status":"selected_scoped_review_with_limits_see_review"},{"claim_id":"S_MD-P3-C013","area_numbers":[66],"area_assignment_method":"task_scope_fallback","researcher_record":{"Claim ID":"S_MD-P3-C013","Precise assertion":"DSS agreement must identify each creditor/debt collector and individual principal, total principal, expected result timing, and where settlement offers are contemplated, creditor-specific timing/accumulation estimates.","Sources / pinpoint":"S002 §12-1012(a)(2)(v)–(viii)","Conditions, exceptions, currentness, confidence":"High."},"coordinator_verification_status":"selected_scoped_review_with_limits_see_review"},{"claim_id":"S_MD-P3-C014","area_numbers":[66],"area_assignment_method":"task_scope_fallback","researcher_record":{"Claim ID":"S_MD-P3-C014","Precise assertion":"Specified DSS disclosures, including withdrawal/dedicated-account/tax information, must be clear and conspicuous.","Sources / pinpoint":"S002 §12-1012(a)(2)(vii)–(xii),(b)","Conditions, exceptions, currentness, confidence":"High."},"coordinator_verification_status":"selected_scoped_review_with_limits_see_review"},{"claim_id":"S_MD-P3-C015","area_numbers":[66],"area_assignment_method":"task_scope_fallback","researcher_record":{"Claim ID":"S_MD-P3-C015","Precise assertion":"No Subtitle 10 clause equivalent to §12-916(a)(1)(vi)'s explicit completed-copy delivery requirement was located.","Sources / pinpoint":"S002 §§12-1010,12-1012 compared with S001 §12-916(a)(1)(vi)","Conditions, exceptions, currentness, confidence":"Bounded textual finding. Not permission to withhold; broader contract/electronic law may apply."},"coordinator_verification_status":"selected_scoped_review_with_limits_see_review"},{"claim_id":"S_MD-P3-C016","area_numbers":[66],"area_assignment_method":"task_scope_fallback","researcher_record":{"Claim ID":"S_MD-P3-C016","Precise assertion":"Maryland UETA allows electronic records/signatures to satisfy writing/signature requirements if applicable.","Sources / pinpoint":"S003 §§21-104,21-106","Conditions, exceptions, currentness, confidence":"High—current statute."},"coordinator_verification_status":"selected_scoped_review_with_limits_see_review"},{"claim_id":"S_MD-P3-C017","area_numbers":[66],"area_assignment_method":"task_scope_fallback","researcher_record":{"Claim ID":"S_MD-P3-C017","Precise assertion":"Electronic transaction consent cannot simply be inferred; standard-form e-consent generally must be conspicuous and separately consented unless separate optional agreement.","Sources / pinpoint":"S003 §21-104(b)","Conditions, exceptions, currentness, confidence":"High."},"coordinator_verification_status":"targeted_wording_correction_required"},{"claim_id":"S_MD-P3-C018","area_numbers":[66],"area_assignment_method":"task_scope_fallback","researcher_record":{"Claim ID":"S_MD-P3-C018","Precise assertion":"Required electronic written delivery must be retainable at receipt; specified statutory delivery methods/formats survive UETA.","Sources / pinpoint":"S003 §21-107(a)–(d); S001 §12-916(a)(2)","Conditions, exceptions, currentness, confidence":"High."},"coordinator_verification_status":"targeted_wording_correction_required"},{"claim_id":"S_MD-P3-C019","area_numbers":[66],"area_assignment_method":"task_scope_fallback","researcher_record":{"Claim ID":"S_MD-P3-C019","Precise assertion":"DMP has no fixed general cooling-off period in provisions read; either party instead has contractual/statutory right to rescind at any time by written notice.","Sources / pinpoint":"S001 §12-916(b)(2)(vi)","Conditions, exceptions, currentness, confidence":"High as to inspected Subtitle 9 text."},"coordinator_verification_status":"selected_scoped_review_with_limits_see_review"},{"claim_id":"S_MD-P3-C020","area_numbers":[66],"area_assignment_method":"task_scope_fallback","researcher_record":{"Claim ID":"S_MD-P3-C020","Precise assertion":"Participating-creditor refusal requires certified mail or consumer-approved verifiable notice ≥5 business days before next payment.","Sources / pinpoint":"S001 §12-918(h)(1)–(3)","Conditions, exceptions, currentness, confidence":"High."},"coordinator_verification_status":"selected_scoped_review_with_limits_see_review"},{"claim_id":"S_MD-P3-C021","area_numbers":[66],"area_assignment_method":"task_scope_fallback","researcher_record":{"Claim ID":"S_MD-P3-C021","Precise assertion":"Consumer rescinding under §12-918(h) receives all unexpended funds paid to provider for debt reduction.","Sources / pinpoint":"S001 §12-918(h)(4)","Conditions, exceptions, currentness, confidence":"High. Does not say every prior lawful fee is refunded."