Title 37, Consumer Protection Code

As used in this chapter: (1) "Consumer" means consumer as defined in Section 37-1-301(10). (2) "Credit counseling organization" means a person providing or offering to provide to consumers credit counseling services for a fee, compensation, or gain, or in the expectation of a fee…

A person may not engage in credit counseling services in South Carolina, whether or not the person has any office, facility, agent, or other physical presence in South Carolina, unless the person obtains from the department a license issued pursuant to this chapter.

(A) A credit counseling organization may not offer or agree to offer credit counseling services in this State without first filing a surety bond with the department. The amount of the surety bond must equal or exceed the total amount of South Carolina clients' funds in the applic…

(A) A person required to be licensed as a credit counseling organization must submit to the department an application for a license on forms prescribed by the department. The applicant shall file an application with the department in writing, under oath: (1) the name and address …

(A) Licensees must complete at least twelve hours of continuing professional education every two years. At least six of the twelve hours must be earned in a live instructional setting as opposed to a correspondence course or similar instructional method. If the organization is a …

The department may refuse to license an applicant or suspend or revoke a license or refuse to renew a license issued pursuant to this chapter if it finds, after notice and a hearing pursuant to the Administrative Procedures Act, that the applicant or his agent has: (1) been convi…

(A) Upon the filing of a complete application for a license, accompanied by the fee required, if the department finds that the financial responsibility and condition, character, qualifications, and general fitness of the applicant, and of the members if the applicant is a co-part…

A credit counseling organization, through its credit counselors, may not engage in credit counseling services or a debt management plan unless: (1) the licensee provides the consumer with a credit education program designed to improve the financial literacy of the consumer; (2) a…

(A) Upon establishing a debt management plan for a debtor, a licensee may charge and receive a setup fee as established by the department by regulation. If, within forty-five days of establishing the debt management plan, the lack of consent from the debtor's creditors causes the…

(A) A written contract is required. A service that requires any payment, fee, or other consideration may not be provided by a credit counseling organization for a consumer unless a written and dated contract for the purchase of those services, which meets the requirements of subs…

(A) Funds paid to the licensee by or on behalf of a consumer for disbursement to the consumer's creditors must be deposited in a trust account established by the licensee for the benefit of debtors. (B) A credit counseling organization shall: (1) maintain separate records of acco…

A licensee may not charge a consumer a fee except as established by the department by regulation.

A licensee shall provide the consumer with an individualized counseling and education session that at a minimum addresses the following topics: managing household finances, managing credit and debt, budgeting, and personal savings strategies.

(A) Each credit counseling organization shall maintain and preserve in its licensed offices complete and accurate books, accounts, and records as the department may reasonably require to determine if the credit counseling organization is complying with the provisions of this chap…

(A) Each credit counseling organization licensed pursuant to this chapter annually, on or before April fifteenth, shall file a written report with the department relating to the credit counseling organization business conducted during the preceding calendar year. The report shall…

(A) A licensee may not: (1) obtain an agreement from a consumer waiving a right the consumer has pursuant to this chapter; (2) charge a fee to a consumer if the consumer enters into a debt management plan with the licensee to rescind a DMP contract; (3) advertise in a statement o…

(A) A person who violates this chapter is guilty of a misdemeanor and, upon conviction, must be fined not more than five hundred dollars or imprisoned not more than six months, or both. If it is determined by a court of competent jurisdiction that a violation is wilful, the court…

A violation of a provision of this chapter is considered a violation of Section 39-5-20 of the South Carolina Unfair Trade Practices Act. A remedy pursuant to Section 39-5-20 of the South Carolina Unfair Trade Practices Act is cumulative of and in addition to those available purs…

(A) Upon the finding that an action of a licensee may be in violation of this chapter, or of a law or regulation of this State or of the federal government or an agency of them, the department, after reasonable notice to the licensee and an opportunity for the licensee to be hear…

Within thirty days after the final decision of the department and by written notice to the department, an aggrieved party may appeal the decision pursuant to Article 3, Chapter 23, Title 1, the Administrative Procedures Act.

The department may promulgate regulations necessary to effectuate the purposes of this chapter.

All application and renewal fees collected by the department may be retained by the department and used to implement the provision of this chapter.

