45-13-201 - License required Exceptions. - Tennessee Statutes

45-13-201. License required Exceptions.

(a)  No person shall act as a mortgage lender, mortgage loan broker or mortgage loan servicer in this state without first obtaining a license under this chapter; provided, however, that no contractor or home improvement contractor or other person who supplies materials and renders services in the improvement of real property shall engage in the business of making residential mortgage loans or of being a mortgage loan servicer or mortgage loan broker in this state.

(b)  The requirement of a license under subsection (a) and this chapter do not apply to any of the following:

     (1)  Any depository institution;

     (2)  Any subsidiary of a depository institution that is owned and controlled by the depository institution and regulated by a federal banking agency;

     (3)  Any institution regulated by the farm credit administration;

     (4)  Any individual who makes a residential mortgage loan to, or offers or negotiates terms of a residential mortgage loan with or on behalf of, an immediate family member of the individual;

     (5)  An individual who makes a residential mortgage loan, or simply offers or negotiates terms of a residential mortgage loan, when the loan is secured by a dwelling that served as the individual's residence; and

     (6)  A licensed attorney who negotiates the terms of a residential mortgage loan on behalf of a client as an ancillary matter to the attorney's representation of the client, unless the attorney is compensated by a mortgage lender, a mortgage loan broker, a mortgage loan originator or by any agent of the mortgage lender, mortgage loan broker or mortgage loan originator.

(c)  The requirement of a license to act as a mortgage lender under subsection (a) and the requirements of this chapter pertaining to mortgage lenders, unless otherwise stated, do not apply to any registrant making residential mortgage loans that is authorized to do so under the Industrial Loan and Thrift Companies Act, compiled in chapter 5 of this title; provided, however, that all mortgage loan originators of the registrant must be licensed under part 3 of this chapter.

(d)  The commissioner shall be authorized to exempt in whole or in part from the requirements of this chapter additional entities or classes of entities, not including individuals, that the commissioner finds inappropriate to include to effectuate the purposes of this chapter, so long as the exemption is compliant with and does not impede the purposes of the federal Secure and Fair Enforcement for Mortgage Licensing Act of 2008, compiled in 12 U.S.C. § 5101 et seq.

(e)  Upon approval or consent by the United States department of housing and urban development, the commissioner shall be authorized to exempt in whole or in part from this chapter additional individuals or classes of individuals, such as those working for bona fide nonprofit corporations and government agencies, that the commissioner finds inappropriate to include to effectuate the purposes of this chapter.

[Acts 2009, ch. 499, § 8.]