Mississippi Code 1972 (2023) › Title 81 - BANKS AND FINANCIAL INSTITUTIONS (§§ 81-1-1 — 81-29-3) › Chapter 18 - MISSISSIPPI S.A.F.E. MORTGAGE ACT (§§ 81-18-1 — 81-18-63) › IN GENERAL (§§ 81-18-1 — 81-18-55) › Section 81-18-3 - Definitions

For purposes of this chapter, the following terms shall have the following meanings:
(a)
"Application" means the submission of a borrower's financial information in anticipation of a credit decision, whether written or computer-generated. If the submission does not state or identify a specific property, the submission is an application for a prequalification and not an application for a federally related mortgage loan. The subsequent addition of an identified property to the submission converts the submission to an application for a federally related mortgage loan.
(b)
"Borrower" means a person who submits an application for a residential mortgage loan.
(c)
"Branch" means a location of a company in or outside of the state that conducts business as a mortgage broker or mortgage lender. A location shall be considered a branch regarding mortgage broker or mortgage lender activities in any of the following:
(i)
If the location is used on any type of advertisement;
(ii)
If any type of record, loan file or application of the company is located at the location, with the exception of unstaffed storage facilities; or
(iii)
If the activities of a mortgage loan originator occur at the location.
(d)
"Commissioner" means the Commissioner of the Mississippi Department of Banking and Consumer Finance.
(e)
"Commitment" means a statement by a lender required to be licensed under this chapter that sets forth the terms and conditions upon which the lender is willing to make a particular mortgage loan to a particular borrower.
(f)
"Company" means a licensed mortgage broker or mortgage lender under this chapter.
(g)
"Control" means the direct or indirect possession of the power to direct or cause the direction of the management and policies of a person, whether through the ownership of voting securities, by contract or otherwise, and shall include "controlling," "controlled by," and "under common control with."
(h)
"Department" means the Department of Banking and Consumer Finance of the State of Mississippi.
(i)
"Depository institution" has the same meaning as in Section 3 of the Federal Deposit Insurance Act, and includes any credit union.
(j)
"Executive officer" means the chief executive officer, the president, the principal financial officer, the principal operating officer, each vice president with responsibility involving policy-making functions for a significant aspect of a person's business, the secretary, the treasurer, or any other person performing similar managerial or supervisory functions with respect to any organization whether incorporated or unincorporated.
(k)
"Federal banking agencies" means the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, the Comptroller of the Currency, the Director of the Office of Thrift Supervision, the National Credit Union Administration, and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation.
(l)
"Housing finance agency" means any authority that is chartered by a state to help meet the affordable housing needs of the residents of the state, is supervised directly or indirectly by the state government, is subject to audit and review by the state in which it operates, and whose activities make it eligible to be a member of the National Council of State Housing Agencies.
(m)
"Immediate family member" means a spouse, child, sibling, parent, grandparent or grandchild. This term includes stepparents, stepchildren, stepsiblings and adoptive relationships.
(n)
"Individual" means a "natural person."
(o)
"License" means a license to act as a mortgage broker or mortgage lender issued by the department under this chapter.
(p)
"Licensee" means a person who is required to be licensed as a mortgage broker or mortgage lender under this chapter.
(q)
"Loan processor or underwriter" means an individual who performs clerical or support duties as an employee at the direction of and subject to the supervision and instruction of a person licensed or exempt from licensing under this chapter.
For the purposes of this paragraph (q), the term "clerical or support duties" may include, after the receipt of an application:
(i)
The receipt, collection, distribution and analysis of information common for the processing or underwriting of a residential mortgage loan; and
(ii)
Communicating with a consumer to obtain the information necessary for the processing or underwriting of a loan, to the extent that the communication does not include offering or negotiating loan rates or terms, or counseling consumers about residential mortgage loan rates or terms.
