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!

The Emergency Broadband Benefit (EBB) program began last year in March to help households pay for internet service. Eligible households received a credit of up to $50 a month on their bill for internet services. Families located on qualifying tribal lands were eligible for a credit of up to $75 a month. That program is being phased out and replaced with the Affordable Connectivity Program (ACP). The new program helps more households qualify the credit, but it to $30 per month. Households living on qualifying tribal lands will still receive up to $75 per month. Households that qualified under the old program will continue to receive up to $50 per month until February 28, 2022, but they do need to reapply for the new program to remain eligible for the credit. 

A household is eligible if: 1) their income is at or below 135% of the federal poverty limit (currently$35,775 for a family of 4); 2) they receive SNAP, Medicaid, SSI, VA disability pension (a VA needs-based program), HUD public housing assistance, or Lifeline benefits; 3) they are eligible for the free or reduced-price school lunch program; 4) they receive a Pell grant during the current award year; 5) they experienced a substantial loss of income due to job loss or furlough since February 29, 2020, and total household income in 2020 at or below $99,000 for single filers and $198,000 for joint filers; or 6) they meet the eligibility criteria for a participating providers’ existing low-income or COVID-19 program.

Enrollment is easy (two steps) and can be done by mail or online. To apply online: https://www.checklifeline.org/lifeline/?id=nv_flow&ebbp=true. After being approved, the family just needs to contact their internet provider. There are 115 companies in SC that participate in the program and can be found here: https://data.usac.org/publicreports/CompaniesNearMe/State/StateOption/SC. A household is a group of people who live together and share money even if they are not related to each other. Roommates that do not share money are considered as separate households and each roommate may be eligible for a credit. Households living on qualifying Tribal lands can find more information at https://acpbenefit.org/do-i-qualify/enhanced-tribal-benefit/

The program also offers a one-time discount of up to $100 towards the purchase of a laptop, tablet, or desktop computer. The purchase must be made through a participating provider and there are only 21 participating companies in SC. To see if you may qualify for help, go to https://www.fcc.gov/acp.

The need for early access to your wages is not a new concept. Early wage access programs might be helpful to workers with unexpected expenses because it is an alternative to high-cost payday loans.

Basically, these programs allow workers to access wages they have already earned ahead of the regular payday — much like payday loans.

If providers charge workers high fees or provide early access to such an extent that it allows what ends up just like repeated balloon-payment loans, it is not so helpful.

Early wage access might be a good thing when used occasionally,  but if there are charges, interest and other fees, they can add up, and result in a situation much like what we see in payday loans.   

The National Consumer Law Center has outlined the differences in the types of earned wage access services as follows: 

Employer-based or direct-to-consumer
Employer-based services operate through a contract with the employer that allows the program to access time-and-attendance records to determine actual earned wages.

Direct-to-consumer programs have methods of estimating earned wages but not with certainty, and they do not need employer approval.

Repayment method
Employer-based services usually are repaid by payroll deduction or other mechanisms through the employer.

Direct-to-consumer and some employer-based services debit bank accounts and can trigger nonsufficient funds (NSF) or overdraft fees when the timing or estimate of the paycheck is off.

Fees. Some providers charge no fees to the worker.

Fees in other programs range from $2.50 per day to $6 per month.

They can be per advance, per pay period, or monthly for a package of services.

Fees may be higher if you want the wages right away.

Some direct-to-consumer models actually rely on purportedly voluntary “tips” but may make it difficult not to tip.

Some of the other options are frequency of access and limits on how much you can access

Frequency of access. Many employer-based services limit access to once or twice a pay period, but others may allow access on a daily basis.

Access limits. Many services OR employers limit access to 50% of gross or net earned wages, ensuring that the worker will receive at least half of their paycheck on payday.

Others allow (and even encourage) “use-it-or-lose-it” access up to 100% of wages earned in a given day.

