Topic: Advertising & Marketing
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We would like to use a third-party vendor to print and mail postcards to our internet customers. Is it permissible to send the vendor a list of our customers’ names and addresses? What due diligence is required? In the alternative, should we only use the vendor to print the postcards and address and mail them ourselves?
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Yes, it is permissible to share a list of customer names and addresses with a third-party vendor for purposes of printing postcards if certain requirements are met. Customer names and addresses may be shared with a third party if you provide your customers with an initial notice that accurately reflects your privacy policies and procedures,…
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We would like to run a promotion for residential real estate loans where the bank would pay a credit towards the appraisal fee. Are there any potential issues with the promotion or RESPA concerns?
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Provided that this promotion is open to all customers, we do not see any issues under the Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act (RESPA) prohibition against kickbacks for referrals of settlement services. Providing incentives to borrowers to do business with your bank would not implicate any RESPA concerns. For resources related to our guidance, please see:…
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One of our branches would like to hold a bingo game event for account holders who are age 55 or older and maintain a required minimum balance, with a prize awarded at the conclusion of the event. What Illinois state laws would apply, and can the bank conduct a bingo game onsite?
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We believe your bank branch could hold a bingo game event for this subset of account holders, provided that no consideration is required to participate. In Illinois, the Bingo License and Tax Act regulates the licensure of entities authorized to conduct legal bingo games. However, if no consideration is required to obtain a bingo card,…
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Regarding the Residential Mortgage License Act (SB 2615), is there any guidance for the inclusion of the NMLS consumer website in advertising?
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The Residential Mortgage License Act of 1987, including these new advertising requirements, does not apply to national banks. National banks (as well as state-chartered financial institutions) and their employees are exempt from all provisions of the Act. Consequently, your bank is not required to include the NMLS consumer website in advertising. If your bank chooses…
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One of our customers is a realtor, and we would like him to include a link on his website to our bank’s website so that his customers can apply for consumer mortgage loans with us. We are not paying the realtor for the link, nor are we paying the realtor if one of his customers applies for or obtains a loan with us, the link would not be accompanied by any promotional language, and no other banks would be listed on his website. Is this permissible under RESPA’s anti-kickback provisions?
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Yes, we believe that a realtor providing a link to your bank’s website with the facts described above would be permissible under the Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act (RESPA), with some caveats as noted below. RESPA’s anti-kickback provisions prohibit financial institutions from accepting or offering any “thing of value” from a realtor or other settlement…
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We are advertising mortgage loans in Illinois, but we are an FDIC-insured bank. Does the Residential Mortgage License Act apply?
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No, the Residential Mortgage License Act of 1987 does not apply to banks. Banks and their employees are exempt from all provisions of the Act, including its advertising requirements. For resources related to our guidance, please see: Illinois Residential Mortgage License Act of 1987, 205 ILCS 635/1-3(a) (“No provision of this Act shall apply to…
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Our bank is a national bank, and we recently learned of an amendment to the Residential Mortgage License Act of 1987 updating the advertising requirements for mortgage loans, including a requirement that advertisements reference the NMLS Consumer Access website. Can you confirm that these requirements do not apply to national banks?
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Yes, we can confirm that the Residential Mortgage License Act of 1987, including these new advertising requirements, do not apply to national banks. National banks (as well as state-chartered financial institutions) and their employees are exempt from all provisions of the Act. For resources related to our guidance, please see: …
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Does Illinois have a law similar to the federal American Savings Promotion Act that authorizes banks to conduct savings promotion raffles?
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Yes, Illinois has enacted a law that essentially mirrors the American Savings Promotion Act, which created an exception for savings promotion raffles from the lottery prohibitions in federal banking and criminal laws. Effective January 1, 2016, Illinois law similarly authorizes state-chartered banks, savings banks and credit unions to conduct savings promotion raffles. For resources related…