New Mexico Statutes
Article 21 - Mortgage Loan Companies
Section 58-21-2 - Definitions.

As used in the Mortgage Loan Company Act:
A. "affiliate" means a person who, directly or indirectly, through one or more intermediaries, controls or is controlled by or is under common control with another person;
B. "branch office" means any location, including a divisional office, separate from the principal place of business of the mortgage loan company that is identified by any means to the public or customers as a location at which the licensee holds itself out as a mortgage loan company;
C. "closing agent" means a person, including a title insurance agent or title insurance company, that acts in the normal course of business in a fiduciary capacity as a disinterested third party for the seller and buyer of real property for the purpose of consummating a sale of real property, including the performance of the following functions:
(1) preparation of deeds, mortgages, promissory notes, deeds of trust, real estate contracts, assignments or other documents incidental to the sale as permitted by law;
(2) calculations and disbursements of prorated taxes, insurance premiums, utility bills and other charges incidental to the sale;
(3) preparation of sellers' and buyers' closing statements;
(4) supervision of signing of documents;
(5) collection and disbursement of down payments, commissions of real estate licensees, fees and other charges pursuant to a sales agreement; and
(6) recordation of documents;
D. "division" means the financial institutions division of the regulation and licensing department;
E. "director" means the director of the financial institutions division of the regulation and licensing department;
F. "dwelling" means a residential structure that contains one to four units whether or not that structure is attached to real property. "Dwelling" includes an individual condominium unit, an individual cooperative unit, a mobile home and a trailer if used as a residence;
G. "individual" means a natural person;
H. "lender" means a person or government agency making a mortgage loan;
I. "mortgage loan company" means any person who, for compensation or gain, or in the expectation of compensation or gain, either directly or indirectly:
(1) accepts an application for a mortgage loan; negotiates terms for a mortgage loan; or solicits, processes, originates, brokers or makes mortgage loans for others;
(2) offers to:
(a) accept an application for a mortgage loan;
(b) negotiate terms for a mortgage loan; or
(c) solicit, process, originate, broker or make mortgage loans for others; or
(3) closes mortgage loans that may be in the mortgage loan company's own name with funds provided by others and that are assigned to the mortgage lenders providing the funding of such loans;
J. "mortgage loan" means any loan 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 or residential real estate upon which is constructed or intended to be constructed a dwelling as so defined;
K. "net loan funds" means the mortgage loan amounts specified in the note and mortgage less lender-retained fees, as specified in the lender's instruction to the closing agent;
L. "person" means a natural person, corporation, company, limited liability company, partnership or association;
M. "qualified manager" means an individual, designated by a mortgage loan company, responsible for the activities of the licensed mortgage loan company's office, divisional office or branch office in conducting the business of that mortgage loan company's office, divisional office or branch office and who meets requirements as specified by the director; and
N. "servicer" means a person who collects or receives payments, including principal, interest and trust items such as hazard insurance, property taxes and other amounts due, on behalf of a note holder or investor in accordance with the terms of a residential mortgage loan, and includes working with a borrower on behalf of a note holder or investor, when the borrower is in financial hardship or default, to modify either temporarily or permanently the terms of an existing mortgage loan.
History: Laws 1983, ch. 86, § 2; 1985, ch. 73, § 1; 2001, ch. 251, § 1; 2001, ch. 264, § 1; 2005, ch. 191, § 1; 2007, ch. 224, § 1; 2009, ch. 122, § 26.
Cross references. — For the financial institutions division of the regulation and licensing department, see 9-16-4 NMSA 1978.
The 2009 amendment, effective July 31, 2009, changed the name of the act from the "Mortgage Loan Company and Loan Broker Act" to the "Mortgage Loan Company Act"; added Subsection B; deleted former Subsection E, which defined "dwelling"; added Subsections F, G, I, J, L and M; deleted former Subsection G, which defined "loan broker"; and deleted former Subsection I, which defined "mortgage loan company".
Severability. — Laws 2009, ch. 122, § 60 provided that if any part or application of this act is held invalid, the remainder or its application to other situations or persons shall not be affected.
The 2007 amendment, effective July 1, 2007, added Subsection J.
The 2005 amendment, effective January 1, 2006, added the definition of "closing agent" in Subsection B to mean a person that acts in a fiduciary capacity for a seller and buyer of real property for the purpose of consummating a sale of real property and added the definition of "lender" in Subsection F to mean a person or government agency that makes mortgage loans.
The 2001 amendment, effective July 1, 2001, added Subsection D and redesignating the remaining Subsections accordingly; rewrote Subsection F, which formerly read "'mortgage loan' means any loan secured by a mortgage, deed of trust or other lien on real or personal property"; in Subsection G, substituted "a mortgage loan" for "a loan which will be secured by a lien or mortgage on real or personal property" in Paragraph (1); substituted "who makes mortgage loans" for "who has money to lend, which loan is or will be secured by a lien or mortgage on real or personal property" in Paragraph (2); substituted "make mortgage loans" for "make loans secured by liens or mortgages on real or personal property"; and deleted former Subsection G, which defined "person".
Loan servicer with authority may enforce a promissory note. — In a foreclosure action, where evidence established that Fannie Mae was the owner of the mortgage loan and plaintiff bank was the loan servicer, and where plaintiff provided evidence that on the day it filed its complaint for foreclosure, it was in possession of the original promissory note, which had been indorsed in blank a few days after it was executed by defendant homeowner, plaintiff, as the holder of the promissory note, was among the entities authorized by statute to enforce the note, notwithstanding the fact that it did not own the note. Los Alamos Nat'l Bank v. Velasquez, 2019-NMCA-040, cert. denied.