We have a producing manager on our mortgage team. Can we pay them a commission based on the loan volume that their team produces, as well as a commission based on the loan volume they individually produce?

Yes, we believe that your bank may compensate loan originators based on their individual loan volume and their team members’ loan volume.

Regulation Z prohibits loan originator compensation that is based on the terms of the transactions that they originate. But this prohibition does not apply to compensation based on an individual loan originator’s loan volume, because a loan originator’s overall loan volume is not a “term of a transaction or a proxy for a term of a transaction.” We believe the overall loan volume of a loan originator’s team also is a permissible basis for loan originator compensation.

For resources related to our guidance, please see:

  • Regulation Z, 12 CFR 1026.36(d)(1)(i) (“ . . . no loan originator shall receive and no person shall pay to a loan originator, directly or indirectly, compensation in an amount that is based on a term of a transaction, the terms of multiple transactions by an individual loan originator, or the terms of multiple transactions by multiple individual loan originators.”)
  • Regulation Z, Official Interpretations, Paragraph 36(d)(1), Comment 2(i) (“Compensation based on the following factors is not compensation based on a term of a transaction or a proxy for a term of a transaction: A. The loan originator’s overall dollar volume (i.e., total dollar amount of credit extended or total number of transactions originated), delivered to the creditor. See comment 36(d)(1)-9 discussing variations of compensation based on the amount of credit extended.”)