J. MILLARD TAWES, Governor                     1657

(a)    Usurious interest charges are concealed in the notes and deeds
of trust given therefor.

(b)    The amount of payments are misrepresented, as for example
by stating monthly payments to be some small amount, and concealing
the existence of a "balloon note" due at the end of some period for
the large balance remaining.

(c)    Reduction of the principal amount of the indebtedness be-
comes a complicated and doubtful matter, and the purchaser can
never find out just how much interest he has paid and how much
principal balance remains.

(d)    Final release of the deed of trust for records becomes a
major legal endeavor.

(e)    The assignees of the instruments, and sometimes the original
parties thereto, are out-of-state straws and subsidiaries whose
identity, location, and responsibility are such as to frustrate the
purchaser's attempts to obtain honest information and retire his
just indebtedness in an orderly fashion.

(f)    When the purchaser is finally forced to seek legal redress,
he finds that the corporations with whom he has been dealing have
no resident Maryland agents and are effectively immune from suit;
and

Whereas, Comparable abuses are not tolerated in the retail install-
ment sales of personal property; and

Whereas, Other Eastern states have laws and regulations con-
trolling such practices in the home finance field, with the result that
unscrupulous operators concentrate their activities in Maryland; and

Whereas, A demand for action has arisen from purchasers, from
members of the Bar, from Maryland home builders, and Maryland
lending institutions; and

Whereas, Several proposals have been before the 1965 and previous
sessions of the General Assembly, aimed at one or more facets of
the problem; now, therefore, be it

Resolved by the General Assembly of Maryland, That the Legis-
lative Council is requested to appoint a Special Committee of in-
terested Senators and Delegates and representatives of the public
with knowledge of the subject, to investigate said practices, under-
take a comparative study of legislation, and report its conclusions
and recommendations to the General Assembly of 1966.

Not signed by the Governor.