I 

111TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 6133 

To require the lender or servicer of a home mortgage, upon a request by 

the homeowner for a short sale, to make a prompt decision whether 

to allow the sale. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

SEPTEMBER 15, 2010 

Mr. ANDREWS (for himself and Mr. ROONEY) introduced the following bill; 

which was referred to the Committee on Financial Services 

A BILL 

To require the lender or servicer of a home mortgage, upon 

a request by the homeowner for a short sale, to make 

a prompt decision whether to allow the sale. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Prompt Decision for 

5 Qualification of Short Sale Act of 2010’’. 

6 SEC. 2. PROMPT DECISION REGARDING SHORT SALE. 

7 (a) IN GENERAL.—Chapter 2 of the Truth in Lend8 ing Act (15 U.S.C. 1631 et seq.) is amended— 


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1 (1) by redesignating the second section 129, as 

2 added by section 201(b) of the Helping Families 

3 Save Their Homes Act of 2009 (Public Law 111–22; 

4 123 Stat. 1638), as section 129A; and 

5 (2) by inserting before section 130 (15 U.S.C. 

6 1640) the following new section: 

7 ‘‘SEC. 129B. PROMPT DECISION REGARDING SHORT SALE. 

8 ‘‘(a) REQUIREMENT.—Except as provided in sub9 section (b) and notwithstanding any other provision of law 

10 or of any contract, including a contract between a servicer 

11 of a residential mortgage loan and a securitization vehicle 

12 or other investment vehicle, if the mortgagor under a resi13 dential mortgage loan submits to the servicer of the mort14 gage loan a written request for a short sale of the dwelling 

15 or residential real property that is subject to the mortgage, 

16 deed or trust, or other security interest that secures the 

17 mortgage loan, and all information required by the 

18 servicer in connection with such a request (including a 

19 copy of an executed contract between the owner of the 

20 dwelling or property and the prospective buyer that is sub21 ject to approval by the servicer), and the mortgagor does 

22 not receive from the servicer, before the expiration of the 

23 45-day period beginning upon receipt by the servicer of 

24 such request and information, a written notification of 

25 whether such request has been approved, that such reVerDate Mar 15 2010 03:36 Sep 16, 2010 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H6133.IH H6133

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1 quest has been approved subject to specified changes, or 

2 that additional information is required for such a deter3 mination, such request shall be considered to have been 

4 approved by the servicer. 

5 ‘‘(b) INAPPLICABILITY TO CERTAIN EXISTING MORT6 GAGES.—Subsection (a) shall not apply with respect to 

7 any residential mortgage with respect to which the mort8 gagor and the mortgagee or servicer have entered into a 

9 written agreement before the date of the enactment of the 

10 Prompt Decision for Qualification of Short Sale Act of 

11 2010 explicitly providing a procedure or terms for ap12 proval of a short sale. 

13 ‘‘(c) TREATMENT OF OTHER TIME LIMITS.—This 

14 section may not be construed to preempt, annul, or other15 wise affect any other provision of law or of any contract 

16 or program that provides a shorter period than is provided 

17 under subsection (a) for a decision by the servicer of a 

18 residential mortgage loan regarding a short sale of the 

19 dwelling or residential real property that is subject to the 

20 mortgage, deed or trust, or other security interest that se21 cures the mortgage loan. 

22 ‘‘(d) DEFINITIONS.—For purposes of this section, the 

23 following definitions shall apply: 

24 ‘‘(1) RESIDENTIAL MORTGAGE LOAN.—The 

25 term ‘residential mortgage loan’ means any conVerDate Mar 15 2010 03:36 Sep 16, 2010 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H6133.IH H6133

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1 sumer credit transaction that is secured by a mort2 gage, deed of trust, or other equivalent consensual 

3 security interest on a dwelling or on residential real 

4 property that includes a dwelling, other than a con5 sumer credit transaction under an open end credit 

6 plan or an extension of credit relating to a plan de7 scribed in section 101(53D) of title 11, United 

8 States Code. 

9 ‘‘(2) SECURITIZATION VEHICLE.—The term 

10 ‘securitization vehicle’ means a trust, special purpose 

11 entity, or other legal structure that is used to facili12 tate the issuing of securities, participation certifi13 cates, or similar instruments backed by or referring 

14 to a pool of assets that includes residential mortgage 

15 loans (or instruments that are related to residential 

16 mortgage loans, such as credit-linked notes). 

17 ‘‘(3) SERVICER.—The term ‘servicer’ has the 

18 meaning provided in section 129A, except that such 

19 term includes a person who makes or holds a resi20 dential mortgage loan (including a pool of residential 

21 mortgage loans) if such person also services the 

22 loan. 

23 ‘‘(4) SHORT SALE.—The term ‘short sale’ 

24 means the sale of the dwelling or residential real 

25 property that is subject to the mortgage, deed or 


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1 trust, or other security interest that secures a resi2 dential mortgage loan that— 

3 ‘‘(A) will result in proceeds in an amount 

4 that is less than the remaining amount due 

5 under the mortgage loan; and 

6 ‘‘(B) requires authorization by the 

7 securitization vehicle or other investment vehicle 

8 or holder of the mortgage loan, or the servicer 

9 acting on behalf of such a vehicle or holder.’’. 

10 (b) APPLICABILITY.—The amendment made by sub11 section (a) of this section shall apply to any written re12 quest for a short sale made after the date of the enactment 

13 of this Act. 

Æ 


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