Watch out for increase in state investigative complaints about mortgage loan advertising
State regulators are on the prowl right now and are super interested in reviewing your mortgage advertising that’s mailed to their homes. It’s not that they are enticed by your low rate offers or your novel adjustable rate loan programs. Instead, they are awaiting your mailer because they want to find TILA and Regulation Z and MAP Act errors, missing or improper disclosures and anything in your ad that they can conclude constitutes an unfair or deceptive or abusive act or practice.
Here’s what you might see when you get an investigative demand about your advertising. They will ask you a bunch of questions.about how many versions of the ad did you send out? How many people responded to the advertisement? Who reviewed the advertisement for compliance with all the rules before it went out?
If your ad makes certain statements that need to be verified as being accurate, the regulator will ask you to do that and provide evidence of how you substantiated each of your claims in the ad.
Lastly, the regulator will ask you to verify and explain and provide all documents that you used to verify that the rates and payments you included in your advertisement are accurate.
It’s good to know what to expect from your regulators before you send out new ads in the future.. Make sure you know all of the rules in your state and the disclosures required by law and that you are having your ads reviewed by an attorney or experienced compliance officer before you send them out.