(a) Tiered pricing—

(1) General requirements—

(i) Prohibition against excess variation. The customary lending practices of a mortgagee for its single family insured mortgages shall not provide for a variation in mortgage charge rates that exceed 2 percentage points. A variation is determined as provided in paragraph (a)(6) of this section.

(ii) Customary lending practices. The customary lending practices of a mortgagee include all single family insured mortgages originated by the mortgagee, including mortgages that were originated by the mortgagee's sponsored third-party originator(s).

(iii) Basis for permissible variations. Any variations in the mortgage charge rate up to two percentage points under the mortgagee's customary lending practices must be based on actual variations in fees or cost to the mortgagee to make the mortgage loan, which shall be determined after accounting for the value of servicing rights generated by making the loan and other income to the mortgagee related to the loan. Fees or costs must be fully documented for each specific loan.

(2) Area. For purposes of this section, an area is:

(i) An area used by HUD for purposes of §203.18(a) of this chapter to determine the median 1-family house price for an area; or

(ii) The area served by a HUD field office but excluding any area included in paragraph (a)(2)(i) of this section.

(3) Mortgage charges. Mortgage charges include any charges under the mortgagee's control and not collected for the benefit of third parties. Examples are interest, discount points and origination fees.

(4) Interest rate. Whenever a mortgagee offers a particular interest rate for a mortgage type in an area, it may not restrict the availability of the rate in the area on the basis of the principal amount of the mortgage. A mortgagee may not direct mortgage applicants to any specific interest rate category on the basis of mortgage size.

(5) Mortgage charge rate. The mortgage charge rate is defined as the amount of mortgage charges for a mortgage expressed as a percentage of the initial principal amount of the mortgage.

(6) Determining excess variations. Variation in mortgage charge rates for a mortgage type is determined by comparing all mortgage charge rates offered by the mortgagee within an area for the mortgage type for a designated day or other time period, including mortgage charge rates for all actual mortgage applications.

(7) Mortgage type. A mortgage type for purposes of paragraph (a)(6) of this section will include those mortgages that are closely parallel in important characteristics affecting pricing and charges, such as level of risk or processing expenses. The Secretary may develop standards and definitions regarding mortgage types.

(8) Recordkeeping. Mortgagees are required to maintain records on pricing information, satisfactory to the Secretary, that would allow for reasonable inspection by HUD for a period of at least 2 years. Additionally, many mortgagees are required to maintain racial, ethnic, and gender data under the regulations implementing the Home Mortgage Disclosure Act (12 U.S.C. 2801-2810).

(b) Servicing. Any mortgagee that services mortgages must be approved by the Secretary under §202.6, §202.7 or §202.10, or be specifically approved for servicing under §202.9(a).

(c) Report and corrective plan requirements. If a mortgagee approved for participation in Title II programs is notified by the Secretary that it had a rate of defaults and claims on HUD-insured mortgages during the preceding year, or during recent years, which was higher than the normal rate, it shall submit a report, within 60 days, containing an explanation for the above-normal rate of defaults and claims, and, if required by the Secretary, a plan for corrective action with regard to mortgages in default and its mortgage processing system in general.

[62 FR 20082, Apr. 24, 1997, as amended at 75 FR 20734, Apr. 20, 2010; 77 FR 51469, Aug. 24, 2012]