12 HB 237/AP
House
Bill 237 (AS PASSED HOUSE AND SENATE)
By:
Representatives Golick of the
34th,
Morris of the
155th,
Hatfield of the
177th,
Ramsey of the
72nd,
and Setzler of the
35th
A
BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
To
amend Article 5 of Chapter 8 of Title 16 of the Official Code of Georgia
Annotated, relating to residential mortgage fraud, so as revise the definition
of "mortgage lending process"; to change provisions relating to the offense of
mortgage fraud; to provide for related matters; to repeal conflicting laws; and
for other purposes.
BE
IT ENACTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF GEORGIA:
SECTION
1.
Article
5 of Chapter 8 of Title 16 of the Official Code of Georgia Annotated, relating
to residential mortgage fraud, is amended by revising paragraph (1) of Code
Section 16-8-101, relating to definitions, as follows:
"(1)
'Mortgage lending process' means the process through which a person seeks or
obtains a residential mortgage loan including, but not limited to, solicitation,
application, or origination, negotiation of terms, third-party provider
services, underwriting, signing and closing, and funding of the loan.
Such term
shall also include the execution of deeds under power of sale that are required
to be recorded pursuant to Code Section 44-14-160 and the execution of
assignments that are required to be recorded pursuant to subsection (b) of Code
Section 44-14-162. Documents involved in
the mortgage lending process include, but
are
shall
not
be
limited to, uniform residential loan applications or other loan applications;
appraisal reports; HUD-1 settlement statements; supporting personal
documentation for loan applications such as W-2 forms, verifications of income
and employment, bank statements, tax returns, and payroll stubs; and any
required disclosures."
SECTION
2.
Said
article is further amended by revising the undesignated paragraph at the end of
Code Section 16-8-102, relating to the offense of residential mortgage fraud, as
follows:
"An
offense of residential mortgage fraud shall not be predicated solely upon
information lawfully disclosed under federal disclosure laws, regulations, and
interpretations related to the mortgage lending process
nor upon
truthful information contained in documents filed with the official registrar of
deeds of any county of this state for the stated purpose of correcting
scrivener's errors, mistakes, inadvertent misstatements, or omissions contained
in previously filed
documents."
SECTION
3.
All
laws and parts of laws in conflict with this Act are repealed.