Section 7-6A-2 - DefinitionsAs used in this chapter, the term:
(1) "Acceleration" means a demand for immediate repayment of the entire balance of a home loan.(2) "Affiliate" means any company that controls, is controlled by, or is under common control with another company, as set forth in 12 U.S.C. Section 1841, et seq.(3) "Annual percentage rate" means the annual percentage rate for the loan calculated at closing according to the provisions of 15 U.S.C. Section 1606, the regulations promulgated thereunder by the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, and the Official Staff Commentary on Regulation Z published by the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System.(4) "Bona fide discount points" means loan discount points knowingly paid by the borrower for the express purpose of reducing, and which in fact do result in a bona fide reduction of, the interest rate applicable to the home loan; provided, however, that the undiscounted interest rate for the home loan does not exceed by more than one percentage point the average prime offer rate as defined in 12 C.F.R. 1026.35 that applies to a comparable transaction, as published by the United States Consumer Financial Protection Bureau as of the last date the discounted interest rate for the transaction is set before consummation.(5) "Borrower" means any natural person obligated to repay the loan including a coborrower or cosigner.(6) "Creditor" means a person who both regularly extends consumer credit that is subject to a finance charge or is payable by written agreement in more than four installments and is a person to whom the debt arising from the home loan transaction is initially payable. Creditor shall also mean any person brokering a home loan, which shall include any person who directly or indirectly for compensation solicits, processes, places, or negotiates home loans for others or offers to solicit, process, place, or negotiate home loans for others or who closes home loans which 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 in association with the closing of a home loan. A creditor shall not include: (D) any state or local housing finance agency or any other state or local governmental or quasi-governmental entity.(7) "High-cost home loan" means a home loan in which the terms of the loan meet or exceed one or more of the thresholds as defined in paragraph (17) of this Code section.(8) "Home loan" means a loan, including an open-end credit plan where the principal amount does not exceed the conforming loan size limit for a single-family dwelling as established by the Federal National Mortgage Association and the loan is secured by a mortgage, security deed, or deed to secure debt on real estate located in this state upon which there is located or there is to be located a structure or structures, including a manufactured home, designed principally for occupancy of from one to four families and which is or will be occupied by a borrower as the borrower's principal dwelling, except that home loan shall not include:(A) A reverse mortgage transaction;(B) A loan that provides temporary financing for the acquisition of land by the borrower and initial construction of a borrower's dwelling thereon or the initial construction of a borrower's dwelling on land owned by the borrower;(C) A bridge loan made to a borrower pending the sale of the borrower's principal dwelling or a temporary loan made to a borrower and secured by the borrower's principal dwelling pending the borrower's obtaining permanent financing for such principal dwelling;(D) A loan secured by personal property including, but not limited to, a motor vehicle, motor home, boat, or watercraft and also secured by the borrower's principal dwelling to provide the borrower with potential income tax advantages when such personal property is the primary collateral for such loan;(E) A new loan secured by a borrower's principal dwelling as a result of a lien taken in connection with a debt previously contracted or incurred when the loan documents for such new loan do not include a mortgage, security deed, or deed to secure debt expressly securing such new loan; or(F) A loan primarily for business, agricultural, or commercial purposes.(9) "Make" or "makes" means to originate a loan or to engage in brokering of a home loan including the soliciting, processing, placing, or negotiating of a home loan made or offered by a person brokering a home loan.(10) "Manufactured home" means a structure, transportable in one or more sections, which 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 National Manufactured Housing Construction and Safety Standards Act of 1974, 42 U.S.C. Section 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.(11) "Open-end credit plan" or "open-end loan" means a loan in which (A) a creditor reasonably contemplates repeated transactions; (B) the creditor may impose a finance charge from time to time on an outstanding balance; and (C) the amount of credit that may be extended to the borrower during the term of the loan, up to any limit set by the creditor, is generally made available to the extent that any outstanding balance is repaid.