},"coordinator_verification_status":"selected_scoped_review_with_limits_see_review"},{"claim_id":"S_MD-P3-C022","area_numbers":[66],"area_assignment_method":"task_scope_fallback","researcher_record":{"Claim ID":"S_MD-P3-C022","Precise assertion":"Unauthorized DMP receipts generally void the agreement and require return of the unauthorized amount, subject to accidental bona fide error clause.","Sources / pinpoint":"S001 §12-918(j)","Conditions, exceptions, currentness, confidence":"High. Full remedies excluded."},"coordinator_verification_status":"selected_scoped_review_with_limits_see_review"},{"claim_id":"S_MD-P3-C023","area_numbers":[66],"area_assignment_method":"task_scope_fallback","researcher_record":{"Claim ID":"S_MD-P3-C023","Precise assertion":"DMP written accounting is due quarterly and at cancellation/termination.","Sources / pinpoint":"S001 §12-919","Conditions, exceptions, currentness, confidence":"High."},"coordinator_verification_status":"selected_scoped_review_with_limits_see_review"},{"claim_id":"S_MD-P3-C024","area_numbers":[66],"area_assignment_method":"task_scope_fallback","researcher_record":{"Claim ID":"S_MD-P3-C024","Precise assertion":"No general Subtitle 9 deadline for return of residual trust funds after ordinary rescission was located in provisions checked.","Sources / pinpoint":"S001 §§12-916–919","Conditions, exceptions, currentness, confidence":"Held/bounded negative. Special §918(h) entitlement remains clear."},"coordinator_verification_status":"selected_scoped_review_with_limits_see_review"},{"claim_id":"S_MD-P3-C025","area_numbers":[66],"area_assignment_method":"task_scope_fallback","researcher_record":{"Claim ID":"S_MD-P3-C025","Precise assertion":"DSS consumer may withdraw at any time without penalty.","Sources / pinpoint":"S002 §12-1010(f)","Conditions, exceptions, currentness, confidence":"High."},"coordinator_verification_status":"selected_scoped_review_with_limits_see_review"},{"claim_id":"S_MD-P3-C026","area_numbers":[66],"area_assignment_method":"task_scope_fallback","researcher_record":{"Claim ID":"S_MD-P3-C026","Precise assertion":"DSS statutory withdrawal request is not expressly required to be written in §12-1010(d)(5)/(f).","Sources / pinpoint":"S002 §12-1010(d)(5),(f); §12-1012(a)(2)(ix),(xi)","Conditions, exceptions, currentness, confidence":"High textual observation. No contrary formal interpretation located."},"coordinator_verification_status":"selected_scoped_review_with_limits_see_review"},{"claim_id":"S_MD-P3-C027","area_numbers":[66],"area_assignment_method":"task_scope_fallback","researcher_record":{"Claim ID":"S_MD-P3-C027","Precise assertion":"Qualifying dedicated-account balance plus interest must be returned within seven statutory days after request, less compliant earned DSS fees.","Sources / pinpoint":"S002 §12-1010(d)(5); §12-1012(a)(2)(xi)","Conditions, exceptions, currentness, confidence":"High text; earned-fee input retains PASS-02 hold."},"coordinator_verification_status":"selected_scoped_review_with_limits_see_review"},{"claim_id":"S_MD-P3-C028","area_numbers":[66],"area_assignment_method":"task_scope_fallback","researcher_record":{"Claim ID":"S_MD-P3-C028","Precise assertion":"GP §1-302 governs statutory seven-day computation: trigger day excluded; intermediate Sundays/legal holidays excluded for ≤7-day periods; final Sunday/holiday extends.","Sources / pinpoint":"S004 §1-302(a)–(c)","Conditions, exceptions, currentness, confidence":"High. Actual endpoint requires trigger/holiday facts."},"coordinator_verification_status":"selected_scoped_review_with_limits_see_review"},{"claim_id":"S_MD-P3-C029","area_numbers":[66],"area_assignment_method":"task_scope_fallback","researcher_record":{"Claim ID":"S_MD-P3-C029","Precise assertion":"PASS-02's state-only §1010(c)(3), installment/per-debt earning and related refund questions remain unresolved and are not cured by an earlier fee-trigger event.","Sources / pinpoint":"S002 §12-1010(c),(d),(e),(f); prior PASS-02 provenance","Conditions, exceptions, currentness, confidence":"Express hold."