Terms Used In Tennessee Code > Title 45 > Chapter 13 - Tennessee Residential Lending, Brokerage and Servicing Act

• Appeal: A request made after a trial, asking another court (usually the court of appeals) to decide whether the trial was conducted properly. To make such a request is "to appeal" or "to take an appeal." One who appeals is called the appellant.
• Appellate: About appeals; an appellate court has the power to review the judgement of another lower court or tribunal.
• Assets: (1) The property comprising the estate of a deceased person, or (2) the property in a trust account.
• Bank: means any person, as hereinafter defined, doing a banking business subject to the laws of this or any other jurisdiction and, for the purposes of supervision, examination and liquidation, includes industrial investment companies and industrial banks authorized by chapter 5 of this title. See Tennessee Code 45-1-103
• Bankruptcy: Refers to statutes and judicial proceedings involving persons or businesses that cannot pay their debts and seek the assistance of the court in getting a fresh start. Under the protection of the bankruptcy court, debtors may discharge their debts, perhaps by paying a portion of each debt. Bankruptcy judges preside over these proceedings.
• Branch manager: means the individual whose principal office is physically located in, who is in charge of and who is responsible for the business operations of a branch office of a mortgage lender or mortgage loan broker licensed under this chapter. See Tennessee Code 45-13-105
• Branch office: means an office of a licensed mortgage lender or mortgage loan broker that is separate and distinct from the licensee's principal place of business. See Tennessee Code 45-13-105
• clerical or support duties: includes , subsequent to the receipt of an application:
  (i) The receipt, collection, distribution and analysis of information common for the processing or underwriting of a residential mortgage loan. See Tennessee Code 45-13-105
• Commissioner: means the commissioner of financial institutions or the commissioner's designated representative. See Tennessee Code 45-13-105
• Community: means a city, town, or incorporated village in this state, or where not within any of the foregoing, a trade area in this state. See Tennessee Code 45-1-103
• Company: includes a bank, trust company, corporation, partnership, association, business or other trust, or similar business entity. See Tennessee Code 45-1-103
• Complaint: A written statement by the plaintiff stating the wrongs allegedly committed by the defendant.
• Contract: A legal written agreement that becomes binding when signed.
• Control: means possession, direct or indirect, of the power to direct or cause the direction of management and policies of a person, whether through the ownership of voting securities by contract or otherwise. See Tennessee Code 45-13-105
• Conviction: A judgement of guilt against a criminal defendant.
• Corporation: A legal entity owned by the holders of shares of stock that have been issued, and that can own, receive, and transfer property, and carry on business in its own name.
• Credit report: A detailed report of an individual's credit history prepared by a credit bureau and used by a lender in determining a loan applicant's creditworthiness. ^{Source: OCC}
• Deed: The legal instrument used to transfer title in real property from one person to another.
• Department: means the department of financial institutions. See Tennessee Code 45-1-103
• Deposit: means a deposit of money, bonds or other things of value, creating a debtor-creditor relationship. See Tennessee Code 45-1-103
• Depository institution: means any company included for any purpose within any of the definitions of insured depository institution, as set forth in 12 U. See Tennessee Code 45-1-103
• Devise: To gift property by will.
• Discovery: Lawyers' examination, before trial, of facts and documents in possession of the opponents to help the lawyers prepare for trial.
• Equal Credit Opportunity Act: Prohibits creditors from discriminating against credit applicants on the basis of race, color, religion, national origin, sex, marital status, age, or because an applicant receives income from a public assistance program. ^{Source: OCC}
• Equitable: Pertaining to civil suits in "equity" rather than in "law." In English legal history, the courts of "law" could order the payment of damages and could afford no other remedy. See damages. A separate court of "equity" could order someone to do something or to cease to do something. See, e.g., injunction. In American jurisprudence, the federal courts have both legal and equitable power, but the distinction is still an important one. For example, a trial by jury is normally available in "law" cases but not in "equity" cases. ^{Source: U.S. Courts}
• Escrow: Money given to a third party to be held for payment until certain conditions are met.
• Evidence: Information presented in testimony or in documents that is used to persuade the fact finder (judge or jury) to decide the case for one side or the other.
