An Act To Conform State Mortgage Laws with Federal Laws
Maine Legislature, Session 124, LD 1439
Committee Amendment CA_A-HA_A_H532 (House)

HOUSE AMENDMENT" A·" to COMMITTEE AMENDMENT "A" to S.P. 523, 
L.D. 1439, Bill, "An Act To Conform State Mortgage Laws with Federal Laws" 
Amend the amendment on page 2 by striking out all of paragraph A (page 2, lines 10 
to 28 in amendment) and inseliing the following: 
'A. A creditor may not extend a higher-priced mortgage to a consumer based on the 
value of the consumer's collateral without regard to the consumer's repayment ability 
as of consummation, including the consumer's current and reasonably expected 
income, employment, assets other than the collateral, credit history, debt-to-income 
ratio, current obligations and mOligage-related obligations. 
(1) For purposes of this paragraph, mOligage-related obligations are expected 
property taxes, premiums for mortgage-related insurance required by the creditor 
as set fOlih in paragraph C and similar expenses. 
(2) Under this paragraph, a creditor must verifY the consumer's repayment ability 
as follows. 
(a) A creditor must verifY amounts of income or assets that it relies on to 
determine repayment ability, including expected income or assets, by the 
consumer's federal Internal Revenue Service Form W-2, tax returns, payroll 
receipts, financial institution records or other 3rd-party documents that 
provide reasonably reliable evidence of the consumer's income or assets. For 
the purposes of this division, "reasonably reliable evidence of the consumer's 
income or assets" includes, but is not limited to, statements from investment 
advisors, broker-dealers and others in a fiduciary relationship with the 
consumer as long as the statements reflect the consumer's actual income and 
not estimated, proiected or anticipated income 01' a range of earnings for a 
consumer's type 01' class of employment. 
(b) A creditor must verifY the consumer's current obligations. 
(3) A creditor is presumed to have complied with this paragraph with respect to a 
transaction if the creditor: 
(a) Verifies the consumer's repayment ability as provided in subparagraphs' 
(1) and (2); 
HOUSE AMENDMENT 
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HOUSE AMENDMENT ,,11 "to COMMITTEE AMENDMENT "A" to S.P. 523, L.D. 1439 
(b) Determines the consumer's repayment ability lIsing the largest payment 
of principal and interest scheduled in the first 7 years following 
consummation and taking into account current obligations and mortgage-
related obligations; and 
(c) Assesses the consumer's repayment ability taking into account at least 
one of the following: 
(i) The ratio of total debt obligations to income; and 
(in The income the consumer will have after paying debt obligations. 
(4) 
Notwithstanding subparagraph (3), no presumption of compliance IS 
available for a transaction for which: 
(a) The regular periodic payments for the first 7 years would cause the 
principal balance to increase; or 
(b) The term of the loan is less than 7 years and the regular periodic 
payments when aggregated do not fully amortize the outstanding principal 
balance. 
(5) This paragraph does not apply to a temporary or so-called "bridge" loan with 
a term of 12 months or less, such as a loan to purchase a new dwelling when the 
consumer plans to sell a current dwelling within 12 months.' 
SUMMARY 
This amendment incorporates the changes proposed to Committee Amendment "A" 
made in Senate Amendment "D." This amendment adds language from current law that 
describes the permissible 3rd-party documents a creditor may use as reasonably reliable 
evidence of a consumer's income or assets. 
SPONSORED BY: 
CitacuA-
-f(. e~/r 
(Representative PRIEST) 
TOWN: Brunswick 
HOUSE AMENDMENT 
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