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Mortgage Servicing and Loan Modifications: 38(b)(5) Informing borrowers of written error resolution and information request procedures.

1. Manner of informing borrowers. A servicer may comply with the requirement to maintain policies and procedures reasonably designed to inform borrowers of the procedures for submitting written notices of error set forth in § 1024.35 and written information requests set forth in § 1024.36 by informing borrowers, through a notice (mailed or delivered electronically) or a Web site.

Mortgage Servicing and Loan Modifications: 38(c)(1) Record retention.

1. Methods of retaining records. Retaining records that document actions taken with respect to a borrower’s mortgage loan account does not necessarily mean actual paper copies of documents. The records may be retained by any method that reproduces the records accurately (including computer programs) and that ensures that the servicer can easily access the records (including a contractual right to access records possessed by another entity).

Mortgage Servicing and Loan Modifications: 38(c)(2) Servicing file.

1. Timing. A servicer complies with § 1024.38(c)(2) if it maintains information in a manner that facilitates compliance with § 1024.38(c)(2) beginning on or after January 10, 2014. A servicer is not required to comply with § 1024.38(c)(2) with respect to information created prior to January 10, 2014.

Mortgage Servicing and Loan Modifications: 39(a) Live contact.

1. Delinquency. Section 1024.39 requires a servicer to establish or attempt to establish live contact no later than the 36th day of a borrower’s delinquency. This provision is illustrated as follows:

i. Assume a mortgage loan obligation with a monthly billing cycle and monthly payments of $2,000 representing principal, interest, and escrow due on the first of each month.

Mortgage Servicing and Loan Modifications: 39(b)(1) Notice required.

1. Delinquency. For guidance on the circumstances under which a borrower is delinquent for purposes of § 1024.39, see comment 39(a)-1. For example, if a payment due date is January 1 and the payment remains unpaid during the 45-day period after January 1, the servicer must provide the written notice within 45 days after January 1—i.e., by February 15. However, if a borrower satisfies a late payment in full before the end of the 45-day period, the servicer need not provide the written notice.

Mortgage Servicing and Loan Modifications: 39(c) Borrowers in bankruptcy.

1. Borrower’s representative. If the borrower is represented by a person authorized by the borrower to communicate with the servicer on the borrower’s behalf, the servicer may provide the written notice required by § 1024.39(b), as modified by § 1024.39(c)(1)(iii), to the borrower’s representative. See comment 39(a)-5. In general, bankruptcy counsel is the borrower’s representative.

Mortgage Servicing and Loan Modifications: 39(c)(2) Resuming compliance.

1. Bankruptcy case revived. If the borrower’s bankruptcy case is revived, for example if the court reinstates a previously dismissed case or reopens the case, § 1024.39(c)(1) once again applies. However, § 1024.39(c)(1)(iii)(C) provides that a servicer is not required to provide the written notice more than once during a single bankruptcy case.

Mortgage Servicing and Loan Modifications: 39(d) Fair Debt Collection Practices Act—partial exemption.

1. Availability of loss mitigation options. In part, § 1024.39(d)(2) exempts a servicer from providing the written notice required by § 1024.39(b) if no loss mitigation option is available. A loss mitigation option is available if the owner or assignee of a mortgage loan offers an alternative to foreclosure that is made available through the servicer and for which a borrower may apply, even if the borrower ultimately does not qualify for such option.

Mortgage Servicing and Loan Modifications: 40(a) In general.

1. Delinquent borrower. A borrower is not considered delinquent if the borrower has refinanced the mortgage loan, paid off the mortgage loan, brought the mortgage loan current by paying all amounts owed in arrears, or if title to the borrower’s property has been transferred to a new owner through, for example, a deed-in-lieu of foreclosure, a sale of the borrower’s property, including, as applicable, a short sale, or a foreclosure sale.

Mortgage Servicing and Loan Modifications: 41(b)(2)(i) Requirements.

1. Foreclosure sale not scheduled. For purposes of § 1024.41(b)(2)(i), if no foreclosure sale has been scheduled as of the date a servicer receives a loss mitigation application, the servicer must treat the application as having been received 45 days or more before any foreclosure sale.

Paragraph 41(b)(2)(i)(B).

Mortgage Servicing and Loan Modifications: 41(b)(2)(ii) Time period disclosure.

1. Thirty days is generally reasonable. In general and subject to the restrictions described in comments 41(b)(2)(ii)-2 and -3, a servicer complies with the requirement to include a reasonable date in the written notice required under § 1024.41(b)(2)(i)(B) by including a date that is 30 days after the date the servicer provides the written notice.

Mortgage Servicing and Loan Modifications: 41(b)(3) Determining Protections.

1. Foreclosure sale not scheduled. If no foreclosure sale has been scheduled as of the date that a complete loss mitigation application is received, the application is considered to have been received more than 90 days before any foreclosure sale.

2. Foreclosure sale re-scheduled. The protections under § 1024.41 that have been determined to apply to a borrower pursuant to § 1024.41(b)(3) remain in effect thereafter, even if a foreclosure sale is later scheduled or rescheduled.

Mortgage Servicing and Loan Modifications: 41(c)(2)(ii) Reasonable time.

1. Significant period of time. A significant period of time under the circumstances may include consideration of the timing of the foreclosure process. For example, if a borrower is less than 50 days before a foreclosure sale, an application remaining incomplete for 15 days may be a more significant period of time under the circumstances than if the borrower is still less than 120 days delinquent on a mortgage loan obligation.

Mortgage Servicing and Loan Modifications: 41(c)(2)(iii) Short-term loss mitigation options.

1. Short-term payment forbearance program. The exemption in § 1024.41(c)(2)(iii) applies to, among other things, short-term payment forbearance programs. For purposes of § 1024.41(c)(2)(iii), a payment forbearance program is a loss mitigation option pursuant to which a servicer allows a borrower to forgo making certain payments or portions of payments for a period of time. A short-term payment forbearance program for purposes of § 1024.41(c)(2)(iii) allows the forbearance of payments due over periods of no more than six months.

Mortgage Servicing and Loan Modifications: 41(c)(2)(iv) Facially complete application.

1. Reasonable opportunity. Section 1024.41(c)(2)(iv) requires a servicer to treat a facially complete application as complete for the purposes of paragraphs (f)(2) and (g) until the borrower has been given a reasonable opportunity to complete the application. A reasonable opportunity requires the servicer to notify the borrower of what additional information or corrected documents are required, and to afford the borrower sufficient time to gather the information and documentation necessary to complete the application and submit it to the servicer.