(1) This title shall be liberally construed and applied to promote its underlying purposes and policies.

(2) The underlying purposes and policies of this title are:

Terms Used In South Carolina Code 37-1-102

  • Usury: Charging an illegally high interest rate on a loan. Source: OCC

(a) to simplify, clarify and modernize the law governing retail installment sales, consumer credit and usury;

(b) to provide rate ceilings to assure an adequate supply of credit to consumers;

(c) to further consumer understanding of the terms of credit transactions and to foster competition among suppliers of consumer credit so that consumers may obtain credit at reasonable cost;

(d) to protect consumer buyers, lessees, and borrowers against unfair practices by some suppliers of consumer credit, having due regard for the interests of legitimate and scrupulous creditors;

(e) to permit and encourage the development of fair and economically sound consumer credit practices;

(f) to conform the regulation of consumer credit transactions to the policies of the Federal Consumer Credit Protection Act; and

(g) to make uniform the law, including administrative rules, among the various jurisdictions.

(3) A reference to a requirement imposed by this title includes reference to a related rule of the administrator adopted pursuant to this title.