S_HI PASS-02 — Conditional credit-repair fee-timing correction
Actual research/access date: October 24, 2026, Pacific.
Actual mode/model: Regular Chat, GPT‑5.6 Sol Pro.
Preservation rule: S_HI PASS‑01 remains unchanged except for the exact replacement and pinpoint cells below. This is the same coordinator-scoped review, not an independent review. No Hawaii prohibition, nonprofit, attorney, historical-fee, remote-provider, business-purpose, case-history, contract, or other component hold is resolved by this pass.
1. Exact replacement for PASS‑01 §4.3
4.3 Conditional credit-repair overlap — corrected replacement
HRS §481B‑12 remains a conditional Hawaii credit-repair provision rather than a general debt-settlement fee schedule. Its application depends on the actual representations and conduct described by that statute and its personal-capacity consumer predicate. S_HI-P1-C031 remains unchanged. S_HI-P1-S016 was not freshly reopened in this pass.
CROA separately applies when the elements of 15 U.S.C. §1679a(3) are satisfied: a person uses interstate commerce or the mails to sell, provide, perform, or represent compensated services for the express or implied purpose of improving a consumer’s credit record, credit history, or credit rating, or providing advice or assistance concerning such activity, subject to §1679a(3)(B)’s stated exclusions. A covered credit repair organization may not charge or receive money or other valuable consideration for a service it agreed to perform for a consumer before that service is fully performed. [S_HI-P1-C032, corrected; S_HI-P2-C006] U.S. Code+1
The CROA definitions must not be compressed into a categorical business-purpose exclusion without further authority. Section 1679a(1) defines “consumer” as an individual. Section 1679a(2) separately defines “consumer credit transaction” as a transaction in which credit is offered or extended to an individual for personal, family, or household purposes. Section 1679a(3)’s operative definition of “credit repair organization,” however, refers to services for “any consumer.” This pass did not establish an operative cross-reference or controlling interpretation making §1679a(2) a categorical limit on every service described in §1679a(3). That relationship remains expressly held. [S_HI-P2-C006] U.S. Code
A separate TSR credit-repair fee rule applies when the TSR otherwise reaches the seller, telemarketer, and transaction and the goods or services are represented to remove derogatory information from, or improve, a person’s credit history, credit record, or credit rating. Under 16 C.F.R. §310.4(a)(2), requesting or receiving any fee or consideration is prohibited until both of these conditions have occurred:
- The complete time frame in which the seller represented that all of the goods or services would be provided to the person has expired; and
- The seller has provided the person with documentation in the form of a consumer report from a consumer reporting agency demonstrating that the promised results were achieved, and that report was issued more than six months after the results were achieved.
The six-month measurement therefore runs from achievement of the promised results to issuance of the qualifying report—not from enrollment, payment, service commencement, or expiration of the represented service period. The rule further states that it does not alter the Fair Credit Reporting Act requirement that a consumer report may be obtained only for a specified permissible purpose. Section 310.4(a)(2) supplies no independent authority to obtain a report. [S_HI-P2-C001–C003] eCFR
This TSR rule is distinct from both:
- CROA’s “fully performed” condition in 15 U.S.C. §1679b(b); and
- the TSR debt-relief settlement, valid-agreement, first-payment, and fee-allocation conditions in §310.4(a)(5).
