07/10/2006
I am working with a large developer on a project. The developer wants to put my institution in his marketing brochure, however, he suggested that we offer an incentive to the potential borrowers about paying for an upgrade to the purchase of their home. Should the borrower go with us, the developer would put in an upgrade that I previously agreed upon and bill us for it. Is this a RESPA violation? Could it be construed as a kickback?
05/01/2006
I have read the FACT and FCRA guidelines, but find them confusing when it comes to sharing information with affiliates. I find reference to a proposal that would cause the need for a privacy notice with an opt out provision, but cannot find that it actually went into effect. Here is my scenario. Bank A and Mortgage Co. B are owned by the same holding company. Bank A receives a loan application. In order to provide the customer/consumer with the best loan product, Bank A would like to share the application and credit bureau information with Mortgage Co. B. Does Bank A have to provide a privacy notice with an opt out provision or would the sharing of information be considered exempt under the marketing exemption?
03/27/2006
Reg O. At some point I had it noted that we should exempt insiders from any marketing of special offers. We have been offering a special on HELOCs, and they have no closing costs. Can an insider obtain the special and get their HELOC with no closing costs, or should we charge the insider the closing costs?
01/23/2006
I am basically a lending side compliance person but I am having to assume additional responsibilities including approving ads...I have a bank that wants to advertise a 5% CD on "flashing signs" and put them in front of the branches. In reading about deposit advertising, am I correct to tell my marketing folks that the ad would:Need the FDIC logo, if they want to use the 5% then they would have to state an APY and also spell out APY at least once on the sign?
01/01/2006
There is no absolute for designing a risk management program.
01/01/2006
The financial regulatory agencies have issued joint guidance on nontraditional mortgage products.
12/05/2005
We use an insurance agency to market a long term care insurance product to our bank customers written through Blue Cross Blue Shield. In our compliance exam we were cited for not including the required insurance disclosures on the marketing brochure that we include in our checking statements 2 or 3 times per year. The insurance agency provides the disclosure and obtains acknowledgement of receipt from our customers when the customer contacts the agency regarding the long term care policy. The agency maintains the records of the acknowledgements and we advised the examiners that these records were available for their review. Were we cited because we did not include the disclosures on our marketing brochure at least in a shortened form? What's your take on this? We did not get a good response from the examiner and he would not remove the citation even after we provided the info from the insurance agency.
12/01/2005
The agencies have published new examination procedures for FCRA and the FACT Act.
10/17/2005
What is the definition of "agricultural land" which would apply to the exemptions in Reg. Z, or where can I find the definition?
10/17/2005
If our bank prints an informational brochure on HSAs or IRAs that does not include bank product specific information but does have our bank name on the back of the brochure, are we required to put the FDIC logo on the brochure?