North Carolina Statutes

Chapter 24 Interest

§ 24-1.1F Rate spread home loans

(a) Definitions. The following definitions apply for purposes of this section:

(1) Annual percentage rate. The annual percentage rate for the loan calculated according to the provisions of the federal Truth‑in‑Lending Act (15 U.S.C. 1601, et seq.) and the regulations promulgated thereunder by the Federal Reserve Board, as that Act and regulations are amended from time to time.

(2) Closed‑end loan. A loan other than an open‑end credit plan as defined in this section.

(3) Home loan. A loan that has all of the following characteristics:

a. The loan is not an equity line of credit as defined in G.S. 24‑9(a)(2), a construction loan as defined in G.S. 24‑10(c), or a reverse mortgage transaction.

b. The borrower is a natural person.

c. The debt is incurred by the borrower primarily for personal, family, or household purposes.

d. The principal amount of the loan does not exceed the conforming loan size limit for a single‑family dwelling as established from time to time for Fannie Mae.

e. The loan is secured by (i) a security interest in a manufactured home, as defined in G.S. 143‑147(7), in the State which is or will be occupied by the borrower as the borrower's principal dwelling, (ii) a mortgage or deed of trust on real property in the State upon which there is located an existing structure designed principally for occupancy of from one to four families that is or will be occupied by the borrower as the borrower's principal dwelling, or (iii) a mortgage or deed of trust on real property in the State upon which there is to be constructed using the loan proceeds a structure or structures designed principally for occupancy of from one to four families which, when completed, will be occupied by the borrower as the borrower's principal dwelling.

f. A purpose of the loan is to (i) purchase the dwelling, (ii) construct, repair, rehabilitate, remodel, or improve the dwelling or the real property on which it is located, (iii) satisfy and replace an existing obligation secured by the same real property, or (iv) consolidate existing consumer debts into a new home loan.

(4) Mortgage broker. A mortgage broker as defined in G.S. 53‑243.01(14).

(5) Obligor. Each borrower, co‑borrower, cosigner, or guarantor obligated to repay a rate spread home loan.

(6) Open‑end credit plan. Credit extended by a lender under a plan in which (i) the lender reasonably contemplates repeated transactions, (ii) the lender may charge interest or otherwise impose a finance charge from time to time on an outstanding unpaid balance, and (iii) the amount of credit that may be extended to the obligor during the term of the plan, up to any credit limit set by the lender, is generally made available to the extent that any outstanding balance is repaid.

(7) Rate spread home loan. A home loan in which all the following apply:

a. The difference between the annual percentage rate for the loan and the yield on U.S. Treasury securities having comparable periods of maturity is either equal to or greater than (i) 3 percentage points (3%), if the loan is secured by a first lien mortgage or deed of trust, or (ii) 5 percentage points (5%), if the loan is secured by a subordinate lien mortgage or deed of trust. Without regard to whether the loan is subject to or reportable under the provisions of the Home Mortgage Disclosure Act (12 U.S.C. 2801, et seq.)(HMDA), the difference between the annual percentage rate and the yield on Treasury securities having comparable periods of maturity shall be determined using the same procedures and calculation methods applicable to loans that are subject to the reporting requirements of HMDA, as those procedures and calculation methods are amended from time to time, provided that the yield on Treasury securities shall be determined as of the fifteenth day of the month prior to the application for the loan.

b. The difference between the annual percentage rate for the loan and the conventional mortgage rate is either equal to or greater than (i) 1.75 percentage points (1.75%), if the loan is secured by a first lien mortgage or deed of trust, or (ii) 3.75 percentage points (3.75%), if the loan is secured by a subordinate lien mortgage or deed of trust. For purposes of this calculation, the "conventional mortgage rate" means the most recent daily contract interest rate on commitments for fixed‑rate first mortgages published by the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System in its Statistical Release H.15, or any publication that may supersede it, during the week preceding the week in which the interest rate for the loan is set.

(b) No prepayment fees or penalties shall be charged or collected on a rate spread home loan.

(c) No lender shall make a rate spread home loan unless the lender reasonably and in good faith believes at the time the loan is consummated that one or more of the obligors, when considered individually or collectively, has the ability to repay the loan according to its terms and to pay applicable real estate taxes and hazard insurance premiums. If a lender making a rate spread home loan knows that one or more mortgage loans secured by the same real property will be made contemporaneously to the same borrower with the rate spread home loan being made by that lender, the lender making the rate spread home loan must document the borrower's ability to repay the combined payments of all loans on the same real property.

