(A) Upon establishing a debt management plan for a debtor, a licensee may charge and receive a setup fee as established by the department by regulation. If, within forty-five days of establishing the debt management plan, the lack of consent from the debtor’s creditors causes the DMP to be no longer suitable for the debtor, the fee must be returned to the debtor and the debtor’s account closed.

(B) Consent from the debtor’s creditors must be recorded on a separate form to be kept in the debtor’s file. The form must contain:

Terms Used In South Carolina Code 37-7-109

  • Creditor: means the person who grants credit in a consumer credit transaction or, except as otherwise provided, an assignee of a creditor's right to payment, but the term does not in itself impose on an assignee an obligation of his assignor. See South Carolina Code 37-7-101
  • Debtor: means the person or persons for whom the credit counseling service is performed. See South Carolina Code 37-7-101
  • Department: means the South Carolina Department of Consumer Affairs. See South Carolina Code 37-7-101
  • DMP: means a program in which an organization agrees to engage in debt settlement or debt pooling and distribution services on behalf of a consumer with the consumer's creditors and under which the consumer gives money or control of his funds to the organization for distribution to the consumer's creditors. See South Carolina Code 37-7-101
  • Licensee: means a person licensed pursuant to this chapter. See South Carolina Code 37-7-101
  • Person: means any individual, corporation, partnership, association, unincorporated organization, or other form of entity, however organized, including a nonprofit organization. See South Carolina Code 37-7-101

(1) a list of all the creditors;

(2) the manner in which consent was sought;

(3) the date of each contact;

(4) the name of the person contacted, if available;

(5) the response obtained from the person contacted;

(6) revised or special conditions or arrangements that condition the consent; and

(7) the date on which the required consent was secured.

(C) The consent of a creditor may be sought by sending a notice of a debt management plan to a creditor by appropriate means, including by telephone, facsimile, electronic mail, or first class mail. If the creditor does not respond within fourteen days after the sending of the notice, it is presumed that the creditor has given consent.

(D) If a payment under the debt management plan is sent to a creditor, acceptance of the payment or plan is presumed seven days after sending the payment.

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