},"coordinator_verification_status":"selected_scoped_review_with_limits_see_review"},{"claim_id":"S_MD-P3-C030","area_numbers":[66],"area_assignment_method":"task_scope_fallback","researcher_record":{"Claim ID":"S_MD-P3-C030","Precise assertion":"DMP trust account must be federally insured, segregated from operations, designated as non-provider funds, protected from provider creditors, and used for consumer creditor funds.","Sources / pinpoint":"S001 §12-901(r)","Conditions, exceptions, currentness, confidence":"High."},"coordinator_verification_status":"selected_scoped_review_with_limits_see_review"},{"claim_id":"S_MD-P3-C031","area_numbers":[66],"area_assignment_method":"task_scope_fallback","researcher_record":{"Claim ID":"S_MD-P3-C031","Precise assertion":"DMP creditor funds must be deposited into trust within 2 business days after receipt and creditor-disbursed within 8 business days after receipt.","Sources / pinpoint":"S001 §12-917(a),(b)(2)","Conditions, exceptions, currentness, confidence":"High. No calendar endpoint without business-day facts."},"coordinator_verification_status":"selected_scoped_review_with_limits_see_review"},{"claim_id":"S_MD-P3-C032","area_numbers":[66],"area_assignment_method":"task_scope_fallback","researcher_record":{"Claim ID":"S_MD-P3-C032","Precise assertion":"DMP provider must maintain separate consumer account records and cannot commingle trust and operating accounts.","Sources / pinpoint":"S001 §12-917(b)(1),(c)","Conditions, exceptions, currentness, confidence":"High."},"coordinator_verification_status":"selected_scoped_review_with_limits_see_review"},{"claim_id":"S_MD-P3-C033","area_numbers":[66],"area_assignment_method":"task_scope_fallback","researcher_record":{"Claim ID":"S_MD-P3-C033","Precise assertion":"Provider must correct its misdirected payments and reimburse actual creditor fees/charges resulting from its error.","Sources / pinpoint":"S001 §12-917(b)(3)","Conditions, exceptions, currentness, confidence":"High."},"coordinator_verification_status":"selected_scoped_review_with_limits_see_review"},{"claim_id":"S_MD-P3-C034","area_numbers":[66],"area_assignment_method":"task_scope_fallback","researcher_record":{"Claim ID":"S_MD-P3-C034","Precise assertion":"Third-party trust-account management does not eliminate provider accountability; Subtitle 9 contemplates identified account-management agents.","Sources / pinpoint":"S001 §§12-908,12-915,12-917,12-922(f)","Conditions, exceptions, currentness, confidence":"High structural conclusion; licensing-change mechanics otherwise excluded."},"coordinator_verification_status":"selected_scoped_review_with_limits_see_review"},{"claim_id":"S_MD-P3-C035","area_numbers":[66],"area_assignment_method":"task_scope_fallback","researcher_record":{"Claim ID":"S_MD-P3-C035","Precise assertion":"DMP must preserve specified books/accounts/records at least 7 years, including consumer records, bank statements and reconciliations.","Sources / pinpoint":"S001 §12-922(a)","Conditions, exceptions, currentness, confidence":"High."},"coordinator_verification_status":"selected_scoped_review_with_limits_see_review"},{"claim_id":"S_MD-P3-C036","area_numbers":[66],"area_assignment_method":"task_scope_fallback","researcher_record":{"Claim ID":"S_MD-P3-C036","Precise assertion":"DMP records may be electronic or similar Commissioner-approved form and may be stored elsewhere subject to notification/access requirements.","Sources / pinpoint":"S001 §12-922(b),(c)","Conditions, exceptions, currentness, confidence":"High."},"coordinator_verification_status":"selected_scoped_review_with_limits_see_review"},{"claim_id":"S_MD-P3-C037","area_numbers":[66],"area_assignment_method":"task_scope_fallback","researcher_record":{"Claim ID":"S_MD-P3-C037","Precise assertion":"DMP consumer records are confidential under §12-922 and record duties extend to relevant records held by affiliates/other persons.","Sources / pinpoint":"S001 §12-922(e),(f)","Conditions, exceptions, currentness, confidence":"High."},"coordinator_verification_status":"selected_scoped_review_with_limits_see_review"},{"claim_id":"S_MD-P3-C038","area_numbers":[66],"area_assignment_method":"task_scope_fallback","researcher_record":{"Claim ID":"S_MD-P3-C038","Precise assertion":"DSS statutory dedicated-account funds must be held at an insured financial institution and are expressly owned by the consumer, including interest.","Sources / pinpoint":"S002 §12-1010(d)(1)–(2)","Conditions, exceptions, currentness, confidence":"High."