A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT to require that any fee incurred by a home loan servicer be clearly and conspicuously explained to the borrower within thirty days after the fee is assessed, to clarify that the servicer is not required to send a statement to the borrower under certain circumstances, and to provide that a servicer is not required to provide notification to the borrower if a partial payment is accepted and credited in accordance with a written agreement.
The General Assembly of North Carolina enacts:
SECTION 1.  G.S. 45‑91 reads as rewritten:
"§ 45‑91.  (Effective April 1, 2008) Assessment of fees; processing of payments; publication of statements.
A servicer must comply as to every home loan, regardless of whether the loan is considered in default or the borrower is in bankruptcy or the borrower has been in bankruptcy, with the following requirements:
(1)	Any fee that is incurred by a servicer shall be both:
a.	Assessed within 45 days of the date on which the fee was incurred. Provided, however, that attorney or trustee fees and costs incurred as a result of a foreclosure action shall be assessed within 45 days of the date they are charged by either the attorney or trustee to the servicer.
b.	Explained clearly and conspicuously in a statement mailed to the borrower at the borrower's last known address  within 30 days after assessing the fee, provided the servicer shall not be required to take any action in violation of the provisions of the federal bankruptcy code. The servicer shall not be required to send such a statement for a fee that: (i) results from a service that is requested by the borrower, (ii) is paid for by the borrower at the time the service is provided, (iii) is not collected by the servicer, and (iv) is not charged to the borrower's loan account.
(2)	All amounts received by a servicer on a home loan at the address where the borrower has been instructed to make payments shall be accepted and credited, or