(1) The following are exempt from regulation under this part and parts II and III of this chapter.

(a) Any person operating exclusively as a registered loan originator in accordance with the S.A.F.E. Mortgage Licensing Act of 2008.
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Terms Used In Florida Statutes 494.00115

  • Borrower: means a person obligated to repay a mortgage loan and includes, but is not limited to, a coborrower or cosignor. See Florida Statutes 494.001
  • Complaint: A written statement by the plaintiff stating the wrongs allegedly committed by the defendant.
  • Contract: A legal written agreement that becomes binding when signed.
  • Corporation: A legal entity owned by the holders of shares of stock that have been issued, and that can own, receive, and transfer property, and carry on business in its own name.
  • Federal Reserve System: The central bank of the United States. The Fed, as it is commonly called, regulates the U.S. monetary and financial system. The Federal Reserve System is composed of a central governmental agency in Washington, D.C. (the Board of Governors) and twelve regional Federal Reserve Banks in major cities throughout the United States. Source: OCC
  • Fiduciary: A trustee, executor, or administrator.
  • Indictment: The formal charge issued by a grand jury stating that there is enough evidence that the defendant committed the crime to justify having a trial; it is used primarily for felonies.
  • Loan originator: means an individual who, directly or indirectly, solicits or offers to solicit a mortgage loan, accepts or offers to accept an application for a mortgage loan, negotiates or offers to negotiate the terms or conditions of a new or existing mortgage loan on behalf of a borrower or lender, or negotiates or offers to negotiate the sale of an existing mortgage loan to a noninstitutional investor for compensation or gain. See Florida Statutes 494.001
  • Mortgage: The written agreement pledging property to a creditor as collateral for a loan.
  • Mortgage broker: means a person conducting loan originator activities through one or more licensed loan originators employed by the mortgage broker or as independent contractors to the mortgage broker. See Florida Statutes 494.001
  • Mortgage lender: means a person making a mortgage loan or servicing a mortgage loan for others, or, for compensation or gain, directly or indirectly, selling or offering to sell a mortgage loan to a noninstitutional investor. See Florida Statutes 494.001
  • Mortgage loan: A loan made by a lender to a borrower for the financing of real property. Source: OCC
  • Mortgage loan: means any:
    (a) Residential loan primarily for personal, family, or household use which is secured by a mortgage, deed of trust, or other equivalent consensual security interest on a dwelling, as defined in…. See Florida Statutes 494.001
  • National Credit Union Administration: The federal regulatory agency that charters and supervises federal credit unions. (NCUA also administers the National Credit Union Share Insurance Fund, which insures the deposits of federal credit unions.) Source: OCC
  • Noninstitutional investor: means an investor other than an institutional investor. See Florida Statutes 494.001
  • Office: means the Office of Financial Regulation. See Florida Statutes 494.001
  • person: includes individuals, children, firms, associations, joint adventures, partnerships, estates, trusts, business trusts, syndicates, fiduciaries, corporations, and all other groups or combinations. See Florida Statutes 1.01
  • Real property: Land, and all immovable fixtures erected on, growing on, or affixed to the land.
  • Registered loan originator: means a loan originator who is employed by a depository institution, by a subsidiary that is owned and controlled by a depository institution and regulated by a federal banking agency, or by an institution regulated by the Farm Credit Administration, and who is registered with and maintains a unique identifier through the registry. See Florida Statutes 494.001
  • 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.
  • Writ: A formal written command, issued from the court, requiring the performance of a specific act.
(b) A depository institution; subsidiaries that are owned and controlled by a depository institution and regulated by 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, or the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation; or institutions regulated by the Farm Credit Administration.
(c) The Federal National Mortgage Association; the Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation; any agency of the Federal Government; any state, county, or municipal government; or any quasi-governmental agency that acts in such capacity under the specific authority of the laws of any state or the United States.
(d) An attorney licensed in this state who negotiates the terms of a mortgage loan on behalf of a client as an ancillary matter to the attorney’s representation of the client.
(e) A person involved solely in the extension of credit relating to the purchase of a timeshare plan, as that term is defined in 11 U.S.C. § 101(53D).
(f) A person who performs only real estate brokerage activities and is licensed or registered in this state under part I of chapter 475, unless the person is compensated by a lender, a mortgage broker, or other loan originator or by an agent of such lender, mortgage broker, or other loan originator. The term “real estate brokerage activity” has the same meaning as in the federal Secure and Fair Enforcement for Mortgage Licensing Act of 2008.
(2)(a) A securities dealer, an investment advisor, or an associated person registered under s. 517.12 is exempt from regulation under this part and part II of this chapter if such person, in the normal course of conducting securities business with a corporate or an individual client:

