N.J. Admin. Code § 3:30-1.3

Current through Register Vol. 56, No. 24, December 18, 2024

Section 3:30-1.3 - Definitions

The following words and terms, when used in this chapter, shall have the following meanings, unless the context clearly indicates otherwise.

"Affiliate" means any company that controls, is controlled by, or is under the common control with any company, as set forth in 12 U.S.C. §§ 1841 et seq.

"Banking day" means the part of a day on which a depository institution is open to the public for carrying on substantially all of its banking functions.

"Bona fide discount points" means loan discount points that:

1. Are knowingly paid by the borrower;

2. Are paid for the express purpose of reducing, and which result in a reduction of, the interest rate or time-price differential applicable to the loan;

3. Reduce the interest rate or time-price differential applicable to the loan from an interest rate that does not exceed the conventional mortgage rate for a home loan secured by a first lien, by more than two percentage points, or for a home loan secured by a junior lien by more than three and one half percentage points; and

4. Are recouped within the first five years of the scheduled loan payments. Loan discount points will be considered to be recouped within the first five years of the scheduled loan payments if the reduction in the interest rate that is achieved by the payment of the loan discount points reduces the interest charged on the scheduled payments such that the borrower's dollar amount of savings in interest over the first five years is equal to or exceeds the dollar amount of loan discount points paid by the borrower.

"Borrower" means any natural person obligated to repay the loan, including a coborrower, cosigner, or guarantor.

"Business day" means any day on which the office or offices of the creditor are open to the public to provide financial services.

"Business hours" means the hours during which a creditor, agent or servicer processes payments of the type received from the borrower.

"Commissioner" means the Commissioner of the New Jersey Department of Banking and Insurance.

"Construction loan" means a loan to a natural person having a term of two years or less, that is used to finance the construction of buildings or other structures and that does not automatically convert to permanent financing.

"Consumer credit" means a home loan to a borrower.

"Conventional mortgage rate" means the most recently published annual yield on conventional mortgages published by the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, as published in Statistical Release H.15 or any publication that may supersede it, as of the applicable time set forth in 12 C.F.R. 1026.32(a)(1)(i).

"Conventional prepayment penalty" means any prepayment penalty or fee that may be collected or charged in a home loan, and that is authorized by law other than by N.J.S.A. 46:10B-22 et seq., provided the home loan:

1. Does not have an annual percentage rate that exceeds the conventional mortgage rate by more than two percentage points; and

2. Does not permit any prepayment fees or penalties that exceed two percent of the amount prepaid.

"Creditor" means a person who extends consumer credit that is subject to a finance charge or is payable by written agreement in more than four installments, and to whom the obligation is payable at any time. Creditor shall also mean any person brokering a home loan, which shall include any person who directly or indirectly solicits, processes, places, or negotiates home loans for others or who closes home loans that may be in the person's own name with funds provided by others and which loans are thereafter assigned to the person providing the funding of such loans, provided that creditor shall not include a person who is an attorney providing legal services to the borrower or a person or entity holding an individual or organization insurance producer license in the line of title insurance or a title insurance company, as defined by N.J.S.A. 17:46B-1, or any officer, director or employee thereof, providing services in the closing of a home loan who is not also funding the home loan and is not an affiliate of the creditor or an assignee that is subject to the provisions of N.J.S.A. 46:10B-27.

"Department" means the New Jersey Department of Banking and Insurance.

"Depository institution" means any bank, savings bank, savings and loan association or credit union chartered by this or another state, the Federal government or a foreign jurisdiction.

"Escrow" means monies deposited by the borrower for payment of real estate taxes and homeowner's insurance expenses in conjunction with a home loan. Escrow monies shall be passed through dollar for dollar to the tax collector or insurance company or agent and are not a point or fee for the purpose of calculating the total points and fees threshold.

"Escrow charge" means a reasonable fee for maintaining or managing an escrow paid to a person other than a creditor or an affiliate of the creditor or to the mortgage broker or an affiliate of the mortgage broker that meets the conditions set forth in 12 CFR 1026.4(c)(7) and 1026.4(d)(2).

