Code of Massachusetts Regulations
209 CMR - DIVISION OF BANKS AND LOAN AGENCIES
Title 209 CMR 18.00 - Conduct of the business of debt collectors, student loan servicers, and third party loan servicers
Section 18.02 - Definitions
Automatic Federal Student Loan Servicer. A person that acts or intends to act as a student loan servicer solely pursuant to a contract with the United States Secretary of Education under 20 U.S.C. 1087f and shall also include subservicers who solely engage in student loan servicing pursuant to a subservicing agreement with an automatic federal student loan servicer.
Automatic Federal Student Loan Servicer Applicant. Any automatic federal student loan servicer who is required to be licensed under the provisions of M.G.L. c. 93L, § 2(f). The term shall include partners or members, if the applicant is a partnership, association, or limited liability company, and officers, directors and principal employees, if the applicant is a corporation.
Commissioner. The Commissioner of Banks.
Communication or Communicating. Conveying information regarding a debt directly or indirectly to any person through any medium.
Consumer. Any natural person obligated or allegedly obligated to pay any debt.
Consumer Reporting Agency. Any person which, for monetary fees, dues, or on a cooperative nonprofit basis, regularly engages in whole or in part in the practice of assembling or evaluating consumer credit information or other information on consumers for the purpose of furnishing consumer reports to third parties under M.G.L. c. 93, §§ 50 through 68.
Creditor. Any person who offers or extends credit creating a debt or to whom a debt is owed, but such term does not include any person to the extent that he receives an assignment or transfer of a debt in default solely for the purpose of facilitating collection of such debt for another.
Debt. Any obligation or alleged obligation of a consumer to pay money arising out of a transaction in which the money, property, insurance, or services which are the subject of the transaction are primarily for personal, family, or household purposes, whether or not the obligation has been reduced to judgment.
Debt Collector. Any person who uses an instrumentality of interstate commerce or the mails in any business the principal purpose of which is the collection of a debt, or who regularly collects or attempts to collect, directly or indirectly, a debt owed or due or asserted to be owed or due another. Debt collector shall also include any person who buys or acquires debt that is in default at the time of purchase or acquisition and who seeks to collect such debt directly. Notwithstanding the exclusion provided by 209 CMR 18.02: Debt Collector (f), debt collector shall include a creditor who, in the process of collecting his or her own debt, uses any name other than his or her own which would indicate that a third person is collecting or attempting to collect the debt. Debt collector shall also include a person who uses an instrumentality of interstate commerce or the mails in a business the principal purpose of which is the enforcement of security interests. Debt collector shall not include:
(a) an officer or employee of a creditor while, in the name of the creditor, collecting debts for the creditor;
(b) a person while acting as a debt collector for another person, both of whom are related by common ownership or affiliated by corporate control, if the person acting as a debt collector does so only for a person to whom it is so related or affiliated and if the principal business of the person is not the collection of a debt;
(c) an officer or employee of the United States or a state of the United States to the extent that collecting or attempting to collect a debt is in the performance of his or her official duty;
(d) a person while serving or attempting to serve legal process on another person in connection with the judicial enforcement of a debt;
(e) a nonprofit organization which, at the request of a consumer, performs bona fide consumer credit counseling and assists the consumer in the liquidation of debts by receiving payments from the consumer and distributing the amounts to creditors;
(f) a person collecting or attempting to collect a debt owed or due or asserted to be owed or due another to the extent the activity:
1. is incidental to a bona fide fiduciary obligation or a bona fide escrow arrangement;
2. concerns a debt which was originated by the person;
3. concerns a debt which was not in default at the time it was obtained by the person; or
4. concerns a debt obtained by the person as a secured party in a commercial credit transaction involving the creditor;
(g) attorneys-at-law licensed to practice law in the Commonwealth who are collecting a debt on behalf of a client; and
(h) an agent or independent contractor employed for the purpose of collecting a charge or bill owed by a tenant to a landlord or owed by a customer to a corporation subject to the supervision of the Department of Telecommunications and Energy or the Division of Insurance insofar as the person collects charges or bills only for the landlord or supervised corporations.
(i) a student loan servicer licensed under M.G.L. c. 93L who is engaged solely in the activities of a student loan servicer; provided, however, that if a student loan servicer acts, represents, operates or holds itself out as a debt collector outside of the scope of M.G.L. c. 93L, the student loan servicer shall obtain a debt collector license.
Debt Collector Applicant. Any debt collector who is required to be licensed under the provisions of M.G.L. c. 93, § 24A and has applied for such license. The term shall include partners or members, if the applicant is a partnership, association or limited liability company, and officers, directors and principal employees, if the applicant is a corporation.