(1) Except as otherwise provided in this section, this title takes effect at 12:01 A.M. on January 1, 1975. (2) To the extent appropriate to permit the administrator to prepare for operation of this title when it takes effect the chapter on administration (Chapter 6) takes effect…

(A) All persons now or hereafter holding a license under the provisions of Chapter 29, Title 34, as amended, may elect to be licensed to make supervised loans under this title pursuant to the part on Supervised Loans (Part 5) of the chapter on Loans (Chapter 3), provided, however…

A wholly owned subsidiary of a parent corporation which subsidiary has elected to be licensed under the provisions of this chapter, and a separate wholly owned subsidiary of the same parent corporation which subsidiary has elected to be licensed under the provisions of Chapter 29…

Except as otherwise provided in other chapters of this title, this chapter applies to designated loan transactions other than consumer loan transactions (Sections 37-3-104 and 37-3-105).

Whenever the primary purpose of a loan that is secured in whole or in part by a lien on real estate is for a personal, family or household purpose: (a) The creditor must ascertain prior to closing the preference of the borrower as to the legal counsel that is employed to represen…

The debtor may prepay in full at any time without penalty the debt represented by a personal, family, or household purpose loan agreement that is secured in whole or in part by a first or junior lien on real estate if the aggregate of all sums advanced will not exceed one hundred…

With respect to a loan under which the aggregate of all sums advanced or contemplated by the parties in good faith to be advanced is less than twenty-five thousand dollars and which is primarily for an agricultural purpose, the maximum loan finance charge that may be contracted f…

(A) If a creditor violates a provision of this chapter, the debtor has a cause of action, other than in a class action, to recover actual damages and also a right in an action, other than in a class action, to recover from the person violating this chapter a penalty in an amount …

(1) No greater interest than six percent per annum shall be charged, taken, agreed upon or allowed upon any contract arising in this State for the hiring, lending, or use of money or other commodity, either by way of straight interest, discount or otherwise, except upon written c…

(1) No person may maintain an action for legal or equitable relief or a defense based upon a failure to perform an alleged promise, undertaking, accepted offer, commitment, or agreement: (a) to lend or borrow money; (b) to defer or forbear in the repayment of money; or (c) to ren…

This chapter may be cited as the "State Continuing Care Retirement Community Act".

(A) For the purposes of this section, "conviction" includes a plea of guilty or nolo contendere or a finding of guilt. (B) The department may take disciplinary action against a licensee or an operator for violation of a provision of this chapter or a regulation promulgated pursua…

(A) At any time when the department has reason to believe that the operator is insolvent, is in imminent danger of becoming insolvent, is in a financially unsound or unsafe condition, or that a continuing care retirement community's financial condition is such that it may otherwi…

The department, in accordance with the laws of the State governing injunctions and other processes, may maintain an action in the name of the State against a person for establishing, conducting, managing, or operating a facility without obtaining a license as provided in this cha…

The department or the Attorney General may file an action in the Administrative Law Court or circuit court to enforce the provisions of this chapter.

The department may waive any of the requirements of Section 37-11-30(B) for a continuing care retirement community in operation as of the effective date of this chapter.

A facility that does not require payment of an entrance fee is exempt from the requirements of this chapter. In order to qualify for this exemption, a facility must obtain a letter of nonapplicability from the department. A facility that has obtained a letter of nonapplicability …

All funds collected by the department pursuant to this chapter must be retained and used to implement the provisions of this chapter.

(A) The provisions of Section 37-11-35 do not apply to a continuing care contract entered into before the effective date of this chapter. (B) The provisions of subsection (A) do not limit the department's authority to deny, suspend, or revoke a license or assess a monetary penalt…

As used in this chapter unless the context otherwise requires: (1) "Department" means the South Carolina Department of Consumer Affairs. (2) "Continuing care retirement community" means a community in which there is furnished, pursuant to a continuing care contract, to two or mor…

(A) A continuing care retirement community must not be operated or advertised, and a reservation deposit or an entrance fee must not be collected unless the appropriate license is obtained first from the department as provided in this chapter and any regulation promulgated pursua…

(A) A continuing care contract and a reservation agreement must be in writing and must meet minimum standards for readability established by the department. Standards must include, but are not limited to, standards on general organization of text, text readability, type size, typ…

(A) Within sixty days of the receipt of a completed application for a license, the department shall determine whether the continuing care retirement community is financially responsible and can meet its obligations to residents or prospective residents. (B) In making this determi…

(A) The department shall issue a preliminary license to a person filing an application pursuant to Section 37-11-30 if, upon payment of the application fee, it determines that: (1) the feasibility study satisfies the requirements in Section 37-11-40(B) and demonstrates the projec…