Articles from 2023

Keeping track of the various changes that affect your Supplemental Security Income (SSI) can be challenging. It’s important to remember your reporting responsibilities. Informing the Social Security Administration (SSA) of any change in circumstance that may affect your benefits is critical to ensure that you receive the right amount each month.

Common changes that need to be reported include changes in:

• Income;
• Resources (e.g., bank accounts, vehicles, property);
• Employment (e.g., starting/stopping a job or change in earnings);
• Housing (e.g., address or persons moving in or out);
• Care (e.g., entering or exiting a nursing home);
• Incarceration status (e.g., entering or exiting a correctional facility);
• Citizenship (e.g., U.S. citizenship or lawful non-citizen status);
• Marital status.

How to Report Changes:

• Call toll free at 1-800-772-1213, weekdays from 8:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m.
• Deaf or hard of hearing clients may call TTY 1-800-325-0778. · Contact your local Social Security office.

How to Report Wages:

• Call our Toll -Free Telephone Wage Reporting System at 866-772-0953.
• Use the SSA Mobile Wage Reporting app, available as a free download from either the Apple or Google Play stores. · Use your personal my Social Security account.
• Mail or fax to your local Social Security Office.

Before using any of the SSA’s automated wage reporting applications, or, if you already use one and you change employers, your or your representative payee must contact the SSA. Please contact your local Social Security office or call the SSA Monday through Friday, 8:00 a.m. – 7:00 p.m. at 1-800-772-1213 (TTY 1-800-325-0778) to provide the employer’s information and employer identification number (EIN).

You can also sign up for monthly SSI wage reporting email or text reminders.

You can get additional information about wage reporting at SSI Wage Reporting | SSA. For a complete list of SSI reporting responsibilities, please read our publication, What You Need to Know When You Get Supplemental Security Income.

Auto Fraud is a very big problem facing South Carolinians. Auto Fraud can be tricky to understand. That is why we are going to explain some of your rights when it comes to Auto Fraud.

Let’s talk about some important federal laws that you should know. The Federal Odometer Act says it is against the law to mess with a car’s odometer (that thing that counts miles). Another important law is the Magnuson-Moss Warranty Act. This act makes it illegal for an auto supplier to go against a warranty. So, let’s say you had damage to your car and had it under warranty. This law pretty much makes it so that the person who sold you the car has to honor that warranty no matter what. Another good one to know is the Truth in Lending Act (TILA). TILA makes lenders tell you their interest rates before processing a loan. This Act can help a customer shop around for a better rate. If a lender does not tell a person the rate before processing the loan, that person would have a legal claim.

As far as State Law goes, there are a few more laws that might be helpful for you to know! Every state has its own repossession laws. These laws are rules for how repossession should happen if needed. For example, every state has its own Lemon Law. South Carolina’s Lemon Law protects people if they buy a new car, and something is wrong with it. A “lemon” car is a car that follows three conditions. The problem has to show up within the first 12 months or 12000 miles of use. The problem also has caused significant problems with use, such as safety issues. The problem also has to be one that the dealer cannot fix in a reasonable amount of time. A reasonable amount of time is either three attempts to fix it or a 30-day period when the person cannot use the car. If the problem matches those conditions, it is a “Lemon.” If a car is a lemon, then the manufacturer has to either fix, replace, or refund the car. It is important to know that if abuse causes the problem, it cannot be a lemon.

Another law that is much easier to understand is the S.C. Dealers and Distributors Act. This act protects you from unfair actions like false advertising when you buy a car.

Here are some common problems that South Carolina Legal Services might be able to help you with!

1. You bought a car, and it turned out to be a lemon car.

2. You were the victim of a YoYo sale. A YoYo sale is when a dealer gives you a contract but then asks you to come back to the dealership to sign a worse contract. They might do this by raising the interest rate or asking for a larger downpayment.

3. False Advertising. This is when a dealer lures you to the dealership with a great deal, then tells you that that deal is not available.

