Title 37, Consumer Protection Code

(1) "Goods" includes goods not in existence at the time the transaction is entered into and merchandise certificates, but excludes money, chattel paper, documents of title, and instruments. (2) "Merchandise certificate" means a writing issued by a seller not redeemable in cash an…

(1) "Consumer lease" means a lease of goods: (a) which a lessor regularly engaged in the business of leasing makes to a person, other than an organization, who takes under a lease primarily for a personal, family or household purpose; (b) in which the amount payable under the lea…

Except as otherwise provided, "seller" includes an assignee of the seller's right to payment but use of the term does not in itself impose on an assignee any obligation of the seller with respect to events occurring before the assignment.

"Revolving charge account" means an arrangement between a seller and a buyer pursuant to which: (1) the seller may permit the buyer to purchase goods or services on credit either from the seller or pursuant to a seller credit card; (2) the unpaid balances of amounts financed aris…

"Credit service charge" means the sum of: (1) all charges payable directly or indirectly by the buyer and imposed directly or indirectly by the seller as an incident to the extension of credit, including any of the following types of charges which are applicable: time price diffe…

Except as the administrator may otherwise prescribe by rule, the "cash price" of goods, services, or an interest in land means the price at which goods, services, or interest in land are offered for sale by the seller to cash buyers in the ordinary course of business, and may inc…

"Amount financed" means the total of the following items to the extent that payment is deferred: (1) the cash price of the goods, services or interest in land, less the amount of any down payment whether made in cash or in property traded in; (2) the amount actually paid or to be…

(1) With respect to a consumer credit sale, including a sale pursuant to a revolving charge account, a seller may contract for and receive a credit service charge not exceeding that permitted by this section. (2) The credit service charge, calculated according to the actuarial me…

(1) In addition to the credit service charge permitted by this part, a creditor may contract for and receive the following additional charges: (a) official fees and taxes; (b) charges for insurance as described in subsection (2); (c) with respect to open-end credit pursuant to a …

(1) With respect to a consumer credit sale including an open-end consumer credit sale pursuant to a seller credit card, and any refinancings or consolidations of all such credit sales, the parties may contract for a delinquency charge on any installment not paid in full within te…

(1) In this section and in the provisions on rebate upon prepayment (Section 37-2-210) the following defined terms apply with respect to a precomputed consumer credit sale: (a) "Computational period" means (i) the interval between scheduled due dates of installments under the tra…

With respect to a consumer credit sale, refinancing, or consolidation, the seller may by agreement with the buyer refinance the unpaid balance and may contract for and receive a credit service charge based on the amount financed resulting from the refinancing at a rate not exceed…

If a buyer owes an unpaid balance to a seller with respect to a consumer credit sale, refinancing, or consolidation, and becomes obligated on another consumer credit sale, refinancing, or consolidation with the same seller, the parties may agree to a consolidation resulting in a …

(1) With respect to a consumer credit sale made pursuant to a revolving charge account, the parties to the sale may contract for the payment by the buyer of a credit service charge not exceeding that permitted in this section but, if they do not so contract in writing no charge s…

(1) If the agreement with respect to a consumer credit sale, refinancing, or consolidation contains covenants by the buyer to perform certain duties pertaining to insuring or preserving collateral and the seller pursuant to the agreement pays for performance of the duties on beha…

Subject to the provisions on rebate upon prepayment (Section 37-2-210), the buyer may prepay in full the unpaid balance of a consumer credit sale refinancing or consolidation at any time without penalty.

(1) Except as otherwise provided in this section, upon prepayment in full of a precomputed consumer credit sale, refinancing or consolidation entered into after September 28, 1976, the creditor shall rebate to the consumer an amount not less than the unearned portion of the credi…

A person upon whom the Federal Truth in Lending Act imposes duties or obligations shall make or give to the consumer the disclosures, information and notices required of him by that act and in all respects comply with that act.

(1) The creditor shall deliver or mail to the consumer, without request, a written receipt for each payment by coin or currency on an obligation pursuant to a consumer credit sale. A periodic statement showing a payment received by mail complies with this subsection. (2) Upon wri…

(1) A natural person, other than the spouse of the consumer, is not obligated as a cosigner, comaker, guarantor, indorser, surety, or similar party with respect to a consumer credit sale, unless before or contemporaneously with signing any separate agreement of obligation or any …

(1) A seller or lessor may not advertise, print, display, publish, distribute, broadcast, or cause to be advertised, printed, displayed, published, distributed, or broadcast in any manner any statement or representation with regard to the rates, terms, or conditions of credit wit…

(1) Every creditor (Section 37-1-301(13)), intending to impose a credit service charge in excess of eighteen percent per annum other than an assignee of a credit obligation, making consumer credit sales (Section 37-2-104) in this State on or before the effective date of this sect…