An individual engaging solely in loan processor or underwriter activities, shall not represent to the public, through advertising or other means of communicating or providing information including the use of business cards, stationery, brochures, signs, rate lists or other promotional items, that the individual can or will perform any of the activities of a mortgage loan originator.
(r)
"Lock-in agreement" means a written agreement stating the terms of the lock-in fee.
(s)
"Lock-in fee" means a fee collected by a licensee to be paid to a lender to guarantee an interest rate or a certain number of points on a mortgage loan from the lender.
(t)
"Make a mortgage loan" means to advance funds, offer to advance funds or make a commitment to advance funds to a borrower.
(u)
"Misrepresent" means to make a false statement of a substantive fact or to engage in, with intent to deceive or mislead, any conduct that leads to a false belief that is material to the transaction.
(v)
"Mortgage broker" means any person who directly or indirectly or by electronic activity solicits, places or negotiates residential mortgage loans for others, or offers to solicit, place or negotiate residential mortgage loans for others that does not close residential mortgage loans in the company name, does not use its own funds, or who closes residential mortgage loans in the name of the company, and sells, assigns or transfers the loan to others within forty-eight (48) hours of the closing.
(w)
"Mortgage lender" means any person who directly or indirectly or by electronic activity originates, makes, funds or purchases or offers to originate, make, or fund or purchase a residential mortgage loan or who services residential mortgage loans.
(x)
"Mortgage-lending process" means the process through which a person seeks or obtains a mortgage loan, including, but not limited to, solicitation, application, origination, negotiation of terms, third-party provider services, underwriting, signing and closing, and funding of the loan. Documents involved in the mortgage-lending process include, but are not limited to, uniform residential loan applications or other loan applications, appraisal reports, HUD-1 Settlement Statements, supporting personal documentation for loan applications such as W-2 forms, verifications of income and employment, bank statements, tax returns, payroll stubs and any required disclosures.
(y)
"Mortgage loan originator" means an individual who:
(i)
Takes a residential mortgage loan application; and
(ii)
Offers or negotiates terms of a residential mortgage loan for compensation or gain. The term "mortgage loan originator" does not include:
1.
An individual engaged solely as a loan processor or underwriter except as otherwise provided in this chapter;
2.
A person or entity that only performs real estate brokerage activities and is licensed or registered in accordance with Mississippi law, unless the person or entity is compensated by a lender, a mortgage broker, or other mortgage loan originator or by any agent of such lender, mortgage broker, or other mortgage loan originator; and
3.
A person or entity solely involved in extensions of credit relating to time-share plans, as that term is defined in Title 11 USCS, Section 101(53D).
(z)
"Nationwide Mortgage Licensing System and Registry" means a mortgage licensing system developed and maintained by the Conference of State Bank Supervisors and the American Association of Residential Mortgage Regulators for the licensing and registration of licensed mortgage loan originators.
(aa)
"Natural person" means a human being, as distinguished from an artificial person created by law.
(bb)
"Nontraditional mortgage product" means any mortgage product other than a thirty-year fixed rate mortgage.
(cc)
"Offering or negotiating a residential mortgage loan" means:
(i)
Presenting particular mortgage loan terms for consideration by a borrower; or
(ii)
Communicating directly or indirectly with a borrower for purposes of reaching a mutual understanding about prospective loan terms.
"Offering or negotiating" does not include the following: the mere sharing of general information about a financing source; discussing hypothetical financing options, i.e., options not related to specific financing source; giving the homebuyer a list of available financing sources; discussing a buyer's ability to afford a home; presenting or discussing generic facts or generic rate sheets; closing personal property transactions.
(dd)
"Person" means a natural person, sole proprietorship, corporation, company, limited liability company, partnership or association.
(ee)
"Principal" means a person who, directly or indirectly, owns or controls an ownership interest of ten percent (10%) or more in a corporation or any other form of business organization, regardless of whether the person owns or controls the ownership interest through one or more persons or one or more proxies, powers of attorney, nominees, corporations, associations, limited liability companies, partnerships, trusts, joint-stock companies, other entities or devises, or any combination thereof.