4. Finance problems. This is when a dealer undervalues a trade-in or inflates the price of the new car.

5. Repossession. The first time you miss a payment on a vehicle, the creditor has to send you a notice that you are more than ten days late. This notice is what we call a “right to cure” notice. But they do not have to send another one after the first notice. That means that it is very important to be on time with your payments. It is especially important to be on time if you have already gotten a notice in the past.

Let’s also take some time to get to know how warranties work. There are two types of warranties.

The first type of warranty is an express warranty. This is a written or spoken agreement about whatever the customer is buying. These are most often written. A dealer would make an express warranty by describing the car to you. Let’s say a contract says that the car is a 2023 Infiniti, but they give you a 1995 Honda Civic. In that case, they have broken an express warranty.

The second type of warranty is the implied warranty. This type of warranty applies to the sale and covers things you can assume about a car. This type of warranty means that a car has to do what the dealer says it will do. For example, if you wanted a car with high horsepower, and the dealer sold you a car that had low horsepower. In other words, a car has to do what it is supposed to do.

Make sure you always read contracts and pay attention to any warranty disclaimers. Warranty Disclaimers are parts of an agreement that a dealer puts in there to try to keep from giving a warranty.

Finally, make sure you don’t keep your documents inside your car! If you do want to keep the documents from your car purchase in your car, make sure to make copies! If your car gets repossessed or taken, you will need the documents from your purchase.

If you want more information on Auto Fraud, contact South Carolina Legal Services!

@sclegalservices

♬ original sound – Lucy

Briggs v. Elliott was one of the cases combined into Brown v. Board of Education and it started in Clarendon County. The school district had reserved all buses for white students, leaving Black students with long commutes, some of which included rowing paddle boats across bodies of water, 16 mile walks, and other harsh conditions.

Local members of the Black community, Levi Pearson, Hammett Pearson, and Joseph Lemon raised money to buy a used school bus, but its need for frequent maintenance led them to ask the superintendent, Roderick M. Elliott for a bus from the district to be used for Black students. Elliott refused stating that Black citizens didn’t pay enough taxes to provide a bus and asking white taxpayers to fund the bus would be an unfair burden.

Wanting to continue the fight for transportation for Black children, Pearson retained South Carolina attorney Harold Boulware and NAACP attorney Thurgood Marshall and brought the lawsuit Pearson v. Clarendon County. Marshall argued that since the school board had provided bus transportation for white students, but not for Black students, they were violating the “separate but equal” doctrine established in Plessy v. Ferguson. Because of his lawsuit, Levi Pearson was subjected to acts of terror including gun shots fired into his home, and economic consequences like being refused credit from local banks to buy farming equipment.

Pearson v. Clarendon County was dismissed on a technicality because Pearson’s property spanned multiple districts. Not deterred, NAACP attorneys decided to pivot and aim for desegregation as a whole. Instead of asking for Black schools to be brought up to equal standards with white schools, the plaintiffs decided to ask that segregation be declared unconstitutional. Eventually, others in Clarendon County joined the suit, including the Briggs who became the main named plaintiffs.

A South Carolina three-judge panel ruled 2-1 that segregation was lawful but issued an injunction to equalize the obvious inferiority of Black schools in Clarendon County. The case was appealed to the Supreme Court of the United States, who returned it for rehearing in the district court, who found that progress had been made in Clarendon County toward equal school facilities. Thurgood Marshall argued that while progress had been made, if separation existed, schools would be unequal. The case was appealed to the Supreme Court again where it was consolidated with other desegregation cases into Brown v. Board of Education and was the first case argued for the landmark decision.

Brown v. Board of Education was a landmark victory in the fight for equality in the United States. However, it is important to acknowledge that the victory came with a cost to those associated with Briggs v. Elliott in the aftermath of the decision in South Carolina. People involved with the case were fired from their positions, had their church burned, and were victims of drive-by shootings. The fight for equality is always worth it, but not always easy. Thank you to those South Carolinians who fought for equal access to education!