1. Solicits or offers to solicit a mortgage loan from a securities client or refers a securities client to an entity exempt under paragraph (1)(b), a licensed mortgage broker, a licensed mortgage lender, or a registered loan originator; and
2. Does not accept or offer to accept an application for a mortgage loan, negotiate or offer to negotiate the terms or conditions of a new or existing mortgage loan on behalf of a borrower or lender, or negotiate or offer to negotiate the sale of an existing mortgage loan to a noninstitutional investor for compensation or gain.
(b) Any solicitation or referral made pursuant to this subsection must comply with chapter 517; the federal Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act, 12 U.S.C. ss. 2601 et seq.; and any applicable federal law or general law of this state.
(3)(a) As provided in this subsection, a bona fide nonprofit organization and an employee of a bona fide nonprofit organization who acts as a loan originator only with respect to his or her work duties for the bona fide nonprofit organization and who acts as a loan originator only with respect to residential mortgage loans with terms that are favorable to the borrower, are exempt from regulation under this chapter.

1. For an organization to be considered a bona fide nonprofit organization under this subsection, the office must determine, pursuant to criteria and processes established by rule, that the organization satisfies all of the following criteria:

a. Has the status of a tax-exempt organization under s. 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986.
b. Promotes affordable housing or provides homeownership education or similar services.
c. Conducts its activities in a manner that serves public or charitable purposes rather than commercial purposes.
d. Receives funding and revenue and charges fees in a manner that does not incentivize it or its employees to act other than in the best interests of its clients.
e. Compensates its employees in a manner that does not incentivize employees to act other than in the best interests of its clients.
f. Provides or identifies for the borrower residential mortgage loans with terms favorable to the borrower and comparable to mortgage loans and housing assistance provided under government housing assistance programs.
2. For residential mortgage loans to be deemed under this subsection to have terms that are favorable to the borrower, the office must determine that the terms are consistent with loan origination in a public or charitable context, rather than a commercial context.
(b) The office must periodically examine the books and activities of an organization that it determines is a bona fide nonprofit organization and revoke its status as a bona fide nonprofit organization if it does not continue to meet the criteria specified in paragraph (a).
(4) The following persons are exempt from regulation under part III of this chapter:

(a) A person acting in a fiduciary capacity conferred by the authority of a court.
(b) A person who, as a seller of his or her own real property, receives one or more mortgages in a purchase money transaction.
(c) A person who acts solely under contract and as an agent for federal, state, or municipal agencies for the purpose of servicing mortgage loans.
(d) A person who makes only nonresidential mortgage loans and sells loans only to institutional investors.
(e) An individual making or acquiring a mortgage loan using his or her own funds for his or her own investment, and who does not hold himself or herself out to the public as being in the mortgage lending business.
(f) An individual selling a mortgage that was made or purchased with that individual’s funds for his or her own investment, and who does not hold himself or herself out to the public as being in the mortgage lending business.
(5) It is not necessary to negate any of the exemptions provided in this section in any complaint, information, indictment, or other writ or proceeding brought under this chapter. The burden of establishing the right to an exemption is on the party claiming the benefit of the exemption.
(6) As used in this section, the term “hold himself or herself out to the public as being in the mortgage lending business” includes any of the following:

(a) Representing 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 promotional items, by any method, that such individual can or will perform the activities described in s. 494.001(24).
(b) Soliciting in a manner that would lead the intended audience to reasonably believe that such individual is in the business of performing the activities described in s. 494.001(24).
(c) Maintaining a commercial business establishment at which, or premises from which, such individual regularly performs the activities described in s. 494.001(24) or regularly meets with current or prospective mortgage borrowers.
(d) Advertising, soliciting, or conducting business through the use of a name, trademark, service mark, trade name, Internet address, or logo that indicates or reasonably implies that the business being advertised, solicited, or conducted is of the kind or character of business transacted or conducted by a licensed mortgage lender or is likely to lead any person to believe that such business is that of a licensed mortgage lender.
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