I'm confused about when we need to provide the "What you should know about home equity lines of credit" brochure. The title of 1024.6: "Special information booklet at time of loan application" seems to say we hand out the brochure either along with a blank application to the customer or hand it out at the time the completed application comes back to us. Later in (a)(1) we need to provide the special information booklet not later than 3 business days after the application is received. (Open-end credit, use the HELOC brochure to comply with this section.)

So, do we provide the HELOC brochure with the application or can we mail it within 3 business days after we receive the completed application?

If you provide a specific HELOC application or a customer requests an application specifically to apply for a HELOC, the early HELOC disclosure and the brochure must be provided at the time you give them the application. If you receive a general purpose application that requests a HELOC, then you have three business days to deliver the two disclosures.

Randy: Jumping on this thread, I could have sworn I read somewhere a few years ago that we could not copy & print the brochure to a smaller size than what it is presented from the CFBP. Today I was reviewing some old notes, and that doesn't make sense to me now. I'm sure the 3rd party vendors aren't printing letter sized brochures. I can't find any guidance on it.

There are no size requirements as far as I am aware as long as it is readable:

Official Interpretation

40(e) Brochure

1. Substitutes. A brochure is a suitable substitute for the home equity brochure, “What You Should Know About Home Equity Lines of Credit,” (available on the Bureau's Web site) if it is, at a minimum, comparable to that brochure in substance and comprehensiveness. Creditors are permitted to provide more detailed information than is contained in that brochure.

We are in the process of going to centralized underwriting and disclosures for our consumer lending team. During the process, they are trying to not have the lenders give any disclosures out. Several lenders that have came here from other institutions indicated that they never had to hand out disclosures at their prior bank, including the “What You Should Know About Home Equity Lines of Credit” booklet. My first reaction is that their prior banks were out of compliance. Am I missing something?

1026.40 (b) Time of disclosures. The disclosures and brochure required by paragraphs (d) and (e) of this section shall be provided at the time an application is provided to the consumer. The disclosures and the brochure may be delivered or placed in the mail not later than three business days following receipt of a consumer's application in the case of applications contained in magazines or other publications, or when the application is received by telephone or through an intermediary agent or broker.

Official Interpretation

40(b) Time of Disclosures

1. Mail and telephone applications. If the creditor sends applications through the mail, the disclosures and a brochure must accompany the application. If an application is taken over the telephone, the disclosures and brochure may be delivered or mailed within three business days of taking the application. If an application is mailed to the consumer following a telephone request, however, the creditor also must send the disclosures and a brochure along with the application.

2. General purpose applications. The disclosures and a brochure need not be provided when a general purpose application is given to a consumer unless (1) the application or materials accompanying it indicate that it can be used to apply for a home equity plan or (2) the application is provided in response to a consumer's specific inquiry about a home equity plan. On the other hand, if a general purpose application is provided in response to a consumer's specific inquiry only about credit other than a home equity plan, the disclosures and brochure need not be provided even if the application indicates it can be used for a home equity plan, unless it is accompanied by promotional information about home equity plans.

3. Publicly-available applications. Some creditors make applications for home equity plans, such as take-ones, available without the need for a consumer to request them. These applications must be accompanied by the disclosures and a brochure, such as by attaching the disclosures and brochure to the application form.

4. Response cards. A creditor may solicit consumers for its home equity plan by mailing a response card which the consumer returns to the creditor to indicate interest in the plan. If the only action taken by the creditor upon receipt of the response card is to send the consumer an application form or to telephone the consumer to discuss the plan, the creditor need not send the disclosures and brochure with the response card.

5. Denial or withdrawal of application. In situations where §1026.40(b) permits the creditor a three-day delay in providing disclosures and the brochure, if the creditor determines within that period that an application will not be approved, the creditor need not provide the consumer with the disclosures or brochure. Similarly, if the consumer withdraws the application within this three-day period, the creditor need not provide the disclosures or brochure.

6. Intermediary agent or broker. In determining whether or not an application involves an intermediary agent or broker as discussed in §1026.40(b), creditors should consult the provisions in comment 19(b)–3

Missing something? - Nope.