(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 section, and in the case of a creditor not making consumer credit sales in this State on that date, on or before the date the creditor begins to make such credit sales in this State, shall file a rate schedule with the Department of Consumer Affairs and, except as otherwise provided in this section, post in one conspicuous place in every place of business in this State, if any, in which offers to make consumer credit sales are extended, a maximum rate schedule issued by the department which contains the items set forth in subsections (2), (3), and (4).
(a) A creditor that has seller credit cards or similar arrangements (Section 37-1-301(26)) is not required to post a copy of the required rate schedule in any place of business which is authorized to honor such transactions; provided that the creditor shall include a conspicuous statement of the maximum rate it intends to charge for these transactions in the initial disclosure statement required to be provided the debtor by the Federal Truth-In-Lending Act and notifies the debtor of any change in the maximum rate on or before the effective date of the change.
(b) [Reserved]
(2) The rate schedule required to be filed and posted by subsection (1) must contain a list of the maximum rate of credit service charge (Section 37-2-109) stated as an annual percentage rate, determined in accordance with the Federal Truth-In-Lending Act and Federal Reserve Board Regulation Z, that the creditor intends to charge for consumer credit transactions in each of the following categories of credit:
(a) unsecured credit sales;
(b) secured credit sales other than those secured by real estate;
(c) credit sales secured by real estate;
(d) open-end (revolving) credit;
(e) all other.
If a variable rate is applicable to one or more categories or subcategories, the rate schedule must designate the rate as a variable rate and disclose the index for calculating changes in the rate and the cap or other limitation, if any, on any increases or decreases in the rate.
The creditor may include as many subcategories as it chooses under each of the specified categories, and may, at its option, include a series of rates for different dollar amounts and maturities. A creditor may omit one or more of the categories from the rate schedule if the creditor does not make consumer credit transactions falling within the omitted categories.
(3) The rate schedule that is filed by the creditor must be reproduced by the department in at least fourteen-point type for posting as required by subsection (1). The terms "Credit Service Charge" and "Annual Percentage Rate" will be printed in larger size type than the other terms in the posted rate schedule. The following statement must be included in the posted rate schedule: "Consumers: All creditors making consumer credit sales in South Carolina are required by law to post a schedule showing the maximum rate of CREDIT SERVICE CHARGES expressed as the FINANCE CHARGE stated as ANNUAL PERCENTAGE RATES that the creditor intends to charge for various types of consumer credit transactions. The purpose of this requirement is to assist you in comparing the maximum rates that creditors charge, thereby furthering your understanding of the terms of consumer credit transactions and helping you to avoid the uninformed use of credit. NOTE: Creditors are prohibited only from granting consumer credit at rates higher than those specified above. A creditor may be willing to grant you credit at rates that are lower than those specified, depending on the amount, terms, collateral, and your creditworthiness."
(4) A rate schedule filed and posted as required by this section is effective until changed in accordance with this subsection. A creditor wishing to change any of the maximum rates shown on a schedule previously filed and posted or to add or delete the prescribed categories or subcategories shall file with the Department of Consumer Affairs together with the required fee specified in subsection (7) and post as required by subsection (1) a revised schedule of maximum rates. The revised rate schedule is effective on the date issued by the department. The posting or changes in connection with seller credit cards and similar arrangements shall be made in accordance with subsection (1).
(5) A creditor has no obligation to print the maximum rate schedule in any public advertisement that mentions rates charged by that creditor.
(6) The Commission on Consumer Affairs shall promulgate a regulation pursuant to subsection (2) of Section 37-6-506 establishing the filing procedures for the format of the rate schedules prescribed by this section.
(7) Every creditor shall file at least one maximum rate schedule and pay at least one forty-dollar filing fee during each state fiscal year disclosing that creditor's existing maximum rates plus an additional forty dollars for each additional location. This filing and fee required of each creditor is due annually before the thirty-first day of January of each year. If this filing does not change any maximum rates previously filed, the creditor is not required to alter posted maximum rates. If any creditor has not filed a maximum rate schedule with the Department of Consumer Affairs by the thirty-first day of January of the year in which it is due, then on this date the filing is no longer effective and the maximum credit service charge that the creditor may impose on any credit extended after that date may not exceed eighteen percent a year until such time as the creditor files a revised maximum rate schedule that complies with this section. The Department of Consumer Affairs shall retain each fee to offset the cost of administering and enforcing this chapter and Chapter 3. This revenue may be applied to the cost of operations and any unexpended balance carries forward to succeeding fiscal years and must be used for the same purposes.
HISTORY: 1982 Act No. 385, Section 20; 1984 Act No. 355, Section 4; 1987 Act No. 56, Section 1; 1991 Act No. 142, Section 6; 2008 Act No. 353, Section 2, Pt 16B, eff July 1, 2009; 2016 Act No. 244 (H.5040), Section 5, eff June 5, 2016.
Effect of Amendment
2016 Act No. 244, Section 5, in (1), inserted "a rate schedule" following "shall file", and substituted "issued by the department which contains the items" for "meeting the requirements"; in (3), inserted "by the department" in the first sentence; in (4), deleted ", in duplicate," following "file with the Department of Consumer Affairs", substituted "subsection (7)" for "subsection (6)", deleted the prior third sentence relating to certification and return of the revised schedule, rewrote the prior fourth sentence, now the third sentence, deleting text related to receipt of the certified schedule by the creditor; deleted former (6), related to maintenance of a file for each creditor by the department; redesignated former (7) and (8) as (6) and (7); in (6), inserted "filing procedures for the"; in (7), deleted "thirty dollars of" following "shall retain" in the second to last sentence; and made a nonsubstantive change.