},"coordinator_verification_status":"selected_scoped_review_with_limits_see_review"},{"claim_id":"S_MD-P3-C039","area_numbers":[66],"area_assignment_method":"task_scope_fallback","researcher_record":{"Claim ID":"S_MD-P3-C039","Precise assertion":"DSS account administrator must be unaffiliated/uncontrolled by registrant and cannot exchange referral compensation with registrant.","Sources / pinpoint":"S002 §12-1010(d)(3)–(4)","Conditions, exceptions, currentness, confidence":"High. Account-related fees are statutorily contemplated; amount not revisited."},"coordinator_verification_status":"selected_scoped_review_with_limits_see_review"},{"claim_id":"S_MD-P3-C040","area_numbers":[66],"area_assignment_method":"task_scope_fallback","researcher_record":{"Claim ID":"S_MD-P3-C040","Precise assertion":"Subtitle 10 provisions read do not supply a DMP-like 8-business-day disbursement mandate, quarterly statement mandate, or seven-year bank-reconciliation regime for the dedicated account.","Sources / pinpoint":"S002 §§12-1010–1012 compared with S001 §§12-917,919,922","Conditions, exceptions, currentness, confidence":"Bounded negative finding. Other applicable law remains open."},"coordinator_verification_status":"selected_scoped_review_with_limits_see_review"},{"claim_id":"S_MD-P3-C041","area_numbers":[66],"area_assignment_method":"task_scope_fallback","researcher_record":{"Claim ID":"S_MD-P3-C041","Precise assertion":"2011 OFR DSS advisory is consistent with consumer ownership/independent-account/withdrawal rules but is historical guidance, not a current formal adjudication.","Sources / pinpoint":"S007","Conditions, exceptions, currentness, confidence":"High characterization."},"coordinator_verification_status":"selected_scoped_review_with_limits_see_review"},{"claim_id":"S_MD-P3-C042","area_numbers":[66],"area_assignment_method":"task_scope_fallback","researcher_record":{"Claim ID":"S_MD-P3-C042","Precise assertion":"Actual custody/control can change classification; a provider cannot rely on a settlement label when §12-1002(b)'s money-receipt carveout fails.","Sources / pinpoint":"S002 §12-1002(b); S001 §12-901(h)","Conditions, exceptions, currentness, confidence":"High statutory dependency."},"coordinator_verification_status":"selected_scoped_review_with_limits_see_review"},{"claim_id":"S_MD-P3-C043","area_numbers":[66],"area_assignment_method":"task_scope_fallback","researcher_record":{"Claim ID":"S_MD-P3-C043","Precise assertion":"Current COMAR .08 permits qualifying DMP employee remote work but forbids the remote location from receiving/dispensing money and tightly restricts record storage.","Sources / pinpoint":"S005 .08B–F","Conditions, exceptions, currentness, confidence":"High; DMP only for this use."},"coordinator_verification_status":"targeted_wording_correction_required"},{"claim_id":"S_MD-P3-C044","area_numbers":[66],"area_assignment_method":"task_scope_fallback","researcher_record":{"Claim ID":"S_MD-P3-C044","Precise assertion":"COMAR .08's permanent rule was adopted Mar.22,2021 and effective Apr.19,2021.","Sources / pinpoint":"S006 p.308","Conditions, exceptions, currentness, confidence":"High—final adoption notice."},"coordinator_verification_status":"selected_scoped_review_with_limits_see_review"}],"sources":[{"source_id":"S_MD-P3-S001","urls":["https://mgaleg.maryland.gov/2026RS/Statute_Web/gfi/12-901.pdf?utm_source=chatgpt.com","https://mgaleg.maryland.gov/2026RS/Statute_Web/gfi/12-902.pdf?utm_source=chatgpt.com","https://mgaleg.maryland.gov/2026RS/Statute_Web/gfi/12-906.pdf?utm_source=chatgpt.com","https://mgaleg.maryland.gov/mgawebsite/Laws/StatuteText?article=gfi&section=12-916&utm_source=chatgpt.com","https://mgaleg.maryland.gov/2026RS/Statute_Web/gfi/12-917.pdf?utm_source=chatgpt.com","https://mgaleg.maryland.gov/2026RS/Statute_Web/gfi/12-918.pdf?utm_source=chatgpt.com","https://mgaleg.maryland.gov/2026RS/Statute_Web/gfi/12-919.pdf?utm_source=chatgpt.com","https://mgaleg.maryland.gov/2026RS/Statute_Web/gfi/12-922.pdf?utm_source=chatgpt.com"],"researcher_record":{"Source ID":"S_MD-P3-S001","Issuer/title and direct source":"Maryland General Assembly/DLS, Financial Institutions Article, Subtitle 9 — Debt Management Services: §12-901; §12-902; §12-906; §12-916; §12-917; §12-918; §12-919; §12-922","Exact passages actually read":"§§12-901(d),(h),(i),(r); 12-902; 12-906(a)–(b); 12-916(a)–(c); 12-917(a)–(c); relevant §12-918(a),(g)–(j); 12-919; 12-922(a)–(f). PDFs visually inspected for key money/record provisions.","Version/effective status":"Current official 2026 statutory text, checked against S008 currentness materials.","Limitations":"Fee maxima not reassessed. §12-915 trust-manager dependency read in research but not independently analyzed as complete licensing architecture."