For purposes of this part:

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Terms Used In 12 CFR 22.2

  • Jurisdiction: (1) The legal authority of a court to hear and decide a case. Concurrent jurisdiction exists when two courts have simultaneous responsibility for the same case. (2) The geographic area over which the court has authority to decide cases.
  • Mortgage: The written agreement pledging property to a creditor as collateral for a loan.
  • National Bank: A bank that is subject to the supervision of the Comptroller of the Currency. The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency is a bureau of the U.S. Treasury Department. A national bank can be recognized because it must have "national" or "national association" in its name. Source: OCC
  • Personal property: All property that is not real property.
  • Settlement: Parties to a lawsuit resolve their difference without having a trial. Settlements often involve the payment of compensation by one party in satisfaction of the other party's claims.

(a) Act means the National Flood Insurance Act of 1968, as amended (42 U.S.C. §§ 40014129).

(b) Administrator of FEMA means the Administrator of the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

(c) Building means a walled and roofed structure, other than a gas or liquid storage tank, that is principally above ground and affixed to a permanent site, and a walled and roofed structure while in the course of construction, alteration, or repair.

(d) Community means a State or a political subdivision of a State that has zoning and building code jurisdiction over a particular area having special flood hazards.

(e) Designated loan means a loan secured by a building or mobile home that is located or to be located in a special flood hazard area in which flood insurance is available under the Act.

(f) Federal savings association means, for purposes of this part, a Federal savings association as that term is defined in 12 U.S.C. § 1813(b)(2) and any service corporations thereof.

(g) Mobile home means a structure, transportable in one or more sections, that is built on a permanent chassis and designed for use with or without a permanent foundation when attached to the required utilities. The term mobile home does not include a recreational vehicle. For purposes of this part, the term mobile home means a mobile home on a permanent foundation. The term mobile home includes a manufactured home as that term is used in the NFIP.

(h) Mutual aid society means an organization—

(1) Whose members share a common religious, charitable, educational, or fraternal bond;

(2) That covers losses caused by damage to members’ property pursuant to an agreement, including damage caused by flooding, in accordance with this common bond; and

(3) That has a demonstrated history of fulfilling the terms of agreements to cover losses to members’ property caused by flooding.

(i) National bank means a national bank or a Federal branch or agency of a foreign bank.

(j) NFIP means the National Flood Insurance Program authorized under the Act.

(k) Private flood insurance means an insurance policy that:

(1) Is issued by an insurance company that is:

(i) Licensed, admitted, or otherwise approved to engage in the business of insurance by the insurance regulator of the State or jurisdiction in which the property to be insured is located; or

(ii) Recognized, or not disapproved, as a surplus lines insurer by the insurance regulator of the State or jurisdiction in which the property to be insured is located in the case of a policy of difference in conditions, multiple peril, all risk, or other blanket coverage insuring nonresidential commercial property;

(2) Provides flood insurance coverage that is at least as broad as the coverage provided under an SFIP for the same type of property, including when considering deductibles, exclusions, and conditions offered by the insurer. To be at least as broad as the coverage provided under an SFIP, the policy must, at a minimum:

(i) Define the term “flood” to include the events defined as a “flood” in an SFIP;

(ii) Contain the coverage specified in an SFIP, including that relating to building property coverage; personal property coverage, if purchased by the insured mortgagor(s); other coverages; and increased cost of compliance coverage;

(iii) Contain deductibles no higher than the specified maximum, and include similar non-applicability provisions, as under an SFIP, for any total policy coverage amount up to the maximum available under the NFIP at the time the policy is provided to the lender;

(iv) Provide coverage for direct physical loss caused by a flood and may only exclude other causes of loss that are excluded in an SFIP. Any exclusions other than those in an SFIP may pertain only to coverage that is in addition to the amount and type of coverage that could be provided by an SFIP or have the effect of providing broader coverage to the policyholder; and

(v) Not contain conditions that narrow the coverage provided in an SFIP;

(3) Includes all of the following:

(i) A requirement for the insurer to give written notice 45 days before cancellation or non-renewal of flood insurance coverage to:

(A) The insured; and

(B) The national bank or Federal savings association that made the designated loan secured by the property covered by the flood insurance, or the servicer acting on its behalf;

(ii) Information about the availability of flood insurance coverage under the NFIP;

(iii) A mortgage interest clause similar to the clause contained in an SFIP; and

(iv) A provision requiring an insured to file suit not later than one year after the date of a written denial of all or part of a claim under the policy; and

(4) Contains cancellation provisions that are as restrictive as the provisions contained in an SFIP.

(l) Residential improved real estate means real estate upon which a home or other residential building is located or to be located.

(m) Servicer means the person responsible for:

(1) Receiving any scheduled, periodic payments from a borrower under the terms of a loan, including amounts for taxes, insurance premiums, and other charges with respect to the property securing the loan; and

(2) Making payments of principal and interest and any other payments from the amounts received from the borrower as may be required under the terms of the loan.

(n) SFIP means, for purposes of §§ 22.2(k), a standard flood insurance policy issued under the NFIP in effect as of the date private flood insurance is provided to a national bank or Federal savings association.

(o) Special flood hazard area means the land in the flood plain within a community having at least a one percent chance of flooding in any given year, as designated by the Administrator of FEMA.

(p) Table funding means a settlement at which a loan is funded by a contemporaneous advance of loan funds and an assignment of the loan to the person advancing the funds.

[80 FR 43240, July 21, 2015, as amended at 84 FR 4969, Feb. 20, 2019]