In this part:

(a) Act means the Home Mortgage Disclosure Act (HMDA) (12 U.S.C. 2801 et seq.), as amended.

(b) Application—

(1) In general. Application means an oral or written request for a covered loan that is made in accordance with procedures used by a financial institution for the type of credit requested.

(2) Preapproval programs. A request for preapproval for a home purchase loan, other than a home purchase loan that will be an open-end line of credit, a reverse mortgage, or secured by a multifamily dwelling, is an application under this section if the request is reviewed under a program in which the financial institution, after a comprehensive analysis of the creditworthiness of the applicant, issues a written commitment to the applicant valid for a designated period of time to extend a home purchase loan up to a specified amount. The written commitment may not be subject to conditions other than:

(i) Conditions that require the identification of a suitable property;

(ii) Conditions that require that no material change has occurred in the applicant's financial condition or creditworthiness prior to closing; and

(iii) Limited conditions that are not related to the financial condition or creditworthiness of the applicant that the financial institution ordinarily attaches to a traditional home mortgage application.

(c) Branch office means:

(1) Any office of a bank, savings association, or credit union that is considered a branch by the Federal or State supervisory agency applicable to that institution, excluding automated teller machines and other free-standing electronic terminals; and

(2) Any office of a for-profit mortgage-lending institution (other than a bank, savings association, or credit union) that takes applications from the public for covered loans. A for-profit mortgage-lending institution (other than a bank, savings association, or credit union) is also deemed to have a branch office in an MSA or in an MD, if, in the preceding calendar year, it received applications for, originated, or purchased five or more covered loans related to property located in that MSA or MD, respectively.

(d) Closed-end mortgage loan means an extension of credit that is secured by a lien on a dwelling and that is not an open-end line of credit under paragraph (o) of this section.

(e) Covered loan means a closed-end mortgage loan or an open-end line of credit that is not an excluded transaction under §1003.3(c).

(f) Dwelling means a residential structure, whether or not attached to real property. The term includes but is not limited to a detached home, an individual condominium or cooperative unit, a manufactured home or other factory-built home, or a multifamily residential structure or community.

(g) Financial institution means a depository financial institution or a nondepository financial institution, where:

(1) Depository financial institution means a bank, savings association, or credit union that:

(i) On the preceding December 31 had assets in excess of the asset threshold established and published annually by the Bureau for coverage by the Act, based on the year-to-year change in the average of the Consumer Price Index for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers, not seasonally adjusted, for each twelve month period ending in November, with rounding to the nearest million;

(ii) On the preceding December 31, had a home or branch office in an MSA;

(iii) In the preceding calendar year, originated at least one home purchase loan or refinancing of a home purchase loan, secured by a first lien on a one- to four-unit dwelling;

(iv) Meets one or more of the following two criteria:

(A) The institution is federally insured or regulated; or

(B) Any loan referred to in paragraph (g)(1)(iii) of this section was insured, guaranteed, or supplemented by a Federal agency, or was intended by the institution for sale to the Federal National Mortgage Association or the Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation; and

(v) Meets at least one of the following criteria:

(A) In each of the two preceding calendar years, originated at least 100 closed-end mortgage loans that are not excluded from this part pursuant to §1003.3(c)(1) through (10) or (c)(13); or

(B) In each of the two preceding calendar years, originated at least 500 open-end lines of credit that are not excluded from this part pursuant to §1003.3(c)(1) through (10); and

(2) Nondepository financial institution means a for-profit mortgage-lending institution (other than a bank, savings association, or credit union) that:

(i) On the preceding December 31, had a home or branch office in an MSA; and

(ii) Meets at least one of the following criteria:

(A) In each of the two preceding calendar years, originated at least 100 closed-end mortgage loans that are not excluded from this part pursuant to §1003.3(c)(1) through (10) or (c)(13); or

(B) In each of the two preceding calendar years, originated at least 500 open-end lines of credit that are not excluded from this part pursuant to §1003.3(c)(1) through (10).

(h) [Reserved]

(i) Home improvement loan means a closed-end mortgage loan or an open-end line of credit that is for the purpose, in whole or in part, of repairing, rehabilitating, remodeling, or improving a dwelling or the real property on which the dwelling is located.

(j) Home purchase loan means a closed-end mortgage loan or an open-end line of credit that is for the purpose, in whole or in part, of purchasing a dwelling.

(k) Loan/Application Register means both the record of information required to be collected pursuant to §1003.4 and the record submitted annually or quarterly, as applicable, pursuant to §1003.5(a).

(l) Manufactured home means any residential structure as defined under regulations of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development establishing manufactured home construction and safety standards (24 CFR 3280.2). For purposes of §1003.4(a)(5), the term also includes a multifamily dwelling that is a manufactured home community.

(m) Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA) and Metropolitan Division (MD).

(1) Metropolitan Statistical Area or MSA means a Metropolitan Statistical Area as defined by the U.S. Office of Management and Budget.

(2) Metropolitan Division (MD) means a Metropolitan Division of an MSA, as defined by the U.S. Office of Management and Budget.

(n) Multifamily dwelling means a dwelling, regardless of construction method, that contains five or more individual dwelling units.

(o) Open-end line of credit means an extension of credit that:

(1) Is secured by a lien on a dwelling; and

(2) Is an open-end credit plan as defined in Regulation Z, 12 CFR 1026.2(a)(20), but without regard to whether the credit is consumer credit, as defined in §1026.2(a)(12), is extended by a creditor, as defined in §1026.2(a)(17), or is extended to a consumer, as defined in §1026.2(a)(11).

(p) Refinancing means a closed-end mortgage loan or an open-end line of credit in which a new, dwelling-secured debt obligation satisfies and replaces an existing, dwelling-secured debt obligation by the same borrower.

(q) Reverse mortgage means a closed-end mortgage loan or an open-end line of credit that is a reverse mortgage transaction as defined in Regulation Z, 12 CFR 1026.33(a), but without regard to whether the security interest is created in a principal dwelling.

[80 FR 66308, Oct. 28, 2015, as amended at 82 FR 43132, Sept. 13, 2017; 84 FR 57980, Oct. 29, 2019; 85 FR 28404, May 12, 2020]