Current Status Bill Number:View additional legislative information at the LPITS web site.491 Ratification Number:194 Act Number:128 Introducing Body:Senate Subject:Bank service charges
(A128, R194, S491)
AN ACT TO AMEND SECTION 27-17-310, AS AMENDED, CODE OF LAWS OF SOUTH CAROLINA, 1976, RELATING TO BANK SERVICE CHARGES, SO AS TO EXTEND THE PROVISIONS TO BUILDING AND LOAN ASSOCIATIONS, SAVINGS AND LOAN ASSOCIATIONS, AND SAVINGS BANKS, TO AMEND SECTION 34-1-70, RELATING TO APPROVAL OF CHARTERS OF BANKS AND BUILDING AND LOAN ASSOCIATIONS, SO AS TO INCLUDE SAVINGS AND LOAN ASSOCIATIONS AND SAVINGS BANKS AND THEIR BRANCHES IN THE SECTION AND TO PROVIDE THAT THE SECTION DOES NOT EXTEND TO REMOTE SERVICE UNITS, TO AMEND SECTION 34-3-380, RELATING TO BANKS' REPORTS OF CONDITION TO THE STATE BOARD OF FINANCIAL INSTITUTIONS, SO AS TO PERMIT BANKS TO FILE IN LIEU OF THE REPORT THEIR FEDERAL DEPOSIT INSURANCE CORPORATION CALL REPORT, TO AMEND SECTION 34-3-540, RELATING TO MICROPHOTOGRAPHING RECORDS OF BANKS AND OTHER DEPOSITORY INSTITUTIONS, SO AS TO PERMIT RECORDS TO BE COPIED BY PHOTOSTATIC, PHOTOGRAPHIC, OR MICROFILMING PROCESSES AND THE REPRODUCTIONS CONSIDERED AS ORIGINALS, TO AMEND SECTION 34-11-10, RELATING TO PAYMENT OF BANK DEPOSITS MADE IN THE NAME OF TWO PERSONS OR THE SURVIVOR OF THEM, SO AS TO INCLUDE UNDER THE SECTION DEPOSITS IN THE NAME OF MORE THAN TWO PERSONS AND TO PERMIT ACCOUNTS IN THE NAME OF TWO OR MORE PERSONS TO BE PLEDGED VALIDLY TO A BANK UNLESS THE ACCOUNT SPECIFICALLY PROHIBITS IT, TO AMEND SECTION 34-11-20, RELATING TO BANK DEPOSITS AND PAYMENTS OF MINORS, SO AS TO PERMIT BANKS TO ACT IN ALL MATTERS WITH RESPECT TO MINORS' DEPOSITS, TO AMEND SECTION 34-11-40, AS AMENDED, RELATING TO THE REPLACEMENT OF LOST OR DESTROYED CERTIFICATES OF DEPOSIT, SO AS TO ALLOW THE INSTITUTION TO DETERMINE IF THE HOLDER MUST POST A BOND TO RECEIVE THE REPLACEMENT CERTIFICATE, TO AMEND 34-11-50, AS AMENDED, RELATING TO THE REPLACEMENT OF LOST OR DESTROYED SAVINGS ACCOUNT BOOKS OR OTHER CERTIFICATES, SO AS TO MAKE GRAMMATICAL CHANGES, TO AMEND THE 1976 CODE BY ADDING SECTION 34-11-130, SO AS TO CLARIFY THE OBLIGATIONS OF BANKING INSTITUTIONS WHEN CUSTODIAN OR TRUSTEE ACCOUNTS ARE OPENED, AND TO REPEAL SECTION 34-9-50 RELATING TO CAPITAL AND SURPLUS REQUIRED FOR BANKS.
Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the State of South Carolina:
Service charges
SECTION 1. Section 27-17-310 of the 1976 Code, as amended by Act 451 of 1982, is further amended to read:
"Section 27-17-310. All service charges on accounts in banks, building and loan associations, savings and loan associations, and savings banks must be uniform within classes for all accounts, including those which are considered inactive pursuant to this chapter. Service charges made on accounts which have been determined to be inactive for a period of twelve months may not exceed the lesser of the following: (1) one dollar monthly; or (2) amount which would be charged if the account were not determined to be inactive for a period of twelve months. These charges may not be placed against an account until notice of the charges is acknowledged in writing by the account owner or the notice of the charges is sent to the account owner at the address indicated on the bank's records and at his last known address."
Application
SECTION 2. Section 34-1-70 of the 1976 Code is amended to read:
"Section 34-1-70. No bank, building and loan association, savings and loan association, or savings bank may be granted a charter by the Secretary of State unless and until the Board has approved the application in writing. No branch bank, branch building and loan association, branch savings and loan association, or branch savings bank may be established without the approval in writing of the Board. Before any application for the incorporation of a bank, building and loan association, savings and loan association, or savings bank, or the establishment of a branch thereof, may be approved, the Board shall make an investigation to determine whether or not the applicants have complied with all the provisions of law, whether in the judgment of the Board, they are qualified to operate the institution and whether the establishment of the bank, building and loan association, savings and loan association, or savings bank or of a branch thereof would serve the public interest, taking into consideration local circumstances and conditions at the place where it proposes to do business. A remote service unit as defined in Section 34-28-30 is not considered a branch of a bank, building and loan association, savings and loan association, or a savings bank and is not subject to any of the provisions of this section applicable to branch applications."
