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Current Status Bill Number:View additional legislative information at the LPITS web site.5107 Type of Legislation:General Bill GB Introducing Body:House Introduced Date:20020411 Primary Sponsor:Law All Sponsors:Law Drafted Document Number:l:\council\bills\dka\4840mm02.doc Residing Body:House Current Committee:Labor, Commerce and Industry Committee 26 HLCI Subject:Political subdivision may not regulate the financial activities of a lender subject to state or federal jurisdiction History Body Date Action Description Com Leg Involved ______ ________ ______________________________________ _______ ____________ House 20020411 Introduced, read first time, 26 HLCI referred to Committee Versions of This Bill
TO AMEND THE CODE OF LAWS OF SOUTH CAROLINA, 1976, BY ADDING SECTION 34-1-140 SO AS TO PROVIDE THAT POLITICAL SUBDIVISIONS MAY NOT REGULATE OR OTHERWISE LIMIT THE FINANCIAL ACTIVITIES OF A LENDER SUBJECT TO STATE OR FEDERAL JURISDICTION; BY ADDING SECTION 37-10-108 SO AS TO PROHIBIT CERTAIN LENDING ACTIVITIES AND TO REQUIRE CERTAIN DISCLOSURES; AND BY ADDING 37-10-119 SO AS TO PROVIDE THAT SOUTH CAROLINA LAW APPLIES IN A CONSUMER LOAN TRANSACTION SECURED BY THE DWELLING PLACE OF A LEGAL RESIDENT OF THIS STATE.
Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the State of South Carolina:
SECTION 1. The 1976 Code is amended by adding:
"Section 34-1-140. A political subdivision of this State may not enact or enforce any ordinance, resolution, and rule regulating the financial or lending activities of a person or a subsidiary or affiliate of that person, including disqualification of a person from doing business with the political subdivision based upon lending interest rates or imposition of reporting requirements or other obligations upon a person regarding its financial services or lending practices, if that person or a subsidiary or an affiliate of that person:
(1) is subject to the jurisdiction of the State Board of Financial Institutions;
(2) is subject to the jurisdiction of the Office of Thrift Supervision, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, the National Credit Union Administration, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, the Federal Trade Commission, or the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development;
(3) originates, purchases, sells, assigns, securitizes, or services property interests or obligations created by a financial transaction or loan made, executed, or originated to assist or facilitate the transaction by a person referred to in items (1) or (2); or
(4) sells or markets financial services provided by an institution or entity defined in or required to comply with the Federal Gramm-Leach-Bliley Financial Modernization Act, 113 Stat. 1338."
SECTION 2. The 1976 Code is amended by adding:
"Section 37-10-108. (A) A lender making a covered loan may not:
(1) engage in a pattern or practice of extending covered loans secured by a borrower's principal dwelling without regard to the borrower's repayment ability, including the borrower's current expected income, current obligations, and employment. If the lender engages in a pattern or practice of making covered loans without verifying and documenting the borrower's repayment ability, it creates a presumption that the lender has violated this subsection;
(2) refinance a covered loan, within one year of having made the loan, to the same borrower into another covered loan unless refinancing is in the borrower's interest. An assignee holding or servicing an extension of a covered loan for the remainder of the one-year period following the date of origination of the covered loan may not refinance a covered loan to the same borrower into another covered loan unless refinancing is in the borrower's interest. A lender, or its assignee, may not engage in acts or practices to evade this provision, including a pattern or practice of arranging for the refinancing of its own covered loans by affiliated or unaffiliated creditors, or modifying a covered loan agreement, whether or not the existing loan is satisfied and replaced by the new covered loan, and charging a fee;
(3) replace or consolidate a zero-interest-rate loan or other low-rate loan made by a governmental or nonprofit lender with a covered loan within the first ten years of the low-rate loan unless the current holder of the loan consents in writing to the refinancing. For purposes of this subsection, a 'low-rate' loan is a loan that carries a current interest rate two percentage points or more below the current yield on United States Treasury securities with a comparable maturity. If the current interest rate of the loan is either a discounted introductory rate or a rate which steps up automatically over time, the fully indexed rate or the fully stepped-up rate, as appropriate, instead of the current rate, must be used to determine if a loan is a low-rate loan;
(4) make a covered loan unless the lender or a mortgage broker has given the following notice, or substantially similar notice, in writing to the borrower within a reasonable time of determining that the loan results in a covered loan, but not later than the time the notice is required pursuant to 12 CFR 226.31(c), as amended. A lender or broker has met its obligation to provide this disclosure if the borrower provides the lender or broker with a signed acknowledgement of receipt of a copy of the following notice:
You are not required to complete this agreement merely because you have received these disclosures or have signed a loan application.