Full performance under CROA does not substitute for §310.4(a)(2)’s represented-duration and more-than-six-month consumer-report conditions. Likewise, settlement and first payment under §310.4(a)(5) do not satisfy §310.4(a)(2). Where an offering independently triggers more than one provision, each applicable prohibition must be satisfied on its own terms. [S_HI-P2-C005] eCFR+1
The ordinary inbound-call exemptions in §310.6(b)(5) and (6) do not provide a safe harbor for calls responding to advertisements or direct-mail solicitations concerning goods or services described in §310.4(a)(2) through (4). For §310.6(b)(6), “direct mail” includes delivery through the U.S. Postal Service, facsimile, electronic mail, and similar methods directed to particular addresses or persons. This means that a customer-initiated call responding to an advertised credit-repair offer described by §310.4(a)(2) cannot rely on those particular inbound exemptions, although all other TSR coverage, actor, jurisdiction, and exemption questions remain conditional. [S_HI-P2-C004] eCFR
Neither a Hawaii Chapter 446 nonprofit or attorney exception nor a CROA exclusion is automatically imported into the TSR. Conversely, TSR coverage does not establish CROA coverage or Hawaii permission. Each regime has its own operative definitions, actor predicates, jurisdictional limits, and exclusions. [S_HI-P2-C007; S_HI-P1-C030 preserved] eCFR+1
2. PASS‑01 claim-cell patches
| Existing claim |
Action |
Exact corrected claim or qualification |
Sources and limits |
| S_HI-P1-C009 |
Substantive claim preserved; S009 pinpoint repaired |
Hawaii’s enforcement against a remote internet provider remains evidence supporting application to a provider serving Hawaii consumers. The outer territorial boundary remains unresolved. |
Use repaired S009 locators below, together with preserved S007, S010, and S011. The complaint contains allegations, not merits findings. |
| S_HI-P1-C025–C030 |
Preserve |
The TSR debt-relief definition, settlement/first-payment trigger, allocation, dedicated-account conditions, inbound-ad treatment, and separation from state permission remain as stated in P1. |
Add cross-reference to S_HI-P2-C005 because §310.4(a)(2) is a separate fee prohibition and cannot be replaced by §310.4(a)(5). |
| S_HI-P1-C031 |
Preserve without change |
HRS §481B‑12 creates conditional credit-repair prohibitions, not a universal debt-settlement fee rule. |
S016 was supplied/reused, not freshly opened in P2. |
| S_HI-P1-C032 |
Replace in full |
CROA conditionally applies to persons using interstate commerce or the mails to provide, sell, perform, or represent compensated services for the express or implied purpose of improving any consumer’s credit record, credit history, or credit rating, or providing related advice or assistance, subject to §1679a(3)(B)’s stated exclusions. A covered credit repair organization may not charge or receive money or valuable consideration for a service it agreed to perform for a consumer before that service is fully performed. Section 1679a(1) defines “consumer” as an individual, while §1679a(2) separately defines “consumer credit transaction” by personal, family, or household purpose. This pass does not establish that §1679a(2) categorically excludes all business-purpose credit-repair services from §1679a(3); that relationship remains held. |
S017, 15 U.S.C. §§1679a(1)‑(3), 1679b(b). Actual services, representations, compensation, use of interstate commerce or mails, actor status, exclusions, and unresolved definitional relationship remain material. U.S. Code+1 |
| S_HI-P1-C035 |
Substantive claim preserved; S023/S024 pinpoints repaired |
Sues and Inoue remain arbitration/severability decisions that did not decide the substantive Chapter 446 merits and have the limited status described in P1. |
Use the corrected allegations, analysis, and disposition page divisions below. No new opinion or citator research was performed. |
| S_HI-P1-C039 |
Preserve; source locator clarified |
Complaints, agency releases, testimony, auditor material, and stipulated orders may support issue identification or agency position but do not replace controlling statutory text. |
S009 remains a filed complaint containing allegations; repaired pinpoints do not convert allegations into adjudicated findings. |
3. New PASS‑02 corrective claims
| Claim ID |
Precise corrective assertion |
Source and pinpoint |
Conditions and confidence limits |
| S_HI-P2-C001 |
Section 310.4(a)(2) is a TSR fee prohibition separate from the TSR’s debt-relief rule. It reaches fees or consideration for goods or services represented to remove derogatory information from, or improve, a person’s credit history, credit record, or credit rating. |
S015, §310.4(a) chapeau and §310.4(a)(2). eCFR |
TSR seller, telemarketer, telemarketing, jurisdiction, and transaction predicates must independently exist. No universal “credit repair” label is sufficient. |
| S_HI-P2-C002 |
Payment remains prohibited until both the represented time frame for providing all goods or services has expired and the seller has provided the person with a qualifying consumer report demonstrating the promised results. |
S015, §310.4(a)(2)(i)‑(ii). eCFR |
