We believe that a bank would have to send Regulation Z mortgage transfer disclosures after acquiring residential loans through an FDIC purchase and assumption transaction. As stated in the rule commentary, “[d]isclosures are required under this section when, as a result of a merger, corporate acquisition, or reorganization, the ownership of a mortgage loan is transferred to a different legal entity.” Official Staff Commentary, Comment 4, Paragraph 39(a)(1). This requirement would apply to “any consumer credit transaction that is secured by the principal dwelling of a consumer,” including home equity closed-end loans and open-end lines of credit. 12 CFR 1026.39(a)(2); Official Staff Commentary, Comment 1, Paragraph 39(a)(2) (“Section 1026.39 applies to closed-end or open-end consumer credit transactions secured by the principal dwelling of a consumer”).

As to identifying the “seller,” we believe that the regulations require only that the disclosure “identify the loan that was sold, assigned or otherwise transferred.” 12 CFR 1026.39(a). It may be most helpful to the consumer to identify the loan by using the name of the bank that previously owned the loan. The rule commentary states that the bank “has flexibility in determining what information to provide for this purpose and may use any information that would reasonably inform a consumer which loan was acquired or transferred,” and suggests the following methods of identifying the loan:

i. The address of the mortgaged property along with the account number or loan number previously disclosed to the consumer, which may appear in a truncated format;

ii. The account number alone, or other identifying number, if that number has been previously provided to the consumer, such as on a statement that the consumer receives monthly; or

iii. The date on which the credit was extended and the original amount of the loan or credit line. (Official Staff Commentary, Comment 1, Paragraph 39(d).)

Finally, we note that the RESPA regulations exempt servicers that acquire other servicers from the mortgage servicing transfer disclosure only if “there is no change in the payee, address to which payment must be delivered, account number, or amount of payment due.” 12 CFR 1024.21(d)(1)(i).