},"coordinator_verification_status":"selected_passages_checked_with_limits_see_review"},{"source_id":"S_MD-P3-S002","urls":["https://mgaleg.maryland.gov/2026RS/Statute_Web/gfi/12-1001.pdf?utm_source=chatgpt.com","https://mgaleg.maryland.gov/2026RS/Statute_Web/gfi/12-1002.pdf?utm_source=chatgpt.com","https://mgaleg.maryland.gov/2026RS/Statute_Web/gfi/12-1003.pdf?utm_source=chatgpt.com","https://mgaleg.maryland.gov/2026RS/Statute_Web/gfi/12-1010.pdf?utm_source=chatgpt.com","https://mgaleg.maryland.gov/mgawebsite/Laws/StatuteText?article=gfi&section=12-1012&utm_source=chatgpt.com"],"researcher_record":{"Source ID":"S_MD-P3-S002","Issuer/title and direct source":"Maryland General Assembly/DLS, Financial Institutions Article, Subtitle 10 — Debt Settlement Services: §12-1001; §12-1002; §12-1003; §12-1010; §12-1012","Exact passages actually read":"§§12-1001(b),(d)–(i); 12-1002; 12-1003; 12-1010(c)–(f); 12-1012(a)–(b). PDF page images inspected for §12-1010.","Version/effective status":"Current official 2026 text subject to S008 currentness check.","Limitations":"PASS-02 §12-1010(c)(3)/per-debt earning interpretation remains held. No broad DSS record-retention inference from silence."},"coordinator_verification_status":"selected_passages_checked_with_limits_see_review"},{"source_id":"S_MD-P3-S003","urls":["https://mgaleg.maryland.gov/2026RS/Statute_Web/gcl/21-104.pdf?utm_source=chatgpt.com","https://mgaleg.maryland.gov/mgawebsite/Laws/StatuteText?article=gcl&section=21-106&utm_source=chatgpt.com","https://mgaleg.maryland.gov/mgawebsite/Laws/StatuteText?article=gcl&section=21-107&utm_source=chatgpt.com"],"researcher_record":{"Source ID":"S_MD-P3-S003","Issuer/title and direct source":"Maryland General Assembly/DLS, Commercial Law Title 21, Maryland UETA: §21-104; §21-106; §21-107","Exact passages actually read":"§21-104(a)–(c); §21-106(a)–(d); §21-107(a)–(d).","Version/effective status":"Current Maryland electronic-transactions statute.","Limitations":"Does not displace specified methods/formats in other laws; federal E-SIGN consumer requirements not analyzed here."},"coordinator_verification_status":"selected_passages_checked_with_limits_see_review"},{"source_id":"S_MD-P3-S004","urls":["https://mgaleg.maryland.gov/mgawebsite/Laws/StatuteText?article=ggp&section=1-302&utm_source=chatgpt.com"],"researcher_record":{"Source ID":"S_MD-P3-S004","Issuer/title and direct source":"Maryland General Assembly/DLS, General Provisions §1-302 — Computation of statutory time: official text","Exact passages actually read":"§1-302(a)–(c).","Version/effective status":"Current enacted rule.","Limitations":"Applied here only to statutory “7 days”; “business day” definitions are separate."},"coordinator_verification_status":"selected_passages_checked_with_limits_see_review"},{"source_id":"S_MD-P3-S005","urls":["https://regs.maryland.gov/us/md/exec/comar/09.03.02/index.full.html?utm_source=chatgpt.com"],"researcher_record":{"Source ID":"S_MD-P3-S005","Issuer/title and direct source":"Maryland Division of State Documents, COMAR 09.03.02.08 — Remote Work for Employees of Licensees: current chapter text","Exact passages actually read":".08A–I, especially definitions of employee/license and .08D(6),(8), security/records.","Version/effective status":"Current operative regulation. Permanent rule effective Apr.19,2021; adoption corroborated by S006.","Limitations":"Definition includes DMP Subtitle 9; no DSS Subtitle 10 registration listed."},"coordinator_verification_status":"selected_passages_checked_with_limits_see_review"},{"source_id":"S_MD-P3-S006","urls":["https://msa.maryland.gov/megafile/msa/speccol/sc5300/sc5339/000113/024900/024973/20210117e.pdf?utm_source=chatgpt.com","https://msa.maryland.gov/megafile/msa/speccol/sc5300/sc5339/000113/024900/024973/20210117e.pdf"],"researcher_record":{"Source ID":"S_MD-P3-S006","Issuer/title and direct source":"Maryland Register, Vol.48 Issue8, Notice of Final Action [21-009-F], p.308: official State Archives PDF","Exact passages actually read":"Printed p.308, actual page image read: Commissioner adopted new COMAR 09.03.02.08 on Mar.22,2021 as proposed; effective Apr.19,2021.","Version/effective status":"Final adopted rule, not proposal/emergency-only text. \nMaryland State Archives","Limitations":"Establishes adoption/effective status, not all later amendments to chapter."