(ff)
"Qualifying individual" means an owner or employee of a mortgage broker or mortgage lender who submits documentation of two (2) years' experience directly related to mortgage activities and who shall be primarily responsible for the operations of the licensed mortgage broker or mortgage lender. This individual will also be designated as the qualifying individual in the Nationwide Mortgage Licensing System and Registry.
(gg)
"Real estate brokerage activity" means any activity that involves offering or providing real estate brokerage services to the public, including:
(i)
Acting as a real estate agent or real estate broker for a buyer, seller, lessor or lessee of real property;
(ii)
Bringing together parties interested in the sale, purchase, lease, rental or exchange of real property;
(iii)
Negotiating, on behalf of any party, any portion of a contract relating to the sale, purchase, lease, rental or exchange of real property (other than in connection with providing financing with respect to any such transaction);
(iv)
Engaging in any activity for which a person engaged in the activity is required to be registered or licensed as a real estate agent or real estate broker under any applicable law; and
(v)
Offering to engage in any activity, or act in any capacity, described in subparagraph (i), (ii), (iii) or (iv) of this paragraph (gg).
(hh)
"Records" or "documents" means any item in hard copy or produced in a format of storage commonly described as electronic, imaged, magnetic, microphotographic or otherwise, and any reproduction so made shall have the same force and effect as the original thereof and be admitted in evidence equally with the original.
(ii)
"Registered mortgage loan originator" means any individual who:
(i)
Meets the definition of mortgage loan originator and is an employee of a depository institution, a subsidiary that is owned and controlled by a depository institution and regulated by a federal banking agency or an institution regulated by the Farm Credit Administration; and
(ii)
Is registered with, and maintains a unique identifier through, the Nationwide Mortgage Licensing System and Registry.
(jj)
"Residential mortgage loan" means any loan primarily for personal, family or household use that is secured by a mortgage, deed of trust or other equivalent consensual security interest on a dwelling (as defined in Section 103(v) of the Truth in Lending Act) or residential real estate upon which is constructed or intended to be constructed a dwelling (as so defined).
(kk)
"Residential real estate" means any real property located in Mississippi upon which is constructed or intended to be constructed a dwelling.
(ll)
"Service a mortgage loan" means the collection or remittance for another, the right to collect or remit for another, or the collection of the company's own loan portfolio, whether or not the company originated, funded or purchased the loan in the secondary market, of payments of principal and interest, trust items such as insurance and taxes, and any other payments pursuant to a mortgage loan.
(mm)
"Taking an application for a residential mortgage loan" means a receipt of an application for the purpose of deciding whether or not to extend the requested offer of a loan to the borrower whether the application is received directly or indirectly from the borrower. However, an individual whose only role with respect to the application is physically handling a completed application form or transmitting a completed form to a lender on behalf of a prospective borrower does not take an application.
(nn)
"Unique identifier" means a number or other identifier assigned by protocols established by the Nationwide Mortgage Licensing System and Registry.
Laws, 2000, ch. 579, § 2; reenacted and amended, Laws, 2002, ch. 500, § 2; reenacted and amended, Laws, 2004, ch. 364, § 2; reenacted and amended, Laws, 2007, ch. 581, § 2; Laws, 2008, ch. 434, § 1; Laws, 2009, ch. 544, § 2; reenacted and amended, Laws, 2010, ch. 462, § 2; reenacted and amended, Laws, 2012, ch. 571, § 2, eff. 7/1/2012.
Reenacted by Laws, 2020, ch. 310, SB 2427,§ 2, eff. 7/1/2020.
Reenacted by Laws, 2016, ch. 360, SB 2504, 2, eff. 7/1/2016.
Amended by Laws, 2013, ch. 499, SB 2696, 1, eff. 7/1/2013.