Which place’s debt rules apply—and who can help?

S_SC PASS-04 — bounded correction to saved PASS-03

Actual public-source access date: October 24, 2026, Pacific Correction scope: only the four §37-7-111 pinpoints, the §37-7-114(C) out-of-state-records rule, and the R.28-700(D)/DCA FAQ electronic-record distinction specified by the coordinator.

The saved PASS-03 remains the immutable underlying report. Only the passages and claim entries identified below are superseded. All other PASS-03 findings, limitations, unresolved fee/currentness questions, and the saved actual Medium provenance remain unchanged. This correction does not make a new model/UI provenance claim and is not an independent review.

A. Replacement patch keyed to original PASS-03 body and claim IDs

A1. Correct §37-7-111 structure and pinpoints

The currently posted statute places all four duties as follows:

The previously assigned references to §111(B), §111(C), §111(D), and nonexistent §111(E) are superseded only to this extent. The substantive conditions stated in PASS-03 remain unchanged. The statute’s posted structure shows subsection (A), numbered paragraphs (B)(1)–(8), and then the separate unlettered demand-accounting sentence. South Carolina Legislature+1

Exact replacement body text for A4.1

Section 37-7-111(A) provides that funds paid to the licensee by or on behalf of a consumer for disbursement to the consumer’s creditors must be deposited in a trust account established by the licensee for the benefit of debtors.

Exact replacement body text for A4.6–A4.7

Under §37-7-111(B)(7), the organization must reconcile each trust account at least monthly by determining its actual cash balance and comparing that amount with the sum of the individual debtor escrow balances. Each trust account must be separately scheduled and reconciled.

Under §37-7-111(B)(8), the organization must render an accounting to the debtor at least once every three months. The accounting must itemize the total received, total paid to each creditor, the amount each creditor agreed to accept in full, charges deducted, and the amount held in trust.

The unlettered paragraph immediately after §37-7-111(B)(8) separately requires an accounting within seven days after written demand, but no more than three times during each six-month period.

The PASS-03 hold on an exact calendar endpoint remains. The statute supplies a seven-day measure but does not, in the passage reviewed, resolve the triggering receipt facts or the counting convention needed to calculate a specific calendar date. The three-accountings-per-six-month limitation also remains unchanged. South Carolina Legislature

Affected source and coverage mapping

The PASS-03 S_SC-P3-S001 references for C029, C038, C039, and C040 should now read:

• §37-7-111(A);
• §37-7-111(B)(7);
• §37-7-111(B)(8); and
• the unlettered paragraph immediately following §37-7-111(B)(8).

The corresponding PASS-03 coverage rows remain answered textually, subject to the existing counting/factual holds. No substantive money-flow arithmetic is changed.

A2. Replace the vague §37-7-114(C) out-of-state-records description

Exact replacement body text for A4.10

Section 37-7-114(A) requires the statutory books, accounts, and records to be retained for at least three years after the DMP is terminated.

Section 37-7-114(C) separately governs records located outside South Carolina. The credit-counseling organization must provide those records to DCA within three business days or, at the Department’s discretion, pay the reasonable and necessary expenses for DCA to examine the records where they are maintained.

The alternative belongs to DCA, not the provider. The provider may not elect examination at the out-of-state location instead of producing the records unless the Department exercises that discretion. An exact calendar production endpoint remains held until the actual Department demand/request, its receipt or delivery facts, applicable holidays, and any governing computation rule are established. South Carolina Legislature

Distinct retention anchors

PASS-03 must continue to keep these two retention rules separate:

1. Statute — §37-7-114(A): at least three years after the DMP is terminated.
2. Regulation — R.28-700(D)(2): consumer records at least three years after the contract is terminated.

R.28-700(D)(2) separately addresses business-record retention by reference to discontinuation of the applicable account, script, marketing material, contract, other record, or complaint. None of those regulatory anchors replaces or rewrites the statutory DMP-termination anchor. South Carolina Legislature+1

Replacement for original C043

S_SC-P3-C043 is superseded only as follows:

Section 37-7-114(A) requires complete and accurate statutory records to be retained for at least three years after termination of the DMP. Under §37-7-114(C), if the organization’s records are outside South Carolina, it must provide them to DCA within three business days or, at DCA’s discretion, pay DCA’s reasonable and necessary expenses to examine them where maintained. The alternative is the Department’s choice, not the provider’s. No exact calendar endpoint is stated without the actual demand and timing facts.

A3. Correct and narrow the electronic-record treatment in C013, C044, and A4.10

The three relevant sources say different things and have different legal status.

1. Statute: creditor-consent form

Section 37-7-109(B) requires creditor consent to be recorded on a separate form kept in the debtor’s file and specifies seven required information categories. The statutory passage does not itself use the word “paper.” South Carolina Legislature

2. Adopted regulation: R.28-700(D)

R.28-700(D)(1)(b) requires preservation of the creditor-consent forms required by §37-7-109.

