During a local Home Show here in our city we have arranged for an advertisement to pop up on people's phones while they are at the Home Show. The ad simply states our logo, Home Equity Line of Credit, No Closing Cost, No Annual Fee and our website address and toll free number. It does also state Member FDIC and EH Lender. Is this ad good to go? Anything we should change? Advertisements are not my strong suit....but I'm learning!

Thanks for any input!

You might want to review 1026.16(d). You are referencing trigger terms in the negative, i.e. "no closing costs and no annual fee", which on a HELOC requires additional disclosures.

Interested in how this works, if I walk in the show your advertisement will pop up on my phone? I've never had that happen before and cannot imagine how it is facilitated.

Thank you Randy! I will read thru that section.

GilaMonster - your guess is as good as mine! Something about Geo-fencing the ad? I don't understand it or how it works, but yes, apparently if you are at the Home Show then you will receive the pop-up.....

It does sound awfully intrusive to me. I would be the first person to totally avoid your booth if you have one and your bank anytime in the future. This last thing I tolerate is unsolicited ads popping up on my cell phone. While millennials may feel differently, how many of them own homes with enough equity to qualify for a HELOC?.

I agree. I'd also be curious of how effective it is; I've never experienced this sort of advertising and it makes me wonder if that is because I have designed my phone settings to be pretty restrictive with locations? If anything, I'd focus some time on the due diligence of the company offering it.

Thank you both. I have to agree with both of you. I don't like pop-ups of any kind. Today was the first I had heard about this whole advertisement, but I will be doing a little more research on it and taking any concerns to my supervisor.

I've never heard of the add being displayed on your mobile phone, but I have heard of Geo-Fencing where merchants (or banks) can use the location on your smart phone to display custom ads to you through Social Media? Maybe that is what they are referencing?

The more I think about it I bet it is something like the ads I receive from department stores or restaurants when I get close to their location. They don't pop up on social media, but I do get a notification on my cell phone for the place of business. For ex: when I get close to Kohl's I will receive a notification and receive an advertisement for the department store.... I bet this is what will happen?

As a consumer I would absolutely HATE that.

I can't disagree with you Skittles, however compliance was not asked how we felt about it prior to deciding to do it..... I'm sure many of you understand this problem.

Sorry Bankwoman1 - I wasn't fussing at you. Believe me there are things done here that I don't agree with. I just have to determine if the ad or process meets the compliance requirements - the same as you.

Skittles - I knew you weren't fussing at me! I totally agree with your statement! No need to apologize.

Sorry to bring up an old subject but I have another question regarding my original post on this thread. I had originally asked about an advertisement being used at our local Home Show for our Home Equity loan stating no closing cost and no annual fees. Randy had stated that I should look at 1026.16(d) regarding additional disclosures for triggering terms. Well, I did that and came to conclusion that because we do not charge the customer any fees at all, including recording fees, that the only extra disclosure we should add is a statement that "property insurance is required".

Fast forward a few weeks. I'm driving home and pass one of our branches. On the electronic sign out in front of the branch is the same advertisement used at the Home Show - without the property insurance statement. When I questioned why it wasn't in the ad, I was told that our president removed it because it wasn't necessary. Am I making a big deal out of this? Does it even really need to be in the ad? Why do I get aggravated when I do my research and believe I have a sufficient answer only to have things changed without my knowledge or input? Is this ad ok?

If you say "No Closing Costs", like I originally said, that is a trigger term as it is a statement in the negative and for HELOCs, that triggers:

(i) Any loan fee that is a percentage of the credit limit under the plan and an estimate of any other fees imposed for opening the plan, stated as a single dollar amount or a reasonable range.

(ii) Any periodic rate used to compute the finance charge, expressed as an annual percentage rate as determined under §1026.14(b).

(iii) The maximum annual percentage rate that may be imposed in a variable-rate plan.

Ok......so in actuality I missed the mark previously because I didn't mention any of the above items. To my defense - I'm deposit compliance - but have been told multiple times that advertising falls under my job duties. We actually have a loan compliance officer but I somehow caught this ad before she did. I don't know all of the rules for loan advertisements and actually feel lost in all of this research. Does any statement regarding property insurance need to be in the ad at all? I will pass this along to my loan officer and they can move forward however they like......

Some days I just want to give up on this job....

I appreciate all of your help Randy!!
Thanks!

Bankwoman1 - Breathe . . . lol. An overall concept for advertising Regulations is you have "trigger" terms and "triggered" terms. "Trigger terms are certain statements, numbers, etc. that appear in an ad, which when used "trigger" the disclosure of other statements, numbers, etc. These other disclosures are the "triggered" terms. Open-End credit has a more extensive set of trigger and triggered terms than closed-end credit. HELOCs have even more requirements than other Open-End credit.

As Randy noted above, with Open-End credit if a trigger term is stated in a negative, it also creates the need to list the triggered terms. So, by saying, "No annual fee," this is a negative statement about a "statement of any imposed charge." One of the triggered terms necessary to disclose for HELOCs is "all loan fees and costs to required to open the plan stated as a single dollar amount or a reasonable range." If property insurance is required to open the plan, then the Regulation gives an ability to just say "property insurance will be required" to meet the disclosure for that item. The following document from the Indiana DFI is one of the best summaries I have come across on advertising compliance - https://www.in.gov/dfi/2595.htm

Interested in how businesses aren't violating the Telephone Consumer Protection Act with these Geo-location text messages.

JPC - thanks so much for your help! I have read thru the document you provided from DFI and you are right! It is very helpful. I have printed it out and will keep it handy when I need to grab it. I have forwarded the information I have learned to my boss and the loan compliance officer and left it in their hands.

I do enjoy my job - I love solving problems and making sure things are being done correctly. I enjoy figuring things out. But sometimes this job can be aggravating too! lol

Thanks again to everyone!