(A) Every creditor engaged in this State in making consumer credit sales pursuant to a seller credit card shall: (1) file on or before January thirty-first of each year with the Department of Consumer Affairs for every seller card plan it offers to South Carolina residents the di…

(A) As used in this section: (1) A closing fee is defined as a fee for recovery of a motor vehicle dealer's actual costs for all administrative and financial work needed to transfer and deliver the motor vehicle to the consumer including, but not limited to, compliance with all s…

(A) As used in this section, unless the context requires otherwise, the term: (1) "Advertisement" means an oral, written, graphic, or pictorial statement made in the course of soliciting for the sale or lease of a motor vehicle in a newspaper, magazine, or on radio, television, o…

(A) An estimate of the disclosures required by Section 37-2-301 is required in connection with a credit sale of a purchaser-occupied manufactured home not less than two days before the consummation of the transaction as defined in 12 C.F.R. Section 226.2(a)(13). The estimated dis…

This part applies to consumer credit sales and consumer leases.

A seller may not use multiple agreements with respect to a single consumer credit sale with intent to obtain a higher rate of credit service charge than would otherwise be permitted by the provisions on credit service charges for consumer credit sales (Section 37-2-201). The exce…

With respect to a consumer credit sale or consumer lease, the creditor may not take a negotiable instrument other than a check dated not later than ten days after its issuance as evidence of the obligation of the consumer.

(1) With respect to a consumer credit sale or consumer lease, an assignee of the rights of the seller or lessor is subject to all claims and defenses of the consumer against the seller or lessor arising from the sale or lease of property or services, notwithstanding that the assi…

(1) Except as provided in subsection (2), if any scheduled payment of a consumer credit sale is more than twice as large as the average of earlier scheduled payments, the consumer has the right to refinance, without penalty, the amount of that payment at the time it is due. The t…

The obligation of a lessee upon expiration of a consumer lease may not exceed three times the average payment allocable to a monthly period under the lease. This limitation does not apply to charges for damages to the leased property or for other default.

(1) With respect to a consumer credit sale, a seller may take a security interest in the property sold. In addition, a seller may take a security interest in goods upon which services are performed or in which goods sold are installed or to which they are annexed, or in land to w…

(1) In addition to contracting for a security interest pursuant to the provisions on security in sales or leases (Section 37-2-407), a seller in a consumer credit sale may secure the debt arising from the sale by contracting for a security interest in other property if as a resul…

(1) If debts arising from two or more consumer credit sales, other than sales pursuant to a revolving charge account, are secured by cross-collateral (Section 37-2-408) or consolidated into one debt payable on a single schedule of payments, and the debt is secured by security int…

A seller or lessor may not take an assignment of earnings of the buyer or lessee for payment or as security for payment of a debt arising out of a consumer credit sale or a consumer lease. An assignment of earnings in violation of this section is unenforceable by the assignee of …

With respect to a consumer credit sale or consumer lease, the seller or lessor may not give or offer to give a rebate or discount or otherwise pay or offer to pay value to the consumer as an inducement for a sale or lease for the consumer giving to the seller or lessor the names …

The buyer or lessee is authorized to pay the original seller or lessor until the buyer or lessee receives notification of assignment of the rights to payment pursuant to a consumer credit sale or consumer lease and that payment is to be made to the assignee. A notification which …

(1) With respect to a consumer credit sale or consumer lease the agreement may provide for the payment by the buyer or lessee of reasonable attorney's fees not in excess of fifteen percent of the unpaid debt after default and referral to an attorney not a salaried employee of the…

Except for reasonable expenses incurred in realizing on a security interest, the agreement with respect to a consumer credit sale may not provide for any charges as a result of default by the buyer other than those authorized by this title. A provision in violation of this sectio…

A buyer or lessee may not authorize any person to confess judgment on a claim arising out of a consumer credit sale or consumer lease. An authorization in violation of this section is void.

(1) Whether or not a change is authorized by prior agreement, a creditor may change the terms of a revolving charge account applying to any balance incurred before or after the effective date of the change. If the change increases the rate of the credit service charge or of addit…

"Home solicitation sale" means a consumer credit sale of goods or services in which the seller or a person acting for him personally solicits the sale, and the buyer's agreement or offer to purchase is given to the seller or a person acting for him, at a residence. It does not in…

(1) Except as provided in subsection (5), in addition to any right otherwise to revoke an offer, the buyer may cancel a home solicitation sale until midnight of the third business day after the day on which the buyer signs an agreement or offer to purchase which complies with thi…

(1) In a home solicitation sale, unless the buyer requests the seller to provide goods or services without delay in an emergency (subsection (5) of Section 37-2-502), the seller shall present to the buyer and obtain his signature to a written agreement or offer to purchase that d…

(1) Within ten days after a notice of cancellation has been received by the seller or an offer to purchase has been otherwise revoked, the seller shall tender to the buyer any payments made by the buyer, any note or other evidence of indebtedness, and any goods traded in. A provi…