Conjunctive conditions; neither alone is sufficient. No conclusion is made here about a seller that makes no ascertainable duration representation. |
| S_HI-P2-C003 |
The qualifying report must have been issued more than six months after the promised results were achieved; §310.4(a)(2) does not displace the FCRA’s specified-permissible-purpose requirement. |
S015, §310.4(a)(2)(ii). eCFR |
This pass did not analyze the complete set of permissible purposes under the FCRA or who may obtain the report in a particular transaction. |
| S_HI-P2-C004 |
The inbound-call exemptions in §310.6(b)(5) and (6) do not apply to calls responding to advertisements or direct-mail solicitations for goods or services described in §310.4(a)(2) through (4). |
S015, §310.6(b)(5)(i), (b)(6) chapeau and (b)(6)(i). eCFR |
Removes only those particular exemptions; it does not establish every other element of TSR coverage. |
| S_HI-P2-C005 |
CROA full performance, TSR debt-relief settlement/first-payment performance, and TSR credit-repair duration/report performance are distinct conditions. Satisfaction of one is not a substitute for another. |
S015, §§310.4(a)(2), 310.4(a)(5); S017, §1679b(b). eCFR+1 |
Overlap depends on the actual offering, representations, actor, consideration, and telemarketing facts. |
| S_HI-P2-C006 |
Section 1679a(1) defines “consumer” as an individual; §1679a(2) separately defines “consumer credit transaction” by personal/family/household purpose; §1679a(3)’s credit-repair-organization definition refers to services for “any consumer.” A categorical business-purpose exclusion is not established solely by §1679a(2). |
S017, §1679a(1)‑(3). U.S. Code |
Complete statutory cross-reference analysis and controlling interpretation were not undertaken; the ultimate scope relationship remains held. |
| S_HI-P2-C007 |
The cited provisions do not automatically transfer Hawaii Chapter 446 exceptions or CROA exclusions into the TSR. |
S015, §310.4(a)(2); S017, §1679a(3)(B). eCFR+1 |
TSR/FTC Act entity jurisdiction and exemptions require separate analysis. No conclusion is made regarding any named nonprofit, attorney, creditor, bank, credit union, affiliate, or other entity. |
4. Source-usage and source-cell patches
4.1 Freshly accessed federal sources
| Source ID |
Complete literal URL and access |
Corrected/additional pinpoint and version |
P2 use and limitation |
| S_HI-P1-S015 — replace source cell with this expanded cell |
Telemarketing Sales Rule, eCFR: https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-16/chapter-I/subchapter-C/part-310/section-310.2 https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-16/chapter-I/subchapter-C/part-310/section-310.4 https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-16/chapter-I/subchapter-C/part-310/section-310.6 Fresh P2 access: Oct. 24, 2026, to §§310.4 and 310.6. |
Preserve P1 use of §§310.2(o), 310.4(a)(5), and 310.6(b)(5)‑(7). Add freshly read §310.4(a) chapeau, §310.4(a)(2)(i)‑(ii), §310.6(b)(5)(i), and §310.6(b)(6) chapeau and (i). eCFR displayed Title 16 up to date through Oct. 22, 2026 and last amended Oct. 19, 2026. The eCFR is authoritative but unofficial. eCFR+1 |
Establishes the distinct TSR credit-repair payment conditions and the pertinent inbound-ad/direct-mail exemption carveouts. It does not itself establish that a particular entity or transaction is within FTC/TSR jurisdiction. |
| S_HI-P1-S017 — replace source cell with this qualified cell |
Credit Repair Organizations Act, U.S. House OLRC: https://uscode.house.gov/us/usc/119-118/t15/s1679a/ https://uscode.house.gov/us/usc/119-118/t15/s1679b/ Fresh P2 access: Oct. 24, 2026. |
15 U.S.C. §§1679a(1)‑(3) and 1679b(b). The pages state that they contain laws in effect through Public Law 119‑120, Oct. 7, 2026. U.S. Code+1 |
Supports conditional compensated credit-improvement coverage, statutory exclusions, full-performance timing, and the precise distinction between “consumer” and “consumer credit transaction.” It does not establish a categorical business-purpose exclusion from §1679a(3). |
4.2 Supplied/reused source identity
4.3 Pinpoint-only replacement for S_HI-P1-S009
The following replacement uses the coordinator-supplied, separately checked official complaint locators. The complaint was not freshly opened or reread in P2.
| Source ID |
Exact replacement source cell |
| S_HI-P1-S009 |
Complaint, CFPB et al. v. Payday Loan Debt Solution, Inc., U.S. District Court. https://files.consumerfinance.gov/f/201212_cfpb_plds-complaint.pdf Pinpoints: paragraph 2(a), printed/one-based PDF p.2, state-plaintiff authority; paragraph 8, printed/PDF p.4, Florida entity allegation; paragraph 11, printed/PDF p.5, internet marketing and inbound-call allegations; printed/PDF pp.6‑7, dedicated-account allegations; printed/PDF p.8, Count I federal claim; paragraphs 27‑30, printed/one-based PDF p.9, zero-based page 8, Count III Hawaii Chapter 446 claim. Status/limitation: filed allegations rather than merits findings. Supports the asserted enforcement theory and factual nexus only; it must not be represented as an adjudicated interpretation of Chapter 446. |
The substantive wording of C009 and C039 remains unchanged.