"High-cost home loan" means a home loan for which the principal amount of the loan did not exceed $ 350,000, in the first year following enactment of the Act, which amount was, pursuant to N.J.S.A. 46:10B-24, adjusted effective January 1, 2005 and shall thereafter be adjusted annually to include the last published increase of the housing component of the national Consumer Price Index, New York -- Northeastern New Jersey Region, in which the terms of the loan meet or exceed one or more of the thresholds as defined in this chapter.

"Home improvements" means the remodeling, altering, painting, repairing, or modernizing of a principal dwelling or the making of additions thereto, and includes, but is not limited to, the construction, installation, replacement, improvement, or repair of driveways, sidewalks, swimming pools, terraces, patios, landscaping, fences, porches, windows, doors, cabinets, kitchens, bathrooms, garages, basements and basement waterproofing, fire protection devices, security protection devices, central heating and air conditioning equipment, water softeners, heaters, and purifiers, solar heating or water systems, insulation installation, aluminum siding, wall-to-wall carpeting or attached or inlaid floor coverings, and other changes, repairs, or improvements made in or on, attached to or forming a part of the principal dwelling.

"Home loan" means an extension of credit primarily for personal, family or household purposes, and includes an open-end credit plan, but shall not include a reverse mortgage transaction or a construction loan, in which the loan is secured by:

1. A mortgage or deed of trust on real estate in this State upon which there is located or there is to be located a one to six family dwelling which is or will be occupied by a borrower as the borrower's principal dwelling; or

2. A security interest in a manufactured home which is or will be occupied by a borrower as the borrower's principal dwelling.

"Manufactured home" means a structure, transportable in one or more sections, that in the traveling mode is eight body feet or more in width or 40 body feet or more in length or, when erected on site is 320 or more square feet and which is built on a permanent chassis and designed to be used as a dwelling with a permanent foundation when erected on land, secured in conjunction with the real property on which the manufactured home is located and connected to the required utilities and includes the plumbing, heating, air-conditioning and electrical systems contained therein; except that such term shall include any structure which meets all the requirements of this paragraph except the size requirements and with respect to which the manufacturer voluntarily files a certification required by the Secretary of the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development and complies with the standards established under the Federal National Manufactured Housing Construction and Safety Standards Act of 1974, 42 U.S.C. §§ 5401 et seq. Such term does not include rental property or second homes or manufactured homes when not secured in conjunction with the real property on which the manufactured home is located.

"Mortgage insurance premiums" or "private mortgage insurance" mean premiums for insurance protecting the lender against the borrower's default or other credit loss.

"Points and fees" means:

1. All items listed in 15 U.S.C. §§ 1605(a)(1) through (4), except interest or the time-price differential;

2. All charges listed in 15 U.S.C. § 1605(e);

3. All compensation paid directly or indirectly to a mortgage broker, including a broker that originates a loan in its own name in a table-funded transaction;

4. The cost of all premiums financed by the creditor, directly or indirectly, for any credit life, credit disability, credit unemployment or credit property insurance, or any other life or health insurance, or any payments financed by the creditor directly or indirectly for any debt cancellation or suspension agreement or contract, except that insurance premiums calculated and paid on a monthly basis shall not be considered financed by the creditor;

5. The maximum prepayment fees and penalties that may be charged or collected under the terms of the loan documents;

6. All prepayment fees or penalties that are incurred by the borrower if the loan refinances a previous loan made or currently held by the same creditor or an affiliate of the creditor, except that this paragraph shall not apply to a loan which refinances a previous loan made by the same broker and funded by another creditor; and

7. For open-end loans, the points and fees are calculated by adding the total points and fees known at or before closing, including the maximum prepayment penalties which may be charged or collected under the terms of the loan documents if prepayment penalties are authorized by law other than by N.J.S.A. 46:10B-22 et seq., plus the minimum additional fees the borrower would be required to pay to draw down an amount equal to the total credit line.

