When Rural Development loan or grant funds and those of any other lender or grantor have all been properly expended or withdrawn, Form RD 402-6 may be used to give Rural Development's consent (and of another lender or grantor, if involved) to close the supervised bank account in the following situations:

(a) When Rural Development loan funds in the supervised bank account of a borrower have been reduced to $100 or less, and a check for the unexpended balance has been issued to the borrower to be used for authorized purposes.

(b) For all loan accounts, after completion of authorized loan funds expenditures, and after promptly refunding any remaining unexpended loan funds on the borrower's loan account with Rural Development or another lender, as appropriate.

(c) Promptly upon death of a borrower, except when the loan is being continued with a joint debtor, when a borrower is in default and it is determined that no further assistance will be given, or when a borrower is no longer classified as “active.”

(1) Deceased borrowers.

(i) Ordinarily, upon notice of the death of a borrower, the District Director or the County Supervisor will request the State Director to make demand upon the bank for the balance on deposit and apply all the balance after payment of any bank charges to the borrower's Rural Development indebtedness. When the State Director approves continuation with a survivor, the supervised bank account of deceased borrower may be continued with a remaining joint debtor who is liable for the loan and agrees to use the unexpended funds as planned, provided:

(i) Ordinarily, upon notice of the death of a borrower, the Servicing Official will request the State Director to make demand upon the bank for the balance on deposit and apply all the balance after payment of any bank charges to the borrower's Rural Development indebtedness. When the State Director approves continuation with a survivor, the supervised bank account of a deceased borrower may be continued with a remaining joint debtor who is liable for the loan and agrees to use the unexpended funds as planned, provided:

(A) The account is a joint survivorship supervised bank account, or

(B) If not a joint survivorship account, the financial institution will agree to permit the addition of the surviving joint debtor's name to the existing signature card and the appropriate Deposit Agreement and continue to disburse checks out of the existing account upon Rural Development's countersignature and the joint debtor's signature in place of the deceased borrower, or

(C) The financial institution will permit the State Director to withdraw the balance from the existing supervised bank account with a check jointly payable to the Rural Development and the surviving joint debtor and deposit the money in a new supervised bank account with a surviving joint debtor, and will disburse checks from this new account upon the signature of such survivor and the countersignature of an authorized Rural Development official.

(ii) The State Director, before applying the balance remaining in the supervised bank account to the Rural Development indebtedness, is authorized upon approval by the Office of the General Counsel (OGC) to refund any unobligated balances of funds from other lenders to the Rural Development borrower for specific operating purposes in accordance with subordination agreements or other arrangements between Rural Development, the lender and the borrower.

(iii) The State Director, upon the recommendation of an authorized representative of the estate of the deceased borrower and the approval of the OGC, is authorized to approve the use of deposited funds for the payment of commitments for goods delivered or services performed in accordance with the deceased borrower's plans approved by Rural Development.

(2) Borrowers in default. Whenever it is impossible or impractical to obtain a signed check from a borrower whose supervised bank account is to be closed, the Servicing Official will request the State Director to make demand upon the financial institution for the balance on deposit in the borrower's supervised bank account for application as appropriate:

(i) To the borrower's Rural Development indebtedness, or

(ii) As refunds of any unobligated advance provided by other lenders which were deposited in the account, or

(iii) For the return of Rural Development grant funds in accordance with 7 CFR part 1951, subpart B or

(iv) For the return of grant funds to other grantors.

(3) Inactive borrowers. An inactive borrower is one whose loan has not been paid in full, but is no longer classified as “active.”

(4) Paid up borrowers. A paid-up borrower is one who has a balance remaining in the supervised bank account and has repaid the entire indebtedness to Rural Development and has properly expended all funds advanced by other lenders. In such cases the Servicing Official will:

(i) Notify the borrower in writing that the interests in the account of Rural Development have been terminated, and

(ii) Inform the borrower of the balance remaining in the supervised bank account.

[46 FR 36106, July 14, 1981, as amended at 53 FR 231, Jan. 6, 1988; 54 FR 47196, Nov. 13, 1989; 66 FR 1569, Jan. 9, 2001; 70 FR 59228, Oct. 12, 2005; 80 FR 9870, Feb. 24, 2015]