R.28-700(D)(3) then provides:

• records and account systems maintained in whole or in part by electronic data processing may be used in place of the books, files, and records required by §§37-7-111 and 37-7-114, provided they contain equivalent information and are accessible to DCA; and
• electronic duplicates of original documents may satisfy the requirements of R.28-700(D).

The first sentence expressly cross-references §§111 and 114, not §109. The second sentence is phrased more broadly as applying to “this section.” The regulation does not expressly reconcile those two clauses with a paper-only creditor-consent-form instruction. South Carolina Legislature+1

3. DCA FAQ: current agency-stated procedure

The currently posted FAQ describes its content as “suggested answers” to questions concerning credit-counseling licensing forms. It says electronic maintenance alone is not sufficient for the Creditor Consent Form; the form must be printed, kept on paper, and placed in the client’s paper file. It also says an electronic database may be used to produce the required list, which is then printed and placed in the file. Consumer Affairs+1

The FAQ is an agency webpage and operating instruction. It is not identified on its face as an adopted regulation, formal administrative interpretation, declaratory ruling, adjudicatory final order, or court holding.

Corrected legal treatment

The PASS-03 wording suggesting that electronic permission was merely “subject to” the FAQ is replaced by this narrower statement:

R.28-700(D)(3) supplies an adopted regulatory electronic-record rule for equivalent, DCA-accessible records and electronic duplicates. DCA’s currently posted FAQ separately instructs licensees to print the §37-7-109 creditor-consent information and place the paper form in the client’s paper file. The FAQ’s current operational instruction is clear, but the precise legal hierarchy and application of that instruction relative to R.28-700(D)(3)’s second sentence have not been resolved by a specific formal construction located in this bounded pass.

Therefore:

• Do not declare the FAQ invalid.
• Do not characterize the FAQ as an adopted regulatory exception.
• Do not certify that an all-electronic creditor-consent file complies.
• Do not treat R.28-700(D)(3)’s specific §§111/114 substitution clause as automatically covering the original §109 creditor-consent form.
• Preserve a hold pending an adopted amendment, formal DCA interpretation/declaratory ruling, final administrative order, or controlling judicial decision that expressly reconciles §109(B), R.28-700(D)(1)(b), R.28-700(D)(3), and the FAQ.

A narrow official-site search did not readily locate such a formal construction. That is an evidence gap, not proof that none exists.

Replacement for original C013

C013, corrected: DCA’s currently posted Credit Counseling FAQ states that the §37-7-109 creditor-consent form must be printed, kept on paper, and placed in the client’s paper file; an electronic database may generate the information for printing. The webpage characterizes its responses as suggested answers concerning licensing forms. This is current agency procedural guidance, not on its face an adopted regulation or formal administrative interpretation.

Replacement for original C044

C044, corrected: R.28-700(D)(3) permits equivalent, DCA-accessible electronic systems in place of books, files, and records required by §§37-7-111 and 37-7-114, and states that electronic duplicates of original documents may satisfy R.28-700(D). R.28-700(D)(1)(b) separately requires preservation of §37-7-109 creditor-consent forms. The current DCA FAQ nevertheless instructs that the creditor-consent form be printed and retained in the paper client file. No specific formal authority was located in this bounded correction that resolves the application or hierarchy of those provisions; all-electronic creditor-consent compliance remains held.

The PASS-03 April–September 2026 regulatory-currentness hold remains unchanged.

B. PASS-04 source table

C. PASS-04 material claim table

D. Assigned-issue coverage and remaining dependencies

E. Actual reading versus supplied provenance

Actually read in this correction

On October 24, 2026, I directly read:

• the currently posted public Chapter 7 HTML text for §§37-7-109(B), 111, and 114;
• R.28-700(D)(1)–(3) from the public Chapter 28 PDF, using both its extracted text and an actual page-image screenshot;
• the DCA Credit Counseling FAQ’s source-status introduction and creditor-consent paper-form answer; and
• a narrow official-site search for a specific formal reconciliation of the electronic-record issue.

Supplied or preserved rather than freshly reopened

• The coordinator’s prior visual reads of the 2010 interpretations and October 23 Register issue were evidence-backed supplied provenance, not new image reads in PASS-04.
• The April–September 2026 Register chain was not reopened.
• PASS-03’s original Medium provenance was preserved without a new model/mode claim.
• The coordinator’s hash and Decimal checks were supplied review history, not independently reproduced here.

No local write, account action, permission change, browser-tab creation, contact, filing, publication, or broader state review was performed. This correction does not constitute full-state, parent-project, A066, or publication acceptance.

END S_SC PASS-04