(1) A lender's analysis of an obligor's ability to repay a rate spread home loan according to the loan terms and to pay related real estate taxes and insurance premiums shall be based on a consideration of the obligor's credit history, current and expected income, current obligations, employment status, and other financial resources other than the obligor's equity in the real property that secures repayment of the rate spread home loan.

(2) In determining an obligor's ability to repay a rate spread home loan, the lender shall take reasonable steps to verify the accuracy and completeness of information provided by or on behalf of the obligor using tax returns, payroll receipts, bank records, reasonable alternative methods, or reasonable third‑party verification.

(3) In determining an obligor's ability to repay a rate spread home loan according to its terms when the loan has an adjustable rate feature, the lender shall take into consideration any balance increase that may accrue from any negative amortization provision. The lender shall calculate the monthly payment amount for principal and interest by assuming (i) the loan proceeds are fully disbursed on the date of the loan closing, (ii) the loan is to be repaid in substantially equal monthly amortizing payments of principal and interest over the entire term of the loan, with no balloon payment, and (iii) the interest rate over the entire term of the loan is a fixed rate equal to the fully indexed interest rate at the time of the loan closing, without considering any initial discounted rate. The "fully indexed interest rate at the time of the loan closing" is the interest rate that would have applied at the time of the closing had the initial interest rate been determined by the application of the same interest rate formula, (for example, an interest rate index plus or minus a margin) that applies under the terms of the loan documents to subsequent interest rate adjustments, disregarding any limitations on the amount by which the interest rate may change at any one time.

(4) A lender's analysis of an obligor's ability to repay a rate spread loan may utilize reasonable commercially recognized underwriting standards and methodologies, including automated underwriting systems, provided the standards and methodologies comply with the provisions of this section.

(d) The making of a rate spread home loan which violates subsection (b) or (c) of this section is hereby declared usurious in violation of the provisions of this Chapter. In addition, any prepayment penalty in violation of this section shall be unenforceable. However, an obligor shall not be entitled to recover twice for the same wrong. The Attorney General, the Commissioner of Banks, or any party to a rate spread home loan may enforce the provisions of this section. This section establishes specific consumer protections in rate spread home loans in addition to other consumer protections that may be otherwise available by law. A mortgage broker who brokers a rate spread home loan that violates the provisions of this section shall be jointly and severally liable with the lender.

(e) The provisions of this section shall apply to any person who in bad faith attempts to avoid the application of this section by (i) dividing any loan transaction into separate parts for the purpose and with the intent of evading the provisions of this section, or (ii) any other such subterfuge.

(f) A lender in a rate spread home loan who, when acting in good faith, fails to comply with this section, will not be deemed to have violated this section if the lender establishes that either:

(1) Within 90 days of the loan closing and prior to the institution of any action against the lender under this section, the borrower was notified of the compliance failure, the lender tendered appropriate restitution, the lender offered, at the borrower's option, either to (i) make the rate spread home loan comply with subsection (b) or (c), or (ii) change the terms of the loan in a manner beneficial to the borrower so that the loan will no longer be considered a rate spread home loan subject to the provisions of this section, and within a reasonable period of time following the borrower's election of remedies, the lender took appropriate action based on the borrower's choice; or

(2) The compliance failure was not intentional and resulted from a bona fide error notwithstanding the maintenance of procedures reasonably adopted to avoid such errors, and within 120 days after the discovery of the compliance failure and prior to the institution of any action against the lender under this section or the lender's receipt of written notice of the compliance failure, the borrower was notified of the compliance failure, the lender tendered appropriate restitution, the lender offered, at the borrower's option, either to (i) make the rate spread home loan comply with subsection (b) or (c) of this section, or (ii) change the terms of the loan in a manner beneficial to the borrower so that the loan will no longer be considered a rate spread home loan subject to the provisions of this section, and within a reasonable period of time following the borrower's election of remedies, the lender took appropriate action based on the borrower's choice. Examples of a bona fide error include clerical, calculation, computer malfunction and programming, and printing errors. An error of legal judgment with respect to a person's obligations under this section is not a bona fide error.

(g) The provisions of this section shall be severable, and if any phrase, clause, sentence, or provision is declared to be invalid or is preempted by federal law or regulation, the validity of the remainder of this section shall not be affected thereby. (2007‑352, s. 4.)

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