South Carolina H 3241: Consumer credit reports

Bill Text

2025-2026 Bill 3241 Text of Previous Version (Dec. 06, 2024) - South Carolina Legislature Online 

South Carolina General Assembly
126th Session, 2025-2026

Bill 3241

Indicates Matter Stricken
Indicates New Matter

(Text matches printed bills. Document has been reformatted to meet World Wide Web specifications.)

A bill

TO AMEND THE SOUTH CAROLINA CODE OF LAWS BY ADDING CHAPTER 
19 TO TITLE 37 SO AS TO PROHIBIT THE REPORTING OF MEDICAL DEBT INFORMATION AND 
CERTAIN OTHER INFORMATION THAT IS NOT RELEVANT TO THE CREDIT OR PAYMENT HISTORY 
OF A CONSUMER, TO PROVIDE DEFINITIONS, TO PROVIDE MEANS FOR INVESTIGATING 
VIOLATIONS, AND TO PROVIDE PENALTIES FOR VIOLATIONS.

Be it enacted by the 
General Assembly of the State of South Carolina:

SECTION 1. Title 37 of the S.C. Code is amended by adding:

CHAPTER 19

Consumer Credit Reports

 Section 
37-19-110. The purpose of this chapter is to prohibit the reporting of medical 
debt information and certain other information that is not relevant to the 
consumer's credit or payment history, to provide definitions, to provide means 
for investigating violations, and to provide penalties for violations. 

 Section 
37-19-120. As used in this section:

 (1) 
"Consumer" means an individual person.

 (2) 
"Consumer credit report" means a written, oral, or other communication of any 
information produced by a consumer reporting agency that bears on a consumer's 
creditworthiness, credit standing, credit capacity, character, general 
reputation, personal characteristics, or mode of living that is used or 
collected to serve as a factor in establishing the consumer's credit score or 
eligibility for credit.

 (3) 
"Consumer credit score" or "risk predictor" or "risk score" means a numeric 
value or categorization derived from a statistical tool or modeling system used 
to predict the likelihood of a consumer's credit behavior, including default.

 (4) 
"Consumer credit reporting agency" means an organization that regularly engages 
in the practice of assembling or evaluating consumer credit information, 
creating consumer credit reports, or creating consumer credit scores for use by 
third parties.

 (5) 
"Medical debt" means debt arising from healthcare services or healthcare goods, 
including products, devices, durable medical equipment, and prescription drugs. 
Medical debt does not include debt charged to a credit card unless the credit 
card is issued under an open-end or closed-end plan offered specifically for 
the payment of healthcare services or healthcare goods. 

 Section 
37-19-130. In addition to provisions of the Fair 
Credit Reporting Act, 15 USC Section 1681, et. seq., a consumer credit 
reporting agency shall not furnish for use of an authorized recipient in this 
State in connection with a credit, insurance, or consumer transaction, a 
consumer credit report or consumer credit score that contains or uses 
information:

 (1) 
which is not measurable, objective, and related to the consumer's credit or 
payment history, or personal information directly pertaining to his credit 
standing; or

 (2) 
concerning medical debt.

 Section 
37-19-140. The provisions of Section 37-20-170 apply to the handling of 
disputes of the accuracy of an item in a consumer's records with a consumer 
credit reporting agency. 

 Section 
37-19-150. (A) In addition to all 
other penalties that may be imposed, a consumer credit reporting agency or 
other person that wilfully violates a provision of this chapter is liable for 
three times the amount of actual damages or not more than one thousand dollars for 
each incident, whichever is greater, as well as reasonable attorney's fees and 
costs.

 (B) 
In addition to all other penalties that may be imposed, a consumer credit 
reporting agency or other person that negligently violates this chapter is 
liable for actual damages and reasonable attorney's fees and costs.

 (C) 
In addition to the damages assessed pursuant to subsections (A) and (B), if the 
injury is to the consumer's creditworthiness, credit standing, credit capacity, 
character, general reputation, employment options, or eligibility for insurance, 
and results from the failure to place and enforce the security freeze provided 
for in Section 37-20-160 and the failure is not corrected by the consumer 
credit reporting agency within ten days after the entry of a judgment for 
damages, the assessed damages must be increased to not more than one thousand 
dollars each day until the security freeze is imposed.

 (D) A 
consumer seeking damages pursuant to this section also may institute a civil 
action to enjoin and restrain future acts constituting a violation of this 
chapter.

 (E) 
The remedial provisions of this chapter are cumulative of and in addition to 
any other action at law and any action taken by the Department of Consumer 
Affairs pursuant to Chapter 6.

 (F) 
This section is not intended, and must not be construed, to confer liability on 
a person who acts rea