Federal rules set the floor for every home loan. South Carolina adds a layer of its own in the Consumer Protection Code. These are the state rules most buyers and refinancers actually run into.
On a home loan for personal, family or household purposes, the creditor must find out before closing which legal counsel you prefer to represent you, and comply with that preference.
The same section covers the agent who furnishes the required hazard and flood insurance. The lender can require coverage. It cannot pick the agent for you.
The preference is taken on or with the application, or by written notice no later than three business days after the application.
A lender may not knowingly refinance a consumer home loan within 42 months of the old one when the new loan has no reasonable, tangible net benefit to the borrower.
Credit life, disability, debt cancellation or unemployment insurance premiums may not be financed into a consumer home loan. Premiums paid monthly are not treated as financed.
A lender may not recommend defaulting on an existing debt in connection with a refinance of it.
Unless federal law allows it, a consumer home loan agreement may not name the law of a state other than South Carolina.
A personal, family or household loan secured by real estate may be prepaid in full at any time without penalty when the total advanced does not exceed $150,000. Loans that meet the state's high-cost definition carry extra conditions: the borrower must first receive counseling from a counselor approved by the State Housing Finance and Development Authority, and the lender must reasonably believe the borrower can make the scheduled payments.
At application, a mortgage broker or originator must hand you a document naming the agency that takes complaints about the loan, with its phone number and address, and you sign a copy. Which agency that is depends on the license type, explained on who licenses South Carolina lenders.
Source: S.C. Code 37-10-102(a), 37-10-103, 37-23-20, 37-23-40, 37-23-70. General information, not legal or tax advice.
Home Loans Inc is a South Carolina mortgage broker in North Charleston. One application, priced across many wholesale lenders, with a person who answers the phone.