},"coordinator_verification_status":"researcher_access_attributed_not_freshly_reverified"},{"source_id":"S_MD-P3-S007","urls":["https://www.labor.maryland.gov/finance/advisories/advisorydebtsettlement.shtml?utm_source=chatgpt.com"],"researcher_record":{"Source ID":"S_MD-P3-S007","Issuer/title and direct source":"OFR, Maryland Debt Settlement Services Provider Advisory Notice, Sept.22,2011: official OFR advisory","Exact passages actually read":"Advisory heading and implementation summary; account/withdrawal requirements checked against current statute.","Version/effective status":"Historical agency implementation guidance following 2011 Act.","Limitations":"Not a current formal interpretive order; current statute controls."},"coordinator_verification_status":"researcher_access_attributed_not_freshly_reverified"},{"source_id":"S_MD-P3-S008","urls":["https://mgaleg.maryland.gov/mgawebsite/Laws/StatutesAffected?statuteText=Financial+Institutions+-+(gfi)&statuteValue=gfi&utm_source=chatgpt.com","https://mgaleg.maryland.gov/mgawebsite/Laws/StatutesAffected?statuteText=Financial+Institutions+-+%28gfi%29&statuteValue=gfi"],"researcher_record":{"Source ID":"S_MD-P3-S008","Issuer/title and direct source":"MGA/DLS, 2026 Financial Institutions Statutes Affected: official table","Exact passages actually read":"Target range checked: table goes from §12-802 to §12-1101 without listing target Subtitle 9/10 sections.","Version/effective status":"Page current on Oct.24; displayed 2026 affected-section information. \nMaryland General Assembly","Limitations":"Supports currentness check but does not itself reproduce substantive statutory text."},"coordinator_verification_status":"selected_passages_checked_with_limits_see_review"},{"source_id":"S_MD-P3-S009","urls":[],"researcher_record":{"Source ID":"S_MD-P3-S009","Issuer/title and direct source":"MGA statutes interface/current-session enactment presentation","Exact passages actually read":"Official statutes interface displayed option to show statutes in effect as of Oct.1,2026; per-section enactments=true routes were separately attempted.","Version/effective status":"Currentness support.","Limitations":"Individual enactments=true target-section requests returned tool-side errors; treated as access gap, not substantive authority."},"coordinator_verification_status":"missing_exact_locator_correction_required"}],"coverage":[{"topic":"DMP mandatory pre-service counseling/analysis materials","researcher_record":{"PASS-03 issue":"DMP mandatory pre-service counseling/analysis materials","Status":"Answered","Claims":"C005–C007","Exact remaining authority / next action":"None for statutory baseline; actual provider implementation would require document-by-document review."},"coordinator_acceptance":"scoped_review_with_explicit_remaining_holds_see_review"},{"topic":"DMP agreement form, execution, copy, type size","researcher_record":{"PASS-03 issue":"DMP agreement form, execution, copy, type size","Status":"Answered","Claims":"C007–C010","Exact remaining authority / next action":"No broader contract-law validity conclusion intended."},"coordinator_acceptance":"scoped_review_with_explicit_remaining_holds_see_review"},{"topic":"DMP payment schedules/creditor participation disclosures","researcher_record":{"PASS-03 issue":"DMP payment schedules/creditor participation disclosures","Status":"Answered","Claims":"C006,C009","Exact remaining authority / next action":"Actual creditor participation remains factual and can change after signing."},"coordinator_acceptance":"scoped_review_with_explicit_remaining_holds_see_review"},{"topic":"DSS agreement form, contents, clarity","researcher_record":{"PASS-03 issue":"DSS agreement form, contents, clarity","Status":"Answered","Claims":"C012–C014","Exact remaining authority / next action":"Student-loan sector details remain later sector pass beyond required agreement statement."},"coordinator_acceptance":"scoped_review_with_explicit_remaining_holds_see_review"},{"topic":"DSS completed-copy delivery","researcher_record":{"PASS-03 issue":"DSS completed-copy delivery","Status":"Partial / unresolved beyond Subtitle 10","Claims":"C015–C018","Exact remaining authority / next action":"Search controlling Maryland contract/UETA or OFR interpretation specifically requiring post-execution DSS copy delivery; no Subtitle 10 analogue located."