Georgia Administrative Code

(1) Legal Reserve: (a) Lawful money of the United States in the office and vaults of the financial institution. (b) Moneys on deposit subject to immediate call with other federally insured financial institutions such as approved by the Department of Banking and Finance pursuant t…

Where reserves are required pursuant to Rule , each financial institution shall maintain, for a period of not less than two calendar years, a record of its biweekly calculations of reserve requirements and reserves maintained. Such record shall be subject to review during examina…

(1) Every financial institution shall maintain a minimum of the legal reserves required to be maintained pursuant to the federal "Monetary Control Act of 1980" and other applicable federal requirements. The reserve requirement is the minimum acceptable for a financial institution…

(1) Dormant accounts are hereby defined as follows: (a) Demand Deposit Accounts are deemed to be dormant when the depositor, which for the purposes of this rule shall include a member in the case of credit unions and a shareholder in the case of savings and loan associations, has…

Borrowed money for purposes of this Regulation and as used in O.C.G.A. § 7-1-291 shall mean the sum of all moneys owed by a bank including participations sold with recourse but excluding: (a) Liabilities for deposits and official checks recorded during the regular course of busin…

(1) Financial institutions are required to maintain the following records for the minimum period of time set forth below: (a) Permanent: 1. Minute books, including supporting documents utilized during meetings, of the financial institutions' shareholders or members, Board of Dire…

(1) Consistent with applicable laws, records may be maintained in the following formats: original, microfilm, electronic, photocopy, or by other storage techniques capable of being used to reproduce the data contained in the records into legible form. The retention of records via…

(1) To the extent that this regulation does not contravene any law or regulation of the United States regarding retention of records, the provisions contained herein shall apply to all financial institutions doing business in this State. (2) The provisions of this regulation shal…

(1) A financial institution shall be reimbursed for costs which are reasonably necessary and which have been directly incurred in searching for, reproducing or transporting books, papers, records or other data of a customer required or requested to be produced pursuant to a lawfu…

(1) The disclosures and all other provisions of this Rule only apply to persons licensed or required to be licensed under Article 13 of Chapter 1 of Title 7 of the Official Code of Georgia Annotated. (2) Every mortgage lender or mortgage broker shall make the following disclosure…

Any advertisement of a mortgage loan that is subject to regulation under O.C.G.A. Title 7, Chapter 1, Article 13 and that is made, published, disseminated or circulated in this state shall comply with the requirements set forth below. (a) Advertisements for mortgage loans shall n…

(1) Each licensee with a physical place of business in Georgia shall provide to the Department a complete listing of all such offices or locations. (2) Reserved. (3) A "physical place of business" in this state shall mean an enclosed room or building where a licensee alone, if it…

(1) A "branch manager" shall mean an individual who supervises daily activities in Georgia of a licensee, whether at a main or branch location, and regardless of job title. Branch manager shall include an independent contractor of a mortgage broker as contemplated under O.C.G.A. …

(1) As required by O.C.G.A. § 7-1-1004(l), applicants and licensees must complete background checks on all covered employees as defined in O.C.G.A. § 7-1-1000(5.1). Background checks on all covered employees must be completed and found satisfactory by an applicant prior to the is…

(1) For the purposes of this Rule,"loan or finance company" refers to every person subject to the licensing requirements of the Georgia Residential Mortgage Act ("GRMA") who satisfies the definition of a loan or finance company under the Currency and Foreign Transactions Reportin…

(1) In the event that a licensee provides notice under applicable federal or state law of an information security incident involving unauthorized access to personal information, then the licensee shall simultaneously provide a duplicate of such disclosure to the Department. For p…

All licensees shall create and maintain an information security program to safeguard the nonpublic personal information of customers to the extent required by 16 C.F.R. Part 314 (the "Safeguards Rule"). As part of its regulatory oversight, the Department shall review, to the exte…