• Fair Credit Reporting Act: A federal law, established in 1971 and revised in 1997, that gives consumers the right to see their credit records and correct any mistakes. ^{Source: OCC}
• Federal Reserve System: The central bank of the United States. The Fed, as it is commonly called, regulates the U.S. monetary and financial system. The Federal Reserve System is composed of a central governmental agency in Washington, D.C. (the Board of Governors) and twelve regional Federal Reserve Banks in major cities throughout the United States. ^{Source: OCC}
• Fixed Rate: Having a "fixed" rate means that the APR doesn't change based on fluctuations of some external rate (such as the "Prime Rate"). In other words, a fixed rate is a rate that is not a variable rate. A fixed APR can change over time, in several circumstances:
  • You are late making a payment or commit some other default, triggering an increase to a penalty rate
  • The bank changes the terms of your account and you do not reject the change.
  • The rate expires (if the rate was fixed for only a certain period of time).
• Fraud: Intentional deception resulting in injury to another.
• Grantor: The person who establishes a trust and places property into it.
• Guarantor: A party who agrees to be responsible for the payment of another party's debts should that party default. ^{Source: OCC}
• Immediate family member: means a spouse, child, sibling, parent, grandparent or grandchild. See Tennessee Code 45-13-105
• Indictment: The formal charge issued by a grand jury stating that there is enough evidence that the defendant committed the crime to justify having a trial; it is used primarily for felonies.
• Individual: means a natural person. See Tennessee Code 45-13-105
• Interest rate: The amount paid by a borrower to a lender in exchange for the use of the lender's money for a certain period of time. Interest is paid on loans or on debt instruments, such as notes or bonds, either at regular intervals or as part of a lump sum payment when the issue matures. ^{Source: OCC}
• Jurisdiction: (1) The legal authority of a court to hear and decide a case. Concurrent jurisdiction exists when two courts have simultaneous responsibility for the same case. (2) The geographic area over which the court has authority to decide cases.
• Lease: A contract transferring the use of property or occupancy of land, space, structures, or equipment in consideration of a payment (e.g., rent). ^{Source: OCC}
• License: means a license issued to a mortgage lender, mortgage loan broker, mortgage loan servicer or mortgage loan originator under this chapter, as applicable. See Tennessee Code 45-13-105
• Licensee: means a person to whom a license has been issued under this chapter, whether a mortgage lender, mortgage loan broker, mortgage loan servicer or mortgage loan originator, as applicable, but "licensee" also applies to any person holding a certificate of registration on July 31, 2009, for so long as the certificate is still valid. See Tennessee Code 45-13-105
• Litigation: A case, controversy, or lawsuit. Participants (plaintiffs and defendants) in lawsuits are called litigants.
• loan processor or underwriter: means an individual who performs clerical or support duties as an employee at the direction of and subject to the supervision and instruction of a person licensed or exempt from licensing under §. See Tennessee Code 45-13-105
• Loss mitigation specialist: means an individual employed by a mortgage lender or mortgage loan servicer licensed under this chapter, or by a registrant authorized to make residential mortgage loans under the Industrial Loan and Thrift Companies Act, compiled in chapter 5 of this title, whose activities are confined to the negotiation of terms of an existing residential mortgage loan owned or being serviced by that licensee or registrant for purposes of modifying the terms of the loan, such as by reducing the interest rate or extending the term of the loan, when the modification is done for purposes of avoiding or curing default. See Tennessee Code 45-13-105
• Managing principal: means an individual who agrees to be primarily responsible for the operations of a licensed mortgage lender or mortgage loan broker. See Tennessee Code 45-13-105
• Month: means a calendar month. See Tennessee Code 1-3-105
• Mortgage: The written agreement pledging property to a creditor as collateral for a loan.
• Mortgage lender: means any person who makes a residential mortgage loan or holds the person out as able to make a residential mortgage loan. See Tennessee Code 45-13-105
• Mortgage loan: A loan made by a lender to a borrower for the financing of real property. ^{Source: OCC}
• Mortgage loan broker: means any person who for compensation or other gain, paid directly or indirectly, or in expectation of compensation or other gain, solicits, places, negotiates or originates a residential mortgage loan for another person or offers to solicit, place, negotiate or originate a residential mortgage loan for another person or who closes a residential mortgage loan that may be in the mortgage loan broker's own name with funds provided by another person and which loan is thereafter assigned to the person providing the funding of the loan, regardless of whether the acts are done directly or indirectly, through contact by telephone, by electronic means, by mail or in person with the borrower or borrowers or potential borrower or borrowers. See Tennessee Code 45-13-105
• Mortgage loan servicer: means any person who, in the regular course of business, assumes responsibility for servicing and accepting payments for a residential mortgage loan. See Tennessee Code 45-13-105
• Mortgagor: The person who pledges property to a creditor as collateral for a loan and who receives the money.