4.4 Pinpoint-only replacements for S_HI-P1-S023 and S024
These replacements use the coordinator-supplied, separately checked official-opinion locators. The opinions were not freshly opened or reread in P2, and no docket, citator, or June 4 correction-history project was performed.
| Source ID |
Exact replacement source cell |
| S_HI-P1-S023 |
Sues v. National Debt Relief LLC, CAAP‑19‑0000376, Hawaii ICA, May 14, 2021. https://www.courts.state.hi.us/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/CAAP-19-0000376mopada.pdf Pinpoints: printed/one-based PDF p.2, Chapter 446 allegations; printed/PDF pp.6‑8, arbitration and severability analysis; p.8 includes quoted precedent and is not the opinion’s own final disposition; printed/one-based PDF p.9, zero-based page 8, the court’s own concluding disposition. Status/limitation: memorandum opinion marked not for publication; it did not adjudicate the substantive Chapter 446 merits. |
| S_HI-P1-S024 |
Inoue v. Harbor Legal Group, CAAP‑19‑0000589, Hawaii ICA, Apr. 29, 2021, corrected June 4, 2021. https://www.courts.state.hi.us/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/CAAP-19-0000589mopada.pdf Pinpoints: printed/one-based PDF p.2, allegations concerning debt-adjuster fees and a non-Hawaii law firm; printed/PDF pp.5‑7, arbitration/severability framework and analysis; p.7 is analytical framework, not the opinion’s own final disposition; printed/one-based PDF p.8, zero-based page 7, the court’s own conclusion. Status/limitation: memorandum opinion marked not for publication; its allegations and arbitration disposition do not establish the attorney-exception merits. |
S_HI-P1-C035 remains substantively unchanged, with these corrected internal page divisions.
5. Exact replacement for the PASS‑01 credit-repair coverage row
| Pass topic |
Corrected status |
Completed findings and claim IDs |
Exact remaining evidence and next action |
| Credit-repair overlap |
Bounded conditional answer—corrected |
Preserve C031. Replace C032 as stated above. Add P2-C001 through P2-C007. HRS §481B‑12 remains conditional; CROA retains its compensated credit-improvement and full-performance rules; TSR §310.4(a)(2) separately requires expiration of the represented period for all promised services and provision of a CRA consumer report demonstrating the promised results, issued more than six months after those results were achieved. The FCRA permissible-purpose requirement remains unaffected. The §310.6(b)(5) and (6) inbound exemptions do not cover responsive calls for §310.4(a)(2)-described offerings. |
Actual representations, express/implied representation standards, TSR seller/telemarketer and FTC Act entity jurisdiction, other TSR exemptions, the effect of no ascertainable represented duration, lawful FCRA permissible purpose and report procurement, complete CROA statutory cross-references, controlling interpretation of business-purpose services, named-entity exclusions, Hawaii remedies, and interactions among overlapping fees remain unresolved. No Hawaii exception or CROA exclusion is automatically imported into the TSR. |
No other PASS‑01 coverage row is changed.
6. Researcher self-check
Freshly read in PASS‑02
- Current eCFR §310.4(a) chapeau and §310.4(a)(2)(i)‑(ii).
- Current eCFR §310.6(b)(5) and (6), limited to the inbound advertisement/direct-mail provisions and their §310.4(a)(2)‑(4) carveouts.
- Current OLRC text of 15 U.S.C. §1679a(1)‑(3).
- Current OLRC text of 15 U.S.C. §1679b(b).
- The displayed eCFR and U.S. Code currentness statements identified in the source table.
Supplied or reused, not freshly read in PASS‑02
- HRS §481B‑12 and the original P1 C031 analysis.
- The PLDS complaint page and paragraph locators.
- The Sues and Inoue page locators.
- The Hawaii Judiciary publication-status source.
- All other P1 Hawaii statutory, agency, enforcement, fee, exception, and case materials.
Not read or resolved in PASS‑02
- FTC staff commentary or Federal Register explanatory history concerning §310.4(a)(2).
- The complete FCRA permissible-purpose provisions or a transaction-specific permissible-purpose analysis.
- Controlling CROA authority resolving whether and how §1679a(2) limits §1679a(3) for business-purpose credit matters.
- Full TSR jurisdiction, entity, exemption, or mixed-service analysis.
- The complete PLDS complaint, Sues, or Inoue beyond the supplied checked locators.
- Any new Hawaii prohibition, nominal-fee, nonprofit, attorney, remote-provider, business-debt, legislative-currentness, agreement, funds, remedy, limitation, secured-debt, sector, local, tribal, or operational research.
This pass does not constitute state, component, parent, A066, operational, or publication acceptance and makes no provider-specific authorization determination.
END S_HI PASS-02.