Any notice served by the Department pursuant to O.C.G.A. § 7-1-1017 shall first be sent by email to the email address of record that the applicant or licensee has designated as their email address for regulatory contact on file with the Nationwide Multistate Licensing System and …

(1) Any mortgage broker or lender required to be licensed under Article 13 of Chapter 1 of Title 7 of the Official Code of Georgia Annotated ("licensee") must maintain required books, accounts and records at the principal place of business. Should a licensee wish to maintain such…

(1) Any mortgage broker or lender required to be licensed under Article 13 of Chapter 1 of Title 7 ("licensee") must maintain the following books, accounts and records: (a) Copies of all disclosure documents required by Rule ; (b) Samples of advertisements as required by Rule ; (…

(1) Any person who is required to be licensed under Article 13 of Title 7, whether as a broker or a lender ("licensee"), shall maintain a journal of mortgage loan transactions which shall include, at a minimum, the following information: (a) Full name of proposed borrower and all…

(1) Any person who is required to be licensed under O.C.G.A. Title 7, Article 13, whether as a broker or a lender ("licensee"), shall maintain a loan file for each mortgage loan transaction. The files shall be maintained in an alphabetical or numerical sequence in the principal p…

(1) The audited or unaudited financial statement for mortgage brokers will be submitted to the Department via NMLS within (90) days of the end of such mortgage brokers' fiscal year. The financial statements shall be prepared in compliance with generally accepted accounting princi…

The Risk Management Program for mortgage lenders and mortgage brokers required by O.C.G.A. § 7-1-1023 must be scaled to the complexity of the organization, but be sufficiently robust to manage risks in several areas, including, but not limited to: (1) Credit risk: The potential t…

(1) The Department establishes the following fines and penalties for violation of the Georgia Residential Mortgage Act ("GRMA") or its rules. Except as otherwise indicated, these fines and penalties apply to any person who is acting as a mortgage lender or broker and who is requi…

Every applicant for a license shall demonstrate to the Department that such applicant has sufficient financial resources in the form of capital, net worth, and liquidity to satisfy the requirements of O.C.G.A. § 7-1-1022. Sufficiency of financial resources shall be determined thr…

(1) The Department will take appropriate action against all persons found to be improperly engaging in mortgage brokerage or lending activities without a license or valid exemption. In accordance with O.C.G.A. § 7-1-1018(a), if proper evidence is provided to the Department within…

(1) It is prohibited for any person to knowingly purchase, sell or transfer a mortgage loan or loan application to or from an unlicensed mortgage loan originator, mortgage lender or broker, unless that entity is exempt from licensure or qualified to operate under the temporary au…

(1) Mortgage brokers include persons who directly or indirectly solicit, process, place or negotiate or offer mortgage loans for others. A loan processor is a mortgage broker and will require a mortgage broker license to process loans on Georgia real property that meet the defini…

(1) No person who has been an officer, director, partner or ultimate equitable owner of a licensee that has had its license revoked, denied or suspended, may perform any of those roles at another licensee for five years from the date of the final order. (2) Felony convictions; re…

A mortgage broker or lender licensee may challenge information entered by the Department into the Nationwide Multistate Licensing System and Registry. All challenges must be sent to the Department in writing addressed to the attention of the Deputy Commissioner of Non-Depository …

(1) Pursuant to O.C.G.A. § 50-36-1, the Department is required to obtain an affidavit verifying the lawful presence of every natural person that submits an application for a license as a mortgage broker or mortgage lender on behalf of an individual, business, corporation, partner…

(1) It shall be the sole responsibility of each applicant for a mortgage lender or mortgage broker licensee, and each licensed mortgage broker and mortgage lender to keep current at all times its information on the Nationwide Multistate Licensing System and Registry ("NMLSR"). Am…

(a) For purposes of this rule the Nationwide Multistate Licensing System and Registry (NMLSR) is defined as a uniform multi-state administration of an automated licensing system for mortgage brokers, mortgage lenders, and mortgage loan originators. The department's participation …