Report of condition
SECTION 3. Section 34-3-380 of the 1976 Code is amended to read:
"Section 34-3-380. All institutions doing business in this State in lending money and receiving deposits, under acts of incorporation granted by the State, shall, under penalty of a forfeiture of their charters, publish when and as called for by the State Board of Financial Institutions, without previous notice, a correct report of the condition and business of the institution. The report shall contain a statement under oath by the president or cashier of the institution of the amount of the capital stock paid in, deposits, discounts, property, and liabilities of the institution verified by three of the directors. This section applies to all private banking institutions whether chartered or not. The Board may accept in lieu of the report required by this section a Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation call report."
Copying of records
SECTION 4. Section 34-3-540 of the 1976 Code is amended to read:
"Section 34-3-540. A bank, banking institution, or other depository institution may cause any or all promissory notes and records kept by the institution to be copied or reproduced by a photostatic, photographic, or microfilming process which correctly and permanently copies, reproduces, or forms a medium for copying or reproducing the original record on a film or other durable material, and the institution may thereafter dispose of the original record. The copy or reproduction is considered an original record for all purposes and must be treated as an original record in all courts or administrative agencies for the purpose of its admissibility in evidence. A facsimile, exemplification, or certified copy of the copy or reproduction reproduced from a film record is for all purposes, considered a facsimile, exemplification, or certified copy of the original record."
Deposits
SECTION 5. Section 34-11-10 of the 1976 Code is amended to read:
"Section 34-11-10. (a) When a deposit has been made in a bank, banking institution, or depository transacting business in this State in the names of two or more persons, payable to any of the depositors or payable to any of the depositors or the survivor or survivors, the deposit or any part thereof may be paid to any of the persons, whether the other or others are living or not and the receipt or acquittance of the person or persons paid is a valid and sufficient release and discharge for any or all payments made.
(b) The pledge or hypothecation to any bank, banking institution, or other depository transacting business in this State of all or part of a deposit account in the names of two or more persons, payable to any of the depositors or payable to any of the depositors or the survivor or survivors, by any depositor or depositors, whether minor or adult, upon whose signature or signatures withdrawals may be made from the account is, unless the terms of the deposit account provide specifically to the contrary, a valid pledge and transfer to the institution of that portion of the account pledged or hypothecated.
For purposes of this section the term 'deposit' includes a certificate of deposit."
Deposits
SECTION 6. Section 34-11-20 of the 1976 Code is amended to read:
"Section 34-11-20. A bank may accept deposits of and pay out deposits upon a check or other order of a minor and act in any other matter with respect to the deposits of a minor with the same effect as if dealing with a person of full legal capacity."
Application
SECTION 7. Section 34-11-40 of the 1976 Code, as amended by Act 574 of 1978, is further amended to read:
"Section 34-11-40. When the holder of a time certificate of deposit for money or other things of value deposited in a corporation organized under any special act or the general laws of the State or deposited with any person engaged in borrowing or lending money or for its safekeeping with or without the payment of interest thereon desires a new certificate of deposit in the place of the original certificate lost or destroyed, the holder shall make application to the person for the issuance of a new certificate. The holder of the certificate shall also make affidavit that the certificate has been lost or destroyed, that it has not been assigned or pledged and that the holder has the bona fide title and ownership of it. When the depository in its judgment considers it necessary, it may require the holder to execute to it a good and sufficient bond to be approved by the depository issuing the certificate in the amount of the market value of the lost or destroyed certificate to indemnify the depository against any loss or damage that may arise on account of the original certificate within three years from the date of execution of the bond. Thereupon the depository shall issue a new certificate of deposit in lieu of the one lost or destroyed and after the lapse of three years from the date of the issuance of the new certificate the original is null and void and no action at law or suit in equity may thereafter be brought thereon."
Loss of certificate of deposit
SECTION 8. Section 34-11-50 of the 1976 Code, as amended by Act 574 of 1978, is further amended to read:
"Section 34-11-50. In case of loss of any certificate of deposit, other than those referred to in Section 34-11-40, or account book evidencing a savings account with a bank, the party to whom the certificate or account book was originally issued, or his personal representative, may apply to the bank for the issuance of a duplicate certificate or account book. Thereupon, the bank, upon receipt of the application, accompanied by an affidavit to the effect that the certificate or account book evidencing the savings account with the bank has been lost or destroyed, that the certificate or account book has not been pledged or assigned in whole or in part, and that the applicant is the bona fide title holder and owner of the lost certificate or account book, shall issue a duplicate certificate or account book to the person entitled thereto and the former certificate is null and void and no action at law or suit in equity may be brought thereon. The bank may, whenever in its judgment it considers it necessary, require of the applicant a good and sufficient bond to be approved by the bank in the amount of the market value of the lost or destroyed certificate or account book to indemnify the bank against any loss or damage that may arise on account of the original certificate or account book within three years from the date of the issuance of the duplicate certificate or account book. Nothing contained in this section affects the rights of the parties to any transfer or assignment of any certificate or account book as between themselves."
Opening of account
SECTION 9. Chapter 11 of Title 34 of the 1976 Code is amended by adding:
"Section 34-11-130. When an account, including a certificate of deposit, is opened by a person describing himself in the account title as trustee or custodian for another and no other or further notice of the existence and terms of a legal and valid trust than the description is given in writing to a bank, banking institution, or other depository transacting business in this State, in the event of the death of the person so described as trustee or custodian the withdrawal value of the account or any part thereof together with any earnings thereon may be paid to the person for whom the account title indicates the account was opened. The payment or delivery to any beneficiary, beneficiaries, or designated person, or a receipt or acquittance signed by any beneficiary, beneficiaries, or designated person, is for any payment or delivery a valid and sufficient release and discharge of an institution for the payment or delivery made."
Repeal
SECTION 10. Section 34-9-50 of the 1976 Code is repealed.
Time effective
SECTION 11. This act shall take effect upon approval by the Governor.