},"coordinator_acceptance":"scoped_review_with_explicit_remaining_holds_see_review"},{"topic":"Electronic signatures/records","researcher_record":{"PASS-03 issue":"Electronic signatures/records","Status":"Answered at Maryland UETA level","Claims":"C016–C018","Exact remaining authority / next action":"Independently applicable federal E-SIGN consumer-consent specifics remain outside this pass."},"coordinator_acceptance":"scoped_review_with_explicit_remaining_holds_see_review"},{"topic":"DMP ordinary rescission method","researcher_record":{"PASS-03 issue":"DMP ordinary rescission method","Status":"Answered","Claims":"C019","Exact remaining authority / next action":"Written notice to other party."},"coordinator_acceptance":"scoped_review_with_explicit_remaining_holds_see_review"},{"topic":"DMP cooling-off period","researcher_record":{"PASS-03 issue":"DMP cooling-off period","Status":"Answered boundedly: none located","Claims":"C019","Exact remaining authority / next action":"Broader contract/consumer statutes could be tested in later cross-cutting pass."},"coordinator_acceptance":"scoped_review_with_explicit_remaining_holds_see_review"},{"topic":"DMP creditor-nonparticipation notice/refund","researcher_record":{"PASS-03 issue":"DMP creditor-nonparticipation notice/refund","Status":"Answered","Claims":"C020–C022","Exact remaining authority / next action":"Exact “business day” calendar depends on actual dates."},"coordinator_acceptance":"scoped_review_with_explicit_remaining_holds_see_review"},{"topic":"Ordinary DMP residual-trust-fund return deadline","researcher_record":{"PASS-03 issue":"Ordinary DMP residual-trust-fund return deadline","Status":"Unresolved","Claims":"C024","Exact remaining authority / next action":"Search OFR formal interpretations, controlling cases, or additional trust/account regulations for a post-termination remittance deadline."},"coordinator_acceptance":"scoped_review_with_explicit_remaining_holds_see_review"},{"topic":"DMP statements/accountings","researcher_record":{"PASS-03 issue":"DMP statements/accountings","Status":"Answered","Claims":"C023","Exact remaining authority / next action":"Quarterly and cancellation/termination."},"coordinator_acceptance":"scoped_review_with_explicit_remaining_holds_see_review"},{"topic":"DMP trust segregation/deposit/disbursement","researcher_record":{"PASS-03 issue":"DMP trust segregation/deposit/disbursement","Status":"Answered","Claims":"C030–C033","Exact remaining authority / next action":"Other money-transmission/fiduciary classifications remain later if actual model warrants."},"coordinator_acceptance":"scoped_review_with_explicit_remaining_holds_see_review"},{"topic":"DMP reconciliation/record retention","researcher_record":{"PASS-03 issue":"DMP reconciliation/record retention","Status":"Answered","Claims":"C035–C037","Exact remaining authority / next action":"Seven years, bank statements/reconciliations, consumer records."},"coordinator_acceptance":"scoped_review_with_explicit_remaining_holds_see_review"},{"topic":"DMP third-party account manager","researcher_record":{"PASS-03 issue":"DMP third-party account manager","Status":"Answered enough for this component","Claims":"C034,C037","Exact remaining authority / next action":"Full approval/change-control/licensing procedure remains excluded licensing pass."},"coordinator_acceptance":"scoped_review_with_explicit_remaining_holds_see_review"},{"topic":"DMP remote-location receipt/storage","researcher_record":{"PASS-03 issue":"DMP remote-location receipt/storage","Status":"Answered","Claims":"C043–C044","Exact remaining authority / next action":"Current COMAR applies to DMP licensee employees, not automatically contractors/DSS."},"coordinator_acceptance":"scoped_review_with_explicit_remaining_holds_see_review"},{"topic":"DSS withdrawal right/method","researcher_record":{"PASS-03 issue":"DSS withdrawal right/method","Status":"Answered in core","Claims":"C025–C027","Exact remaining authority / next action":"No written-request requirement located; contrary formal interpretation not found."},"coordinator_acceptance":"scoped_review_with_explicit_remaining_holds_see_review"},{"topic":"DSS seven-day counting","researcher_record":{"PASS-03 issue":"DSS seven-day counting","Status":"Answered","Claims":"C027–C028","Exact remaining authority / next action":"Exact date requires request date + Maryland legal-holiday facts."