(12) "Points and fees" means: (A) All items included in the definition of finance charge in 12 C.F.R. 1026.4(a) and 12 C.F.R. 1026.4(b) except interest or the time price differential. All items excluded under 12 C.F.R. 1026.4(c) are excluded from points and fees, provided that for items under 12 C.F.R. 1026.4(c)(7) the creditor does not receive direct or indirect compensation in connection with the charge and the charge is not paid to an affiliate of the creditor;(B) All compensation paid directly or indirectly to a mortgage broker from any source, including a broker that originates a loan in its own name in a table funded transaction, including but not limited to yield spread premiums, yield differentials, and service release fees, provided that the portion of any yield spread premium that is both disclosed to the borrower in writing and used to pay bona fide and reasonable fees to a person other than the creditor or an affiliate of the creditor for the following purposes is exempt from inclusion in points and fees: fees for tax payment services; fees for flood certification; fees for pest infestation and flood determination; appraisal fees; fees for inspection performed prior to closing; credit reports; surveys; attorneys' fees, if the borrower has the right to select the attorney from an approved list or otherwise; notary fees; escrow charges, so long as not otherwise included under subparagraph (A) of this paragraph; title insurance premiums; and fire and hazard insurance and flood insurance premiums, provided that the conditions set forth in 12 C.F.R. 1026.4(d)(2) are met;(C) Premiums or other charges for credit life, credit accident, credit health, credit personal property, or credit loss-of-income insurance, debt suspension coverage or debt cancellation coverage, whether or not such coverage is insurance under applicable law, that provides for cancellation of all or part of a borrower's liability in the event of loss of life, health, personal property, or income or in the case of accident written in connection with a home loan and premiums or other charges for life, accident, health, or loss-of-income insurance without regard to the identity of the ultimate beneficiary of such insurance. In determining points and fees for the purposes of this paragraph, premiums or other charges shall only include those payable at or before loan closing and are included whether they are paid in cash or financed and whether the amount represents the entire premium for the coverage or an initial payment;(D) The maximum prepayment fees and penalties that may be charged or collected under the terms of the loan documents. Mortgage interest that may accrue in advance of payment in full of a loan made under a local, state, or federal government sponsored mortgage insurance or guaranty program, including a Federal Housing Administration program, shall not be considered to be a prepayment fee or penalty;(E) All prepayment fees or penalties that are charged to the borrower if the loan refinances a previous loan made or currently held by the same creditor or an affiliate of the creditor;(F) For open-end loans, points and fees are calculated in the same manner as for loans other than open-end loans, based on the minimum points and fees that a borrower would be required to pay in order to draw on the open-end loan an amount equal to the total credit line; and(G) Points and fees shall not include:(i) Taxes, filing fees, 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;(ii) Bona fide and reasonable fees paid to a person other than the creditor or an affiliate of the creditor for the following: fees for tax payment services; fees for flood certification; fees for pest infestation and flood determination; appraisal fees; fees for inspections performed prior to closing; credit reports; surveys; attorneys' fees, if the borrower has the right to select the attorney from an approved list or otherwise; notary fees; escrow charges, so long as not otherwise included under subparagraph (A) of this paragraph; title insurance premiums; and fire and hazard insurance and flood insurance premiums, provided that the conditions in 12 C.F.R. 1026.4(d)(2) are met;(iii) Bona fide fees paid to a federal or state government agency that insures payment of some portion of a home loan, including, but not limited to, the Federal Housing Administration, the Department of Veterans Affairs, the United States Department of Agriculture for rural development loans, or the Georgia Housing and Finance Authority; and(iv) Notwithstanding any provision to the contrary in this chapter, compensation in the form of premiums, commissions, or similar charges paid to a creditor or any affiliate of a creditor for the sale of: (II) insurance against loss of or damage to property or against liability arising out of the ownership or use of property, provided that the conditions in 12 C.F.R. 1026.4(d)(2) are met.(13) "Process," "processes," or "processing" means to act as a processor.(14) "Processor" means any person that prepares paperwork necessary for or associated with the closing of a home loan, including but not limited to promissory notes, disclosures, deeds, and closing statements, provided that processor shall not include persons on the grounds that they are engaged in data processing or statement generation services for home loans.(15) "Servicer" means the same as set forth in 12 C.F.R. 1024.2.(16) "Servicing" means the same as set forth in 12 C.F.R. 1024.2.(17) "Threshold" means: (A) Without regard to whether the loan transaction is or may be a "residential mortgage transaction" as that term is defined in 12 C.F.R. Section 1026.2(a)(24), the annual percentage rate of the loan is such that it equals or exceeds that set out in Section 152 of the Home Ownership and Equity Protection Act of 1994, 15 U.S.C. Section 1602(bb), and the regulations adopted pursuant thereto by the Federal Reserve Board, including 12 C.F.R. Section 1026.32; or(B) The total points and fees payable in connection with the loan, excluding not more than two bona fide discount points, exceed: (i) 5 percent of the total loan amount if the total loan amount is $20,000.00 or more or(ii) the lesser of 8 percent of the total loan amount or $1,000.00 if the total loan amount is less than $20,000.00.(18) "Total loan amount" means the amount calculated as set forth in 12 C.F.R. 1026.32(a) and under the Official Staff Commentary of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System. For open-end loans, the total loan amount shall be calculated using the total credit line available under the terms of the home loan as the amount financed.Amended by 2024 Ga. Laws 474,§ 2-1, eff. 6/1/2024.Amended by 2022 Ga. Laws 748,§ 47, eff. 7/1/2022.Amended by 2021 Ga. Laws 174,§ 38, eff. 7/1/2021.Amended by 2020 Ga. Laws 492,§ 24, eff. 1/1/2021.Added by 2003 Ga. Laws 1, § 1, eff. 3/7/2003.