Admin


About Admin

Our team has extensive experience in reviewing mortgage advertisements and advising clients about mortgage compliance issues including use of Compliance Management Systems, State and Federal compliance matters, and running the Legal and Compliance departments of major mortgage banking entities. Our company has Advertising Quick Hits learning Guides available as well as a self-study six week E-Course that will help your team member, or you, become more skilled at becoming an Advertising Compliance Officer for your company.

Advertising a Down Payment Triggers Additional Disclosures

If your company wants to advertise a three percent down payment that can be used to purchase a new home, this reference of the three percent down payment triggers additional disclosures.

What needs to be disclosed? The Annual Percentage Rate (APR) and the “terms of the repayment” need to be disclosed.

But what the heck are the terms of the repayment? Is this the loan term, the loan product type? The interest rate?

Here’s the answer:
2. Disclosure of repayment terms. The phrase “terms of repayment” generally has the same meaning as the “payment schedule” required to be disclosed under §1026.18(g). Section 1026.24(d)(2)(ii) provides flexibility to creditors in making this disclosure for advertising purposes. Repayment terms may be expressed in a variety of ways in addition to an exact repayment schedule; this is particularly true for advertisements that do not contemplate a single specific transaction. Repayment terms, however, must reflect the consumer’s repayment obligations over the full term of the loan, including any balloon payment, see comment 24(d)(2)–3, not just the repayment terms that will apply for a limited period of time. For example:

i. A creditor may use a unit-cost approach in making the required disclosure, such as “48 monthly payments of $27.83 per $1,000 borrowed.”

ii. In an advertisement for credit secured by a dwelling, when any series of payments varies because of the inclusion of mortgage insurance premiums, a creditor may state the number and timing of payments, the fact that payments do not include amounts for mortgage insurance premiums, and that the actual payment obligation will be higher.


Adjustable Rate Mortgages ARM Disclosure Rules

Advertising ARM loans is complicated because you have to have a bunch of detailed disclosures in your ad about how the ARM product works. For example, the Rules in Regulation Z require that you show your customer when the payment on the loan can change, how the payment can change, and give them some ideas about how much the payment can change. See our new article that discusses ways to comply with these rules:

ARM Disclosure Rules