Licensee. Any person who is licensed by the Commissioner as a debt collector under M.G.L. c. 93, §§ 24 through 28, and 209 CMR 18.00; or any person who is licensed as a student loan servicer or automatic federal student loan servicer under M.G.L. c. 93L.
Location Information. A consumer's place of abode and his or her telephone number at such place, or his or her place of employment.
Net Worth. The applicant's or licensee's total assets less total liabilities, omitting the following assets:
(a) that portion of an applicant's assets pledged to secure obligations of any person or entity other than that of the applicant;
(b) any asset due from officers or stockholders of the applicant or persons in which the applicant's officers or stockholders have an interest;
(c) an amount in excess of the lower of the cost or fair market value of mortgage loans in foreclosure, or real property acquired through foreclosure;
(d) an investment shown on the balance sheet in joint ventures, subsidiaries, or affiliates, which is greater than the fair market value of the assets;
(e) goodwill or value placed on insurance renewals or other similar intangible value;
(f) organization costs;
(g) the value of servicing contracts not determined in accordance with the Financial Accounting Standards Codification Topic 860 "Transfers and Servicing"; and
(h) any other intangible asset, as may be determined by the Commissioner.
NMLS. The Nationwide Multi-State Licensing System & Registry, a multistate licensing system owned and operated by the State Regulatory Registry LLC (SRR), a wholly owned subsidiary of the Conference of State Bank Supervisors (CSBS), an association of state financial services regulators.
Person. A natural person or an organization, including a corporation, limited or general partnership, limited liability partnership, limited liability company, joint stock company, trust, business trust, profit and not-for-profit incorporated or unincorporated associations, and any other entity authorized under the laws of any state of the United States or any country.
Principal Employee. Any person with the power to exercise, directly or indirectly, managerial, supervisory, or policy-making authority or such other controlling influence over the management, policies, or operation of the Licensee.
Register. Filing a notice with the Commissioner on a form prescribed by the Commissioner that notifies the Commissioner of the intent to engage in the activities of a third party loan servicer in this state and the payment of a fee required under M.G.L. c. 93, § 24C, along with the other documents, proofs, and fees required by the Commissioner.
Student Loan. A loan primarily used to finance postsecondary education or other school-related expenses.
Student Loan Borrower. A resident of the Commonwealth who has received or agreed to repay a student loan or a person who shares responsibility with that resident for repaying the student loan, including cosigners.
Student Loan Servicer. A person responsible for servicing a student loan to a student loan borrower. Unless otherwise indicated, this term shall include an automatic federal student loan servicer.
Student Loan Servicer Applicant. Any student loan servicer who is required to be licensed under the provisions of M.G.L. c. 93L, § 2(c). The term shall include partners or members, if the applicant is a partnership, association or limited liability company, and officers, directors and principal employees, if the applicant is a corporation.
Student Loan Servicing.
(a) Receiving or soliciting a scheduled periodic payment from a student loan borrower pursuant to the terms of a student loan and making the principal, interest and other payments to the owner of the loan or other third-party with respect to the amounts received from the student loan borrower as may be required pursuant to the terms of the servicing loan document or servicing contract;
(b) Maintaining account records for a loan and communicating with the student loan borrower regarding the loan on behalf of the owner of the loan during a period in which no payment is required on the loan; or
(c) Interacting with a student loan borrower, including activities to help prevent default on obligations arising from a loan, to facilitate the activities described in clause (a) or clause (b); provided, however, that the actions of the student loan ombudsman under section 35 of chapter 12 and the actions of the Division of Banks consumer assistance unit under section 3A of chapter 26 shall not constitute servicing.
Third Party Loan Servicing. Receiving a scheduled periodic payment from a consumer pursuant to the terms of a loan, including amounts for escrow accounts, and making the payments to the owner of the loan or other third-party of principal and interest and other payments with respect to the amounts received from the borrower as may be required pursuant to the terms of the servicing loan document or servicing contract. In the case of a home equity conversion mortgage or reverse mortgage, servicing includes making payments to the borrower.
Third Party Loan Servicer. A person who uses an instrumentality of interstate commerce or the mails in any business the principal purpose of which is servicing a loan directly or indirectly, owed or due or asserted to be owed or due another. Third party loan servicer shall not include a student loan servicer licensed under M.G.L. c. 93L who is engaged solely in the activities of a student loan servicer; provided, however, that if a student loan servicer acts, represents, operates or holds itself out as a third party loan servicer outside of the scope of said chapter 93L, the student loan servicer shall register as a third party loan servicer.
