940 CMR 8.04 - Advertising Practices
(1) It is an
unfair or deceptive act or practice for a mortgage broker or lender to make any
representation or statement of fact in an advertisement if the representation
or statement is false or misleading or has the tendency or capacity to be
misleading, or if the mortgage broker or lender does not have sufficient
information upon which a reasonable belief in the truth of the representation
or statement could be based.
(2) It
is an unfair or deceptive act or practice for a mortgage broker or lender to
advertise without clearly and conspicuously disclosing its business name, and
if required to be licensed pursuant to M.G.L. c. 255E, the words broker" or
"lender", as applicable, and the license number.
(3) It is an unfair or deceptive act or
practice for a mortgage broker to represent in any advertisement that the
mortgage broker will fund a mortgage loan.
(4) It is an unfair or deceptive act or
practice for a mortgage broker or lender to engage in bait advertising or to
misrepresent (directly or by failure to adequately disclose) the terms,
conditions or charges incident to the mortgage loan being advertised in any
advertisement. Violations of 940 CMR 8.04(4) shall include, but shall not be
limited to:
(a) the advertisement of
"immediate approval" of a loan application or "immediate closing" of a loan or
words of similar import, such as "instant closing";
(b) the advertisement of a "no point"
mortgage loan when points are required or accepted by the lender as a condition
for commitment or closing;
(c) the
advertisement of an incorrect specific number of points required for commitment
or closing;
(d) the advertisement
through terms such as "bad credit no problem" or words of similar import or
that an applicant will have unqualified access to credit without clearly and
conspicuously disclosing the material limitations on the availability of credit
that may exist, such as:
1. requirements for
the availability of credit (such as income);
2. that a higher rate or more points may be
required for a consumer with bad credit; and
3. that restrictions as to the maximum
principal amount of the loan offered may apply.
(e) the use of "avoid foreclosure" or words
of similar import in an advertisement unless the advertisement also clearly and
conspicuously discloses, that:
1. the borrower
must refinance the mortgage in default and/or take a new mortgage
loan;
2. the borrower may be
required to pay interest rates significantly higher than what other borrowers
not facing foreclosures might pay; and
3. the warning that "you may lose your home
if you cannot make all the payments or if you miss any of the payments on this
loan."
(5) It
is an unfair or deceptive act or practice for a mortgage broker or lender who
advertises any finance terms to fail to comply with the applicable state and
federal advertising Truth-in-lending laws, M.G.L. c. 140D, § 1, et seq.
Consumer Credit Cost Disclosure, and 15 U.S.C. § 1601, et seq. Fair Debt
Collection Practices Act.
Notes
State regulations are updated quarterly; we currently have two versions available. Below is a comparison between our most recent version and the prior quarterly release. More comparison features will be added as we have more versions to compare.
No prior version found.