(a) No person shall act as a mortgage lender, mortgage loan broker or mortgage loan servicer in this state without first obtaining a license under this chapter. Except in the case of sale of real property as provided in subsection (b), no contractor or home improvement contractor or other person who supplies materials and renders services in the improvement of real property shall engage in the business of making residential mortgage loans or of being a mortgage loan servicer or mortgage loan broker in this state.
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Terms Used In Tennessee Code 45-13-201

  • Commissioner: means the commissioner of financial institutions or the commissioner's designated representative. See Tennessee Code 45-13-105
  • Contract: A legal written agreement that becomes binding when signed.
  • Control: means possession, direct or indirect, of the power to direct or cause the direction of management and policies of a person, whether through the ownership of voting securities by contract or otherwise. See Tennessee Code 45-13-105
  • Department: means the department of financial institutions. See Tennessee Code 45-1-103
  • Depository institution: means any company included for any purpose within any of the definitions of insured depository institution, as set forth in 12 U. See Tennessee Code 45-1-103
  • Immediate family member: means a spouse, child, sibling, parent, grandparent or grandchild. See Tennessee Code 45-13-105
  • Individual: means a natural person. See Tennessee Code 45-13-105
  • 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.
  • License: means a license issued to a mortgage lender, mortgage loan broker, mortgage loan servicer or mortgage loan originator under this chapter, as applicable. See Tennessee Code 45-13-105
  • Mortgage: The written agreement pledging property to a creditor as collateral for a loan.
  • Mortgage lender: means any person who makes a residential mortgage loan or holds the person out as able to make a residential mortgage loan. See Tennessee Code 45-13-105
  • Mortgage loan: A loan made by a lender to a borrower for the financing of real property. Source: OCC
  • 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, places, negotiates or originates a residential mortgage loan for another person or offers to solicit, place, negotiate or originate a residential mortgage loan for another person or who closes a residential mortgage loan that may be in the mortgage loan broker's own name with funds provided by another person and which loan is thereafter assigned to the person providing the funding of the loan, regardless of whether the acts are done directly or indirectly, through contact by telephone, by electronic means, by mail or in person with the borrower or borrowers or potential borrower or borrowers. See Tennessee Code 45-13-105
  • Mortgage loan servicer: means any person who, in the regular course of business, assumes responsibility for servicing and accepting payments for a residential mortgage loan. See Tennessee Code 45-13-105
  • Person: means an individual, sole proprietorship, corporation, limited liability company, partnership, trust, association or any other legal entity, however organized. See Tennessee Code 45-13-105
  • Property: includes both personal and real property. See Tennessee Code 1-3-105
  • real estate brokerage activities: 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. See Tennessee Code 45-13-105
  • Real property: Land, and all immovable fixtures erected on, growing on, or affixed to the land.
  • real property: include lands, tenements and hereditaments, and all rights thereto and interests therein, equitable as well as legal. See Tennessee Code 1-3-105
  • Residential mortgage loan: means any loan, including an extension of credit, 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 §. See Tennessee Code 45-13-105
  • State: when applied to the different parts of the United States, includes the District of Columbia and the several territories of the United States. See Tennessee Code 1-3-105
  • United States: includes the District of Columbia and the several territories of the United States. See Tennessee Code 1-3-105
(b)

(1) The requirement of a license under subsection (a) and this chapter do not apply to any of the following, except as provided in subdivision (b)(2):

(A) Any depository institution;
(B) Any subsidiary of a depository institution that is owned and controlled by the depository institution and regulated by a federal banking agency;
(C) Any institution regulated by the farm credit administration;
(D) Any individual who makes a residential mortgage loan to, or offers or negotiates terms of a residential mortgage loan with or on behalf of, an immediate family member of the individual;
(E) An individual who makes a residential mortgage loan, or simply offers or negotiates terms of a residential mortgage loan, when the loan is secured by a dwelling that served as the individual’s residence;
(F) A licensed attorney performing activities that do not require licensure under the guidelines set forth in 12 C.F.R. part 1008, appendix D;
(G)

(i) Any person, or person under the control of another person who, as seller, receives or makes in any consecutive twelve-month period five (5) or fewer residential mortgage loans and who does not hold themselves out to the public as being in the residential mortgage lending business;
(ii) No person shall be exempt from subsection (a) and this chapter pursuant to this subdivision (b)(1)(G) if such person makes more than five (5) residential mortgage loans in a consecutive twelve-month period whether such person makes such loans themselves or through another person over whom such person has control;
(H) Any person, or person under the control of a person, who makes a mortgage loan to an employee of such person as an employment benefit, employment incentive, or relocation package;
(I) Any person, or person under the control of a person, doing any act related to mortgage loans pursuant to an order of a court of competent jurisdiction;
(J) A person that performs only real estate brokerage activities, as defined in § 45-13-105, and is licensed pursuant to the Tennessee Real Estate Broker License Act of 1973, compiled in title 62, chapter 13. Such person is permitted to communicate and include in any contract any mortgage terms agreed upon by the parties for the real property being financed without being required to be licensed under this chapter, so long as the communication does not include the offering or negotiating of any terms of a residential mortgage loan; and
(K) A person that performs land title insurance services in connection with a closing of a sale transaction and is licensed pursuant to title 56, chapter 6 and the rules of the department of commerce and insurance compiled at chapter 0780-1-56. Such person is permitted to communicate and include in any closing documents any mortgage terms agreed upon by the parties for the real property being financed without being required to be licensed under this chapter, so long as the communication does not include the offering or negotiating of any terms of a residential mortgage loan.
(2) This subsection (b) does not exempt a person from licensure as a mortgage loan originator if the United States department of housing and urban development or its duly designated successor has expressly determined that the person is subject to licensure as a mortgage loan originator as the term is defined in the Secure and Fair Enforcement for Mortgage Licensing Act of 2008 (12 U.S.C. § 5101 et seq.).
(c) The requirement of a license to act as a mortgage lender under subsection (a) and the requirements of this chapter pertaining to mortgage lenders, unless otherwise stated, do not apply to any registrant making residential mortgage loans that is authorized to do so under the Industrial Loan and Thrift Companies Act, compiled in chapter 5 of this title; provided, however, that all mortgage loan originators of the registrant must be licensed under part 3 of this chapter.
(d) The commissioner shall be authorized to exempt in whole or in part from the requirements of this chapter additional entities or classes of entities, not including individuals, that the commissioner finds inappropriate to include to effectuate the purposes of this chapter, so long as the exemption is compliant with and does not impede the purposes of the Secure and Fair Enforcement for Mortgage Licensing Act of 2008 (12 U.S.C. § 5101 et seq.).
(e) Upon approval or consent by the United States department of housing and urban development, the commissioner shall be authorized to exempt in whole or in part from this chapter additional individuals or classes of individuals, such as those working for bona fide nonprofit corporations and government agencies, that the commissioner finds inappropriate to include to effectuate the purposes of this chapter.
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