},"coordinator_acceptance":"scoped_review_with_explicit_remaining_holds_see_review"},{"topic":"DSS dedicated-account ownership/independence","researcher_record":{"PASS-03 issue":"DSS dedicated-account ownership/independence","Status":"Answered","Claims":"C038–C039","Exact remaining authority / next action":"Actual account administrator relationship must satisfy facts."},"coordinator_acceptance":"scoped_review_with_explicit_remaining_holds_see_review"},{"topic":"DSS periodic statements/reconciliation/records","researcher_record":{"PASS-03 issue":"DSS periodic statements/reconciliation/records","Status":"Partial / no parallel Subtitle 10 duty located","Claims":"C040–C041","Exact remaining authority / next action":"Search bank/account-administrator law, OFR formal interpretations, and any controlling decisions before concluding no duty exists elsewhere."},"coordinator_acceptance":"scoped_review_with_explicit_remaining_holds_see_review"},{"topic":"DSS creditor-disbursement deadline","researcher_record":{"PASS-03 issue":"DSS creditor-disbursement deadline","Status":"Partial / no parallel Subtitle 10 deadline located","Claims":"C040","Exact remaining authority / next action":"Same next action; do not import DMP 8-business-day rule."},"coordinator_acceptance":"scoped_review_with_explicit_remaining_holds_see_review"},{"topic":"PASS-02 §1010(c)(3) state payment trigger","researcher_record":{"PASS-03 issue":"PASS-02 §1010(c)(3) state payment trigger","Status":"Expressly unresolved / excluded from redecision","Claims":"C029","Exact remaining authority / next action":"Retain PASS-02 hold pending its coordinator review/additional controlling interpretation."},"coordinator_acceptance":"scoped_review_with_explicit_remaining_holds_see_review"},{"topic":"Installment/per-debt DSS earning/refund","researcher_record":{"PASS-03 issue":"Installment/per-debt DSS earning/refund","Status":"Expressly unresolved","Claims":"C029","Exact remaining authority / next action":"Need controlling Maryland interpretation/decision; no arithmetic substitute."},"coordinator_acceptance":"scoped_review_with_explicit_remaining_holds_see_review"},{"topic":"Nonprofit/attorney/institution boundaries necessary to apply contract rules","researcher_record":{"PASS-03 issue":"Nonprofit/attorney/institution boundaries necessary to apply contract rules","Status":"Answered at statutory baseline","Claims":"C001–C004","Exact remaining authority / next action":"Entity/factual application remains provider-specific."},"coordinator_acceptance":"scoped_review_with_explicit_remaining_holds_see_review"},{"topic":"Currentness/adoption of consequential COMAR rule","researcher_record":{"PASS-03 issue":"Currentness/adoption of consequential COMAR rule","Status":"Answered","Claims":"C043–C044","Exact remaining authority / next action":"Final adoption order actually read."},"coordinator_acceptance":"scoped_review_with_explicit_remaining_holds_see_review"},{"topic":"2026 statutory currentness","researcher_record":{"PASS-03 issue":"2026 statutory currentness","Status":"Substantially answered with access caveat","Claims":"All current-statute claims","Exact remaining authority / next action":"Target enactments=true pages failed; official substantive texts + 2026 affected-section table used instead."},"coordinator_acceptance":"scoped_review_with_explicit_remaining_holds_see_review"},{"topic":"Bonds/insurance","researcher_record":{"PASS-03 issue":"Bonds/insurance","Status":"Excluded","Claims":"—","Exact remaining authority / next action":"Later required pass."},"coordinator_acceptance":"scoped_review_with_explicit_remaining_holds_see_review"},{"topic":"Examination, complaints, full enforcement/private remedies","researcher_record":{"PASS-03 issue":"Examination, complaints, full enforcement/private remedies","Status":"Excluded except direct contract/funds consequences","Claims":"C022,C035–C037","Exact remaining authority / next action":"Later required pass."},"coordinator_acceptance":"scoped_review_with_explicit_remaining_holds_see_review"},{"topic":"Full collection/litigation/limitations/debtor exemptions/secured debt/sector/local/tribal/general contract/case-law architecture","researcher_record":{"PASS-03 issue":"Full collection/litigation/limitations/debtor exemptions/secured debt/sector/local/tribal/general contract/case-law architecture","Status":"Open / excluded","Claims":"—","Exact remaining authority / next action":"Separate parent passes required."},"coordinator_acceptance":"scoped_review_with_explicit_remaining_holds_see_review"}],"annotations":{},"corrections":[],"resolved_corrections":[],"review_history":[]}