(a) Mortgagee to provide disclosure notice. A mortgagee must provide a prospective FHA mortgagor with an informed consumer choice disclosure notice if, in the mortgagees's judgment, the prospective FHA mortgagor may qualify for similar conventional mortgage products offered by the mortgagee. The mortgagee should base this judgment on the mortgagee's initial assessment of the prospective FHA mortgagor's eligibility for a conventional mortgage product. If a mortgagee is unsure about a prospective FHA mortgagor's eligibility for a conventional mortgage product, the mortgagee should provide the prospective FHA mortgagor with an informed consumer choice disclosure notice.

(b) Informed consumer choice disclosure notice—

(1) Contents of notice. The informed consumer choice disclosure notice must:

(i) Provide a one page generic analysis comparing the mortgage costs of an FHA-insured mortgage with the mortgage costs of similar conventional mortgage products offered by the mortgagee that the prospective FHA mortgagor may qualify for;

(ii) Provide information about when the requirement to pay FHA mortgage insurance premiums terminates; and

(iii) Meet the requirements of section 203(b)(2) of the National Housing Act (12 U.S.C. 1709(b)(2)).

(2) Format of disclosure notice. The informed consumer choice disclosure notice must be provided in a format prescribed by the Commissioner. HUD has prepared a model informed consumer choice disclosure notice that represents this format and that meets the requirements of section 203(b)(2) of the National Housing Act (12 U.S.C. 1709(b)(2)). The model informed consumer choice disclosure notice contains the minimum elements of an informed consumer choice disclosure notice. These elements must be included in a mortgagee's informed consumer choice disclosure notice. A mortgagee, however, may include additional elements in an informed consumer choice disclosure notice to better reflect the mortgagee's products or to provide information that the mortgagee believes is meaningful and helpful to the mortgagee's customers.

(3) Availability of model disclosure notice. HUD's model informed consumer choice disclosure notice is made available to FHA-approved mortgagees through Mortgagee Letter and is available to the public through the internet at HUD's web site at http://www.hud.gov or by contacting: Home Mortgage Insurance Division, Office of Insured Single Family Housing, U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, 451 Seventh Street, SW, Washington, DC 20410-8000; telephone (202) 708-2700 (this is not a toll-free number), or the nearest HUD Homeownership Center (Atlanta, GA (888) 696-4687; Denver, CO (800) 543-9378; Philadelphia, PA (800) 440-8647; or Santa Ana, CA (888) 827-5605). Hearing- or speech-impaired individuals may access these numbers via TTY by calling the toll-free Federal Information Relay Service at (800) 877-8339.

(c) Timing. When required under paragraph (a) of this section, a mortgagee must provide an informed consumer choice disclosure notice to a prospective FHA mortgagor not later than three business days after the mortgagee receives the prospective FHA mortgagor's application.

(d) Revision of notice. A mortgagee should revise its informed consumer choice disclosure notice periodically to reflect prevailing market conditions. To ensure that the informed consumer choice disclosure notice reflects prevailing market conditions, a mortgagee must revise its informed consumer choice disclosure notice at least once annually.

(e) Applicability. This section applies to any application for mortgage insurance authorized under section 203(b) of the National Housing Act (12 U.S.C. 1709) that the mortgagee receives on or after September 2, 1999.

(f) Definitions. As used in this section:

Application means the submission of financial information in anticipation of a credit decision.

Conventional mortgage means conventional mortgage as used in section 305(a)(2) of the Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation Act (12 U.S.C. 1454(a)(2)) or section 302(b)(2) of the Federal National Mortgage Association Charter Act (12 U.S.C. 1717(b)(2)), as applicable.

Mortgagee means mortgagee as defined in §202.2 of this chapter.

Prospective FHA mortgagor means a person who submits an application to a mortgagee to obtain mortgage insurance authorized under section 203(b) of the National Housing Act (12 U.S.C. 1709).

[64 FR 29765, June 2, 1999, as amended at 64 FR 34984, June 30, 1999]