S.C. Code Ann. § 37-23-70 – Prohibited acts; complaints; penalties; statute of limitations; enforcement; costs

(A) A lender may not engage knowingly or intentionally in the unfair act or practice of "flipping" a consumer home loan. This provision applies regardless of whether the interest rate, points, fees, and charges paid or payable by the borrower in connection with the refinancing exceed those thresholds specified in Section 37-23-20(15).
(B) It is unlawful, on or after January 1, 2005, for a lender in a consumer home loan to finance, directly or indirectly, credit life, disability, debt cancellation, or unemployment insurance, or other life or health insurance premiums, except that insurance premiums calculated and paid on a monthly basis are not considered to be financed by the lender.
(C) A lender may not recommend or encourage default on an existing loan or other debt before and in connection with the closing or planned closing of a consumer home loan that refinances all or a portion of the existing loan or debt.
(D) At the time of application for a mortgage loan, the mortgage broker, originator, or employee shall provide the borrower with a document specifying the agency designated to receive complaints or inquiries about the origination and making of the loan, with the telephone number and address of the agency. The consumer shall sign a copy of the document acknowledging receipt of this disclosure and the copy must be maintained in the files of the mortgage broker or originator.
(E) Unless otherwise allowed under federal law, a consumer home loan agreement may not contain a choice of law provision identifying a state other than South Carolina.
(F) The making of a consumer home loan that violates this section is a violation of the provisions of this article and the borrower has a right in action, other than a class action, to recover from the lender or party charged with the violation actual damages and also a penalty in an amount determined by the court of not less than one thousand five hundred dollars and not more than seven thousand five hundred dollars for each transaction. No borrower may bring a class action for a violation of this article. No borrower may bring an action for a violation of this article more than six years after the violation occurred and after the original scheduled maturity date of the debt. This subsection does not bar a borrower from asserting a violation of this article in an action to collect a debt which was brought more than six years from the date of the occurrence of the violation and after the original scheduled maturity date of the debt as a matter of defense by recoupment or set-off in such action.
(G)
1. (1) If the court finds as a matter of law that the agreement or transaction violates the provisions of this article at the time it was made, the court may, in an action other than a class action:
  1. (a) refuse to enforce the agreement, or a term, or part of the agreement or transaction that the court determines to have been unlawful at the time it was made;
  2. (b) enforce the remainder of the agreement without the unlawful term or part, or limit the application of the unlawful term or part to avoid an unlawful result;
  3. (c) rewrite or modify the agreement to eliminate an unlawful term, part, or result and enforce the new agreement; or
  4. (d) award either one of the following:
    1. (i) not more than the total amount of the loan finance charge and allow repayment of the unpaid balance of the loan without any finance charge; or
    2. (ii) not more than double the amount of excess loan finance charge or other charges or fees actually received by the lender or paid by the borrower to a third party.
2. (2) An action pursuant to this subsection may not be brought after the original scheduled maturity date of the debt.
(H) In an action in which it is found that a lender has violated this chapter, the court shall award to the borrower the costs of the action and to his attorneys their reasonable fees. In determining attorney's fees, the amount of the recovery on behalf of the borrower is not controlling.
(I) This article establishes specific consumer protections in consumer home loans in addition to other consumer protections that may be otherwise available by law.
(J) The Administrator of the Department of Consumer Affairs, the Attorney General, the Commissioner of Banking, the Director of the Consumer Finance Division, or any party to a high-cost home loan may enforce the provisions of this article. The penalties and remedies provided in this article are in addition to and cumulative of penalties and remedies available pursuant to other provisions of law.
(K) Points and fees charged on consumer home loans and subject to this article are considered earned immediately and not subject to Section 37-3-201 and the rebate provisions of Sections 37-3-209 and 37-3-210; provided, that this section does not limit the borrower's right to prepay under Section 37-3-209.