"Points and fees" shall not include the following items: title insurance premiums and fees, charges and premiums paid to a person or entity holding an individual or organization insurance producer license in the line of title insurance or a title insurance company, as defined by N.J.S.A. 17:46B-1; taxes, filing fees, and recording and other charges and fees paid or to be paid to public officials for determining the existence of or for perfecting, releasing, or satisfying a security interest; and reasonable fees paid to a person other than a creditor or an affiliate of the creditor or to the mortgage broker or an affiliate of the mortgage broker for the following, provided that the conditions in 12 C.F.R. 1026.4(c)(7) are met; fees for tax payment services; fees for flood certification; fees for pest infestation and flood determinations; appraisal fees; fees for inspections performed prior to closing; fees for credit reports; fees for surveys; attorneys' fees; notary fees; escrow charges; fire and flood insurance premiums, provided that the conditions in 12 C.F.R. 1026.4(d)(2) are met.

"Rate" means that annual percentage rate for the loan calculated based on the points and fees set forth in this chapter and according to the provisions at 15 U.S.C. § 1602(bb) and the regulations promulgated thereunder by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, including 12 CFR 1026.32(a)(3).

"Received" means the actual receipt at any office designated by the creditor as a place to which the payments may be submitted or by a person designated by the creditor as a person to whom the payments may be submitted or, if no such place or person is so designated, at the creditor's principal office or any of its branch offices.

"Seller" means a seller as defined in the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) Holder Rule at 16 C.F.R. 433.1(J), incorporated herein by reference, and includes sellers, as defined therein, of manufactured homes and home improvements.

"Threshold" means any one of the following two items, as defined:

1. "Rate threshold" means the annual percentage rate of the loan at the time the loan is consummated, such that the loan is considered a "mortgage" pursuant to section 152 of the Federal Home Ownership and Equity Protection Act of 1994, P.L. 103-325 (15 U.S.C. § 1602(bb)), and the regulations promulgated by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, including 12 CFR 1026.32, without regard to whether the loan transaction is, or may be, a "residential mortgage transaction," as defined at 12 CFR 1026.2(a)(24). The description of "points and fees" at 15 U.S.C. § 1605 shall be used for this determination.

2. "Total points and fees threshold" means that the total points and fees payable by the borrower at or before the loan closing, excluding either a conventional prepayment penalty or up to two bona fide discount points, exceed:

i. Four and one half percent of the total loan amount if the total loan amount is $ 40,000 or more; or

ii. The lesser of six percent of the total loan amount or $ 1,000, if the total loan amount is less than $ 20,000, and six percent if the total loan amount is $ 20,000 or more but less than $ 40,000.

"Total amount paid by the borrower in connection with the transaction" means all amounts paid by the borrower to the original creditor, including principal and interest, and all amounts paid to subsequent holders. Payments made to a seller who is not also the original creditor, such as a down payment or trade-in, are not part of the credit transaction and as such are not considered to be part of the "total amount paid in connection with the transaction." Where the seller also acts as the original creditor, down payments, deposits, periodic payments, late fees, and other payments to the seller are included in the calculation of the maximum amount a borrower may recover through a claim brought pursuant to N.J.S.A. 46:10B-27.a.

"Total loan amount" means the principal of the loan minus those points and fees as defined in this section that are included in the principal amount of the loan. For open-end loans, the total loan amount shall be calculated using the total line of credit allowed under the home loan.

N.J. Admin. Code § 3:30-1.3

Amended by R.2014 d.042, effective 3/17/2014.
See: 45 N.J.R. 2063(a), 46 N.J.R. 495(a).
In definitions "Conventional mortgage rate", "Escrow charge", and "Points and fees", updated the C.F.R. references throughout; and rewrote definition "Rate" and paragraph 1 of definition "Threshold".

Amended by 54 N.J.R. 37(b), effective 1/3/2022