If you obtain this loan, the lender will have a mortgage on your home.
YOU COULD LOSE YOUR HOME, AND ANY MONEY YOU HAVE PUT INTO IT, IF YOU DO NOT MEET YOUR OBLIGATIONS UNDER THIS LOAN.
You are borrowing $_______ (optional credit insurance is ______ is not ______ included in this amount).
The annual percentage rate on your loan will be: _______ %.
Your regular ________ (frequency) payment will be: $_______ [At the end of your loan, you will still owe us: $______ (balloon amount).]
[Your interest rate may increase. Increases in the interest rate could increase your payment. The highest amount your payment could increase is to $______.]'
(B)(1) For purposes of section, 'covered loan' means a personal, family, or household purpose loan that is secured by the borrower's principal dwelling, and in which either the:
(a) annual percentage rate at consummation exceeds by more than eight percentage points, for a loan secured by a first lien, or ten percentage points, for a loan secured by a subordinate lien, the yield on United States Treasury securities having comparable periods of maturity to the loan maturity as of the fifteenth day of the month immediately preceding the month in which the application of the extension of credit is received by the lender; or
(b) total points and fees payable by the borrower at or before loan closing exceeds the greater of eight percent of the total loan amount or four hundred eighty dollars, except that the four hundred eighty-dollar figure must be adjusted annually on January first by the annual percentage changes in the Consumer Price Index that was reported on the preceding June first.
(2) A 'covered loan' does not include:
(a) a reverse mortgage transaction;
(b) an open-ended credit plan; or
(c) a loan for the purchase of the borrower's principal dwelling.
(C) For purposes of this section, 'points and fees' means a:
(1) payment pursuant to a point, discount, or other system of additional charges;
(2) service or carrying charge;
(3) loan fee, finder's fee, or similar charge;
(4) fee paid to a third party and exceeding a bona fide reasonable amount for:
(a) investigation or credit report;
(b) preparation of a loan-related document;
(c) escrows for future payments of taxes and insurance;
(d) notarizing a deed or other documents;
(e) appraisal or inspection for pest infestation or flood hazard.
(5) compensation paid directly to a mortgage broker by the borrower, including a broker that originates a loan in its own name in a table-funded transaction, not otherwise included in items (1) through (4);
(6) premiums or other charges for credit life, accident, health or loss-of-income insurance, or debt-cancellation coverage that provides for cancellation of all or part of the borrower's liability if there is loss of life, health, or income, or in the case of an accident, written in connection with the covered loan. This item includes 'debt-cancellation coverage' whether or not that coverage is considered insurance pursuant to the laws of this State.
(D)(1) In an individual action brought by a borrower on a covered loan in which the defendant is found to have materially violated this section, the court:
(a) shall award the borrower the actual damages sustained by the borrower as a result of the material violation; and
(b) may award, in its discretion, the consumer an additional amount not to exceed one thousand dollars.
(2) In a class action, damages must be set at an amount allowed by the court, except that:
(a) as to each member of the class, minimum recovery must not be applicable; and
(b) the total recovery in a class action or a series of class actions arising out of the same failure to comply by the same lender must not be more than the sum of actual damages and the lesser of five hundred thousand dollars or one percent of the net worth of the lender."
SECTION 3. The 1976 Code is amended by adding:
"Section 37-10-119. A personal, family, or household purpose credit sale or loan to a person whose legal residence is in this State and secured by that person's dwelling place as defined in Section 12-37-250 is subject to and governed by the laws of this State, notwithstanding a provision to the contrary in the transaction documents, which provision violates this section and is unenforceable."
SECTION 4. This act takes effect upon approval by the Governor and applies to covered activities and transactions entered into after October 1, 2002.
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