• Mortgagor: means any person who grants a mortgage, deed of trust or other equivalent consensual security interest pursuant to a residential mortgage loan transaction. See Tennessee Code 45-13-105
• National Credit Union Administration: The federal regulatory agency that charters and supervises federal credit unions. (NCUA also administers the National Credit Union Share Insurance Fund, which insures the deposits of federal credit unions.) ^{Source: OCC}
• Nationwide Mortgage Licensing System and Registry: means a mortgage licensing system developed and maintained by the Conference of State Bank Supervisors and the American Association of Residential Mortgage Regulators for the licensing and registration of licensed mortgage loan originators. See Tennessee Code 45-13-105
• Nolo contendere: No contest-has the same effect as a plea of guilty, as far as the criminal sentence is concerned, but may not be considered as an admission of guilt for any other purpose.
• Nontraditional mortgage product: means any mortgage product other than a thirty-year fixed rate residential mortgage loan. See Tennessee Code 45-13-105
• Origination services: means the activities of a mortgage loan originator performed with regard to a residential mortgage loan. See Tennessee Code 45-13-105
• Oversight: Committee review of the activities of a Federal agency or program.
• Partnership: A voluntary contract between two or more persons to pool some or all of their assets into a business, with the agreement that there will be a proportional sharing of profits and losses.
• Person: includes a corporation, firm, company or association. See Tennessee Code 1-3-105
• Person: means an individual, sole proprietorship, corporation, limited liability company, partnership, trust, association or any other legal entity, however organized. See Tennessee Code 45-13-105
• Plea: In a criminal case, the defendant's statement pleading "guilty" or "not guilty" in answer to the charges, a declaration made in open court.
• Property: includes both personal and real property. See Tennessee Code 1-3-105
• real estate brokerage activities: means any activity that involves offering or providing real estate brokerage services to the public, including:
  (i) Acting as a real estate agent or real estate broker for a buyer, seller, lessor or lessee of real property. See Tennessee Code 45-13-105
• Real property: Land, and all immovable fixtures erected on, growing on, or affixed to the land.
• real property: include lands, tenements and hereditaments, and all rights thereto and interests therein, equitable as well as legal. See Tennessee Code 1-3-105
• Record: means information that is inscribed on a tangible medium or that is stored in an electronic or other medium and is retrievable in a perceivable form. See Tennessee Code 1-3-105
• Registered mortgage loan originator: means any individual who:
  (A) Meets the definition of mortgage loan originator and is an employee of:

  (i) A depository institution. See Tennessee Code 45-13-105
• Representative: when applied to those who represent a decedent, includes executors and administrators, unless the context implies heirs and distributees. See Tennessee Code 1-3-105
• Residential mortgage loan: means any loan, including an extension of credit, primarily for personal, family or household use that is secured by a mortgage, deed of trust or other equivalent consensual security interest on a dwelling, as defined in §. See Tennessee Code 45-13-105
• Residential real estate: means any real property located in this state, upon which is constructed or intended to be constructed a dwelling. See Tennessee Code 45-13-105
• Service of process: The service of writs or summonses to the appropriate party.
• Settlement: Parties to a lawsuit resolve their difference without having a trial. Settlements often involve the payment of compensation by one party in satisfaction of the other party's claims.
• signed: includes a mark, the name being written near the mark and witnessed, or any other symbol or methodology executed or adopted by a party with intention to authenticate a writing or record, regardless of being witnessed. See Tennessee Code 1-3-105
• State: when applied to the different parts of the United States, includes the District of Columbia and the several territories of the United States. See Tennessee Code 1-3-105
• Statute: A law passed by a legislature.
• Subpoena: A command to a witness to appear and give testimony.
• Testify: Answer questions in court.
• Testimony: Evidence presented orally by witnesses during trials or before grand juries.
• Trial: A hearing that takes place when the defendant pleads "not guilty" and witnesses are required to come to court to give evidence.
• Truth in Lending Act: The Truth in Lending Act is a federal law that requires lenders to provide standardized information so that borrowers can compare loan terms. In general, lenders must provide information on ^{Source: OCC}
• Unique identifier: means a number or other identifier assigned by protocols established by the Nationwide Mortgage Licensing System and Registry. See Tennessee Code 45-13-105
• United States: includes the District of Columbia and the several territories of the United States. See Tennessee Code 1-3-105
• written: includes printing, typewriting, engraving, lithography, and any other mode of representing words and letters. See Tennessee Code 1-3-105
• Year: means a calendar year, unless otherwise expressed. See Tennessee Code 1-3-105