Although many providers claim their programs aren’t providing loans, if they are fee based and not restrictive, a worker can end up in a cycle of debt much like a payday loan.  The only difference in the early wage access program and living paycheck to paycheck is that your paycheck might get reduced more and more with each pay period with an early wage access program.  State and federal lending laws include fee and rate limits and require certain disclosures. Providers may claim their program is not providing loans and not subject to those laws that protect consumers.

NOTE:  A bill (S. 532) was recently introduced in South Carolina focused on allowing the employer-based model of early wage access programs to operate here.  Providers would have to register the S.C. Department of Consumer Affairs and post a bond. The Department would receive complaints from consumers as they do in other consumer matters. Under the law, the early access services would not be considered a form of lending.

There are two types of warranties when you purchase a new or used car.  There are express warranties and implied warranties. The express ones apply to specific items or the performance of the car. They can be written or verbal but they have to be “expressly” communicated to the buyer. Most express warranties are in writing and probably come in a special package. But all express warranties don’t have to be mentioned in a special package.

Express warranties could be created by just a simple description of the car like it’s a 1995 Ford Explorer. The dealer or  manufacturer is warranting that it is the make and model the contract says it is. If in fact  that car is a different model or different model year, then the express warranty has been breached.

A verbal representation by the dealer or the dealer’s salesman can be an express warranty. You should not automatically assume it is an actual warranty because a representation by a salesman could be what is called “puffing”.  For example, “this is a great car, it runs really smooth”. That’s not really any specific representation. So, the statement is not a warranty. If the salesman makes a more specific statement, it can be difficult to prove that the verbal statement was actually made. Also, the written warranty will often state that the warranty is the only warranty and any verbal representations are not part of the contract or part of the warranty.

Almost every new car and most used cars, come with some type of written warranty so you should be sure to take the time and effort to read and understand exactly what is being covered and not covered under the warranty. Take note of who has the duty to make warranty repairs. Is it the dealer’s duty or the manufacturer’s duty? That’s found in the warranty.

You should note the difference between a warranty and an extended service contract. Sometimes the difference in these can be confusing.  A warranty and a service contract might require someone to repair problems with the car, but they are just not the same thing. A warranty is really a promise about specific items and the performance of the car. It becomes part of the sale. An extended service contract is a separate contract that is sold for an additional amount of money.

Implied warranties do apply to a sale.  They are not expressed verbally or in writing but are implied by law. There are three types: the warranty of title, the warranty of merchantability and the warranty of fitness for a particular purpose. The warranty of title says that the dealer or manufacturer has good title and they can legally transfer that title to the buyer.  Also, it warrants that there are no liens on the car that the buyer hasn’t been told about. With the implied warranty of merchantability, the dealer or manufacturer warrants that the car is fit for the ordinary purposes for which cars are used. In other words, it is fit for driving. For example, a broken automatic door lock may not be considered as a breach of that warranty of merchantability because the car is still in good driving condition.

Lastly, the implied warranty of fitness for a particular purpose. In that situation the dealer or manufacturer by implication warrants or promises that the car is fit for a special purpose. For this warranty to come into play the seller must know what specialized purpose the buyer has for the car.  The buyer is going to rely on the dealer’s skill or judgment in recommending that the car is fit for that particular purpose.

Most dealers and even some manufacturers have clauses in their contracts that try to limit warranties or even prevent them from being given at all.  This is what we call a disclaimer. The law does allow the use of disclaimers, but they have to do it properly.  For example, express warranties cannot be disclaimed at all.  Implied warranties of fitness for particular purpose can be disclaimed, as long as the contract provides clearly and conspicuously that all implied warranties of fitness for a particular purpose are disclaimed.

So be sure to read all the warranties and disclaimers in a contract before you sign it.  Of course, be especially careful when buying a used car because the warranties are most likely limited or completely disclaimed in the sale of a used car. Federal law requires dealers to give basic warranty information on the window sticker of a used car as well as a new one.  If the window sticker says the car is being sold “as is”, the dealer is giving no warranty at all. That means that the dealer does not even warrant that you could drive the car off the lot. So be very careful when you are buying a car that has a sticker that says it’s being purchased “as is” because you’re really going to have little, if any, recourse against the seller.