We granted a writ of certiorari to the Court of Appeals to determine whether OCGA § 33-31-4a permits, in connection with an installment loan, the sale of credit life insurance the premium for which is calculated on the total payments due through the life of the loan i.e., gross balance decreasing term coverage, or whether the statute limits the type of credit life insurance sold to that for which the premium is calculated on the amount financed i.e., net balance decreasing term coverage. In addressing this matter of first impression in Georgia, the Court of Appeals concluded that the statute authorized the sale of “total of payments” coverage, i.e., gross balance decreasing term coverage. Printis v. Bankers Life Ins. Co. , 256 Ga. App. 266 568 SE2d 85 2002. We agree and affirm the judgment of the Court of Appeals.
Appellant Felicia Printis purchased a car, a service agreement, and optional credit life and disability insurance for the 60-month term of her financing contract. After receiving credit for her trade-in and her down payment, Printis owed $20,711.45. Printis was informed that the finance charge resulting from her financing arrangement would be $2117.95, making the total amount she would pay over the life of the loan $22,829.40. The credit life insurance provided by appellee Bankers Life Insurance Company and for which appellant was charged a premium was for $22,829.40. In January 2000, Printis filed a complaint in which she claimed the amount of life insurance for which she should have been charged was the amount of her indebtedness $20,711.50 plus accrued interest rather than $22,829.40. She sought a refund of the difference in premium for the life insurance $47.65 and the finance charges attributable to the difference, and claimed that the insurer had committed a RICO violation mail fraud and wire fraud by “conspiring with its agents and auto dealers to sell this illegal, unnecessary, and excessive insurance coverage at greater expense to the consumer. . . .” The trial court granted judgment on the pleadings to Bankers Life, and the Court of Appeals affirmed that judgment.
