South Carolina Adopts Provisions Regarding Department of Consumer Affairs, and Telephone Privacy Protection Act
The state of South Carolina has recently adopts provisions regarding the state’s Department of Consumer Affairs, and its Telephone Privacy Protection Act. Both updates are effective immediately.
South Carolina Enacts Provisions Regarding Telephone Privacy Protection Act
The State of South Carolina has recently enacted House Bill 4628 regarding the state’s Telephone Privacy Protection Act (“SCTPPA”), effective immediately.
SCTPPA applies to “telephone solicitations,” defined as the “initiation of a telephone call, or a text or media message sent, to a natural person’s residence in South Carolina, or to a wireless telephone with a South Carolina area code, for the purpose of offering or advertising a property, good, or service for sale, lease, license, or investment, including offering or advertising an extension of credit, prize promotion, or for the purposes of obtaining information that will or may be used for the direct solicitation thereof.” The bill then lays out a list of restrictions that apply to solicitors.
First, a telephone solicitor may not initiate, or cause to be initiated, a telephone solicitation at any time other than between 8:00 a.m. and 9:00 p.m. local time at the consumer’s location, unless the telephone solicitor has obtained the prior written consent of the consumer.
Next, at the outset of a telephone solicitation, a telephone solicitor must provide a first and last name to identify him or herself and provide the name of the person on whose behalf the telephone solicitation is being made. The solicitor must then promptly disclose to the consumer the following information: (1) a telephone number and address at which the telephone solicitor may be contacted; (2) the purpose of the telephone solicitation; (3) that no purchase or payment is necessary to be able to win a prize or participate in a prize promotion if a prize promotion is offered; and (4) the option to be added to the telephone solicitor’s in-house ‘do not call’ list.
SCTPPA then prohibits solicitors from initiating a call or text message or engaging in conduct that results in the display of misleading, false or inaccurate caller identification information on the receiving party’s telephone. This bans any method of circumventing caller identification technology that allows the receiving party to identify from what phone number, location, or organization the call or text message has originated from. Solicitors also may not misrepresent the origin and nature of the call or text message.
In situations where a live telephone solicitor is not available to speak with the consumer answering a telephone solicitation call within two seconds of the completed greeting, the telephone solicitor must play a prerecorded identification and opt-out message. This message must disclose that the call was for telephone solicitation purposes and must state the name and telephone number of the person on whose behalf the telephone solicitation call is being made, and a telephone number that permits the consumer to make a do-not-call request during regular business hours.
SCTPPA also states that a person may not initiate, or cause to be initiated, a telephone solicitation directed to a telephone number when a person at that telephone number previously stated a desire not to be contacted again by or on behalf of the person on whose behalf the telephone solicitation is being made. This statement may be made to a telephone solicitor or to the person on whose behalf the telephone solicitation is being made if that person is different from the telephone solicitor. Any request not to receive telephone solicitations must be honored for at least five years from the time the request is made.
Finally, A telephone solicitor may not initiate, or cause to be initiated, a telephone solicitation to a telephone number on the National Do Not Call Registry maintained by the federal government pursuant to the Telemarketing Sales Rule, 16 C.F.R. Part 310, and 47 C.F.R. Section 64.1200.
South Carolina Adopts Provisions Regarding Department of Consumer Affairs
The South Carolina Department of Consumer Affairs adopted miscellaneous provisions under its Consumer Protection Code, which include public complaints and requests for information, delinquent notification filing and fee payment, and filing and posting maximum rate schedules. These provisions are effective immediately.
The updated provisions begin with a description of the South Carolina Department of Consumer Affairs, and an explanation of how the public may access the Department. The Department is divided into six divisions: administration, consumer services, consumer advocacy, public information and education, an identity theft unit, and a legal division. The provisions then discuss two ways in which the public may access the department of consumer affairs.
First, the public has access to the Department through a complaint procedure which may be accessed through an online complaint system, a statewide toll-free WATS line, or simply by using the regular telephone network of the Department. Telephone numbers for the WATS line and the regular system are published in the news media and other appropriate informational sources at regular intervals. In addition, informal complaints may also be submitted to the Department in writing either utilizing the Department’s regular complaint form or in an appropriate letter or other writing.
Second, the public may make requests for information to the Public Information and Education Division. The types of information that may be requested include any final order, decision, opinion, rule, regulation, written statement of policy or interpretation formulated, adopted or used by the Administrator on the discharge of his functions or any other matter to which the public has access by virtue of the Freedom of Information Act. These items may be inspected at the Office of the Administrator at any reasonable time, during normal office hours.
The provisions then disclose the Department’s penalties with regard to delinquent notification filings and fee payments. Except in the case of willful or repeated violations, notification filings and fees which are not more than 15 days delinquent will be accepted without penalty. In the case of notification filings and fees that are more than 15 days delinquent, the following penalties apply: 16 to 30 days- 50% of delinquent fee; 31 to 60 days- 100% of delinquent fee; 61 to 90 days- 200% of delinquent fee; 91 days or more- subject to action by the department.
Finally, the provisions discuss the filing and posting of maximum rate schedules. All creditors intending to impose a credit service charge in excess of 18% per annum, and every creditor making supervised loans or restricted loans must (1) file with the Department a rate schedule as shown on the Department’s internet website, and the original of the rate schedule must be filed together with a fee of forty dollars per location, and (2) post in one conspicuous place in every place of business in this state in which the creditor offers to make consumer credit sales, supervised loans, or restricted loans, a maximum rate schedule issued by the Department.
Zachary Pearlstein, JD, is a Regulatory Compliance Director with CLA's Mortgage Advisory Division. He joined CLA on January 1, 2014, as part of its acquisition of Bankers Advisory, Inc. Zachary oversees Mortgage Advisory's regulatory compliance team, which focuses on federal and state compliance, fair lending, and the Home Mortgage Disclosure Act (HMDA). He is a graduate of Brandeis University and earned his juris doctor at Suffolk University Law School. He is admitted to the Massachusetts Bar.
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