Oral Credit Agreements

""Credit agreement"" means an agreement, promise, or commitment to lend money, to otherwise extend credit, to forbear with respect to the repayment of any debt or the exercise of any remedy, to modify or amend the terms under which the creditor has lent money or otherwise extended credit, to release any guarantor or cosigner, or to make any other financial accommodation pertaining to a debt or other extension of credit. (RCW 19.36.100)

A credit agreement is not enforceable against the creditor unless the agreement is in writing and signed by the creditor. The rights and obligations of the parties to a credit agreement shall be determined solely from the written agreement, and any prior or contemporaneous oral agreements between the parties are superseded by, merged into, and may not vary the credit agreement. Partial performance of a credit agreement does not remove the agreement from the operation of this section. (RCW 19.36.110)

Once the statutory notice is given, it is effective as to all subsequent credit agreements between the creditor and the debtor its guarantors, successors and assigns. A creditor should give the statutory notice early in the negotiation of credit extension to a WA debtor. The notice may be included in the written agreement or in a separate document.