South Carolina Code 38-43-200. Prohibition or payment of certain commissions and fees
(B) A person may not accept a commission, service fee, brokerage, or other valuable consideration for selling, soliciting, or negotiating insurance in this State if that person is required to be licensed pursuant to the provisions of this chapter and is not licensed.
Terms Used In South Carolina Code 38-43-200
- Commission: means the part of the premium paid to the producer as compensation for his services. See South Carolina Code 38-1-20
- insurance: includes annuities. See South Carolina Code 38-1-20
- Insurance agency: means a corporation, association, partnership, limited liability company, limited liability partnership, or other legal entity in which more than one person has a financial interest. See South Carolina Code 38-1-20
- Insurer: includes a corporation, fraternal organization, burial association, other association, partnership, society, order, individual, or aggregation of individuals engaging or proposing or attempting to engage as principals in any kind of insurance or surety business, including the exchanging of reciprocal or interinsurance contracts between individuals, partnerships, and corporations. See South Carolina Code 38-1-20
- Negotiate: means the act of conferring directly with or offering advice directly to a purchaser or prospective purchaser of a particular contract of insurance concerning substantive benefits, terms, or conditions of the contract, provided that the person engaged in that act either sells insurance or obtains insurance from insurers for purchasers. See South Carolina Code 38-1-20
- Person: means a corporation, agency, partnership, association, voluntary organization, individual, or another entity, organization, or aggregation of individuals. See South Carolina Code 38-1-20
- Policy: means a contract of insurance. See South Carolina Code 38-1-20
- producer: means a person who represents an insurance company and is required to be licensed pursuant to § 38-43-10. See South Carolina Code 38-1-20
- Sell: means to exchange a contract of insurance by any means, for money or its equivalent, on behalf of an insurance company. See South Carolina Code 38-1-20
- Solicit: means attempting to sell insurance or asking or urging a person to apply for a particular kind of insurance from a particular company. See South Carolina Code 38-1-20
(C) A renewal or other deferred commission may be paid to a person for selling, soliciting, or negotiating insurance in this State if the person was required to be licensed pursuant to the provisions of this chapter at the time of the sale, solicitation, or negotiation and was licensed at that time.
(D) An insurer or insurance producer may pay or assign service fees or other valuable consideration to an insurance agency or to a person who does not sell, solicit, or negotiate insurance in this State, unless the payment violates another provision of Title 38. A payment made pursuant to the provisions of this subsection must not be based on completion of the sale of the insurance policy.
(E) Nothing in this section may be construed to prohibit a licensed insurance producer from rebating a portion of his commission collected on automobile insurance premiums to the insured upon that automobile insurance policy.
(F) This section does not prohibit the payment of a fee to a trade or professional association exempt from income tax under Section 501(c) of the Internal Revenue Code.