New Mexico Statutes
Article 21A - Home Loan Protection
Section 58-21A-3 - Definitions.

As used in the Home Loan Protection Act:
A. "adjustable rate home loan" means a home loan that has an initial interest rate that adjusts to a variable interest rate at the end of a specified initial period or subsequent periods of time during the remaining term of the home loan;
B. "affiliate" means a person that controls, is controlled by or is under common control with another person;
C. "bona fide discount points" means loan discount points that are knowingly paid by the borrower for the express purpose of reducing, and which in fact do result in a bona fide reduction of, the annual percentage rate otherwise applicable to the home loan; provided, however, that discount points are not "bona fide discount points" if the annual percentage rate otherwise applicable to the home loan exceeds the conventional mortgage rate by more than:
(1) one and one-half percentage points for a home loan secured by a first lien; or
(2) three percentage points for a home loan secured by a junior lien;
D. "borrower" means a natural person obligated to repay a home loan, including a co-borrower, cosigner or guarantor;
E. "bridge loan" means a loan for the initial construction of a borrower's principal dwelling on land owned by the borrower with a maturity of less than eighteen months that only requires the payment of interest until the entire unpaid balance is due and payable;
F. "conventional mortgage rate" means the most recently published annual yield on conventional mortgages published by the board of governors of the federal reserve system as of the fifteenth day of the month immediately preceding the month in which the application for the extension of credit is received by the creditor;
G. "conventional prepayment penalty" means a prepayment penalty or fee that may be collected in a home loan and that is authorized by federal law; provided that a prepayment penalty is not a "conventional prepayment penalty" if the home loan:
(1) has an annual percentage rate that exceeds the conventional mortgage rate by more than two percent; or
(2) permits prepayment fees or penalties that exceed two percent of the amount prepaid;
H. "creditor" means a person who regularly offers or makes a home loan;
I. "high-cost home loan" means a home loan in which:
(1) the contract rate exceeds the rates threshold; or
(2) the total points and fees exceed the total points and fees threshold;
J. "home loan" means a loan, including an open-end credit plan, other than a reverse mortgage transaction or a bridge loan, where the principal amount does not exceed the conforming loan size limit for a single-family dwelling as established by the federal national mortgage association and where the loan is secured by:
(1) a mortgage or deed of trust on real estate in this state upon which there is located or there is to be located a structure:
(a) designed principally for occupancy by one to four families; and
(b) that is or will be occupied by a borrower as the borrower's principal residence; or
(2) a security interest on a manufactured home that is or will be occupied by a borrower as the borrower's principal residence;
K. "manufactured home" means a structure, transportable in one or more sections, which in the traveling mode is eight body feet or more in width or forty body feet or more in length or, when erected on site is three hundred twenty or more square feet and which is built on a permanent chassis and designed to be used as a dwelling with a permanent foundation when erected on land secured in conjunction with the real property on which the manufactured home is located and connected to the required utilities and includes the plumbing, heating, air conditioning and electrical systems contained therein. "Manufactured home" includes any structure that meets all the requirements of this subsection except the size requirements and with respect to which the manufacturer voluntarily files a certification required by the secretary of the United States department of housing and urban development and complies with the standards established under the federal National Manufactured Housing Construction and Safety Standards Act of 1974. "Manufactured home" does not include rental property or second homes or manufactured homes when not secured in conjunction with the real property on which the manufactured home is located;
L. "open-end loan" means a revolving debt that is secured by the equity in the borrower's home, including a home equity line of credit;
M. "points and fees" means:
(1) all amounts payable by a borrower at or before the closing of a home loan, exclusive of any time-price differential due at closing on the loan proceeds, including:
(a) loan discount points or other discounts;
(b) loan fees, broker fees or similar charges; and
(c) fees for preparation of loan-related documents; but
(d) does not include fees for the following purposes, if the amounts are bona fide and reasonable and paid to a person other than the creditor or an affiliate of the creditor: 1) service or carrying charges; 2) credit reports; 3) title exam, title insurance, title closing or similar purposes; 4) escrow charges for future payments of taxes and insurance; 5) fees for notarizing deeds and other documents; 6) appraisals, including fees related to any pest infestation or flood hazard inspections conducted prior to closing; 7) inspection performed prior to closing; 8) attorney fees, if the borrower has the right to select the attorney from an approved list or otherwise; 9) fire and hazard insurance and flood insurance premiums if the conditions in 12 C.F.R. s.226.4(d)(2) are met; 10) tax payment services; 11) surveys; 12) flood certification; 13) pest infestation and flood determination; and 14) federal housing administration upfront mortgage insurance, veterans administration funding fee, guaranteed rural housing loan guarantee fee or upfront premium private mortgage insurance at a percentage rate, as set by the director biannually, equal to the highest up-front government mortgage insurance percentage rate or United States department of veterans affairs funding fee percentage rate;
(2) all compensation, including yield spread premiums, paid directly or indirectly to a mortgage broker, including a broker that originates a loan in its own name in a table-funded transaction;
(3) the cost of all premiums financed by the creditor, directly or indirectly, for any credit life, credit disability, credit unemployment or credit property insurance, or any other life or health insurance, or any payments financed by the creditor, directly or indirectly, for any debt cancellation or suspension agreement or contract, except that insurance premiums calculated and paid on a monthly basis shall not be considered financed by the creditor; and
(4) for open-end loans, the points and fees included in Paragraphs (1) through (3) of this subsection that are known at or before closing plus the minimum additional fees the borrower would be required to pay to draw down an amount equal to the total credit line;
N. "rate threshold" means:
(1) for a first lien mortgage home loan, an interest rate equal to seven percentage points over the yield on treasury securities having comparable periods of maturity to the loan maturity as of the fifteenth day of the month immediately preceding the month in which the loan is made; and
(2) for a subordinate mortgage lien, an interest rate equal to nine percentage points over the yield on treasury securities having comparable periods of maturity to the loan maturity as of the fifteenth day of the month immediately preceding the month in which the loan is made;
O. "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 home 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 home loan;
P. "total points and fees" means the result obtained by subtracting the sum of the conventional prepayment penalties and the bona fide discount points paid from the sum of the points and fees, except that if the sum of the conventional prepayment penalties and the bona fide discount points paid exceeds two points, then only the amount that represents two points shall be subtracted; and
Q. "total points and fees threshold" means:
(1) for a home loan in which the total principal loan amount is twenty thousand dollars ($20,000) or more, an amount equal to five percent of the total principal loan amount; and
(2) for a home loan in which the total principal loan amount is less than twenty thousand dollars ($20,000), an amount equal to the lesser of one thousand dollars ($1,000) or eight percent of the total principal loan amount.
History: Laws 2003, ch. 436, § 3; 2009, ch. 122, § 55.
Cross references. — For the Federal National Manufactured Housing Construction and Safety Standards Act of 1974, see 42 USC 5401.
The 2009 amendment, effective July 31, 2009, added Subsection A; in Subsection H, after "regularly", added "offers or" and after "loan", deleted "and includes a loan broker"; added Subsection L; in Subparagraph (d) of Paragraph (1) of Subsection M, added Item 14); in Paragraph (2) of Subsection M, after "compensation", added "including yield spread premiums"; deleted former Paragraphs (3) and (4) of Subsection M, which included maximum prepayment fees or penalties; in Paragraph (1) of Subsection N, after "over the", deleted "weekly average"; and after "yield on", deleted "comparable United States"; and in Paragraphs (1) and (2) of Subsection N, after "securities" added "having comparable periods of maturity to the loan maturity as of"; and added Subsection O.
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.