2023 Tennessee Code › Title 47 - COMMERCIAL INSTRUMENTS AND TRANSACTIONS (§§ 47-1-101 — 47-50-121) › Chapter 32 - RESIDENTIAL CLOSING FUNDS DISTRIBUTION ACT OF 2005 (§§ 47-32-101 — 47-32-107) › Section 47-32-102 - Chapter definitions

As used in this chapter, unless the context otherwise requires:
(1)
"Agricultural land" means land used for agriculture, as defined in §
1-3-105
;
(2)
"Commercial real estate," for purposes of this chapter only, means any real estate used for any business purpose, including one (1) to four (4) residential units or parcels of unimproved, residential property sold to a person for the purpose of constructing, renovating or developing the property for resale or lease;
(3)
"Disbursement of loan funds" means the delivery of the loan funds by the mortgage lender to the settlement agent in one (1) or more of the following forms:
(A)
Cash;
(B)
Federal funds wire transfer including electronic payment, as defined in federal reserve regulation CC (
12 CFR 229.2(p)
);
(C)
Checks issued by the state of Tennessee or a political subdivision of the state;
(D)
Cashier's check, as defined in
12 CFR 229.2(i)
;
(E)
Teller's check, as defined in
12 CFR 229.2(gg)
, that is issued by a financial institution and drawn or payable through a financial institution;
(F)
Checks issued by an instrumentality of the United States organized and existing under the Farm Credit Act of 1971, compiled in
12 U.S.C. § 2001
et seq.;
(G)
A direct deposit by a financial institution to the account of a settlement agent held in the same institution; or
(H)
Checks issued from the escrow or trust account of a real estate broker licensed pursuant to the Tennessee Real Estate Broker License Act of 1973, compiled in title 62, chapter 13, and drawn on or payable through a financial institution within the same federal reserve check processing region as the location of the settlement agent in an amount not to exceed the earnest money paid by the purchaser and collected in the escrow or trust account;
(4)
"Disbursement of settlement proceeds" means the payment of any proceeds of the transaction by the settlement agent to the persons entitled to the proceeds;
(5)
"Dwelling" means a residential structure or mobile home that contains one (1) to four (4) family housing units, or individual units of condominiums or cooperatives;
(6)
"Financial institution" means a bank, savings and loan association, or credit union, the accounts of which are insured by the federal deposit insurance corporation or the national credit union administration;
(7)
"Loan closing" means that time agreed upon by the borrower and lender, when the execution of the loan documents by the borrower occurs;
(8)
"Loan documents" means the note evidencing the debt due the lender, the deed of trust, or mortgage securing the debt due to the lender, and any other documents required by the lender to be executed by the borrower as a part of the transaction;
(9)
"Loan funds" means the gross or net proceeds of the loan to be disbursed by the lender, in one (1) of the forms identified in subdivision (3), at loan closing;
(10)
"Mortgage" means a "mortgage" or "deed of trust" as defined in and allowed pursuant to §
66-5-103
;
(11)
"Mortgage lender" means any person who, in the regular course of business, lends money that is secured by a mortgage or deed of trust on real estate. "Mortgage lender" includes a "mortgage loan broker" and "mortgage loan servicer";
(12)
"Mortgage loan" means any loan secured by a mortgage, intended for any purpose;
(13)
"Mortgage loan broker" means any person who, for compensation or other gain, paid directly or indirectly, or in expectation of compensation or other gain, solicits, processes, places, negotiates or originates mortgage loans for others, or offers to solicit, process, place, negotiate or originate mortgage loans for others, or who close mortgage loans that may be in the mortgage loan broker's own name with funds provided by others and which loans are thereafter assigned to the person providing the funding of such loans; regardless of whether the acts are done directly or indirectly, through contact by telephone, by electric means, by mail, or in person with the borrowers or potential borrowers;
(14)
"Mortgage loan servicer" means any person who, in the regular course of business, assumes responsibility for servicing and accepting payments for a mortgage loan;
(15)
"Settlement" means the time when the settlement agent has received the duly executed deed, loan funds, loan documents, and other documents and funds required to carry out the terms of the contract between the parties, and the settlement agent reasonably determines that prerecordation conditions of such contracts have been satisfied. "Parties," as used in this subdivision (15), means the seller, purchaser, borrower, lender and the settlement agent; and
(16)
"Settlement agent" means the person, other than a mortgage lender, responsible for conducting the settlement and disbursement of the settlement proceeds, and includes any individual, corporation, partnership, or other entity conducting the settlement, collection and disbursement of loan proceeds.
Acts 2005, ch. 273, § 3; 2006, ch. 632, §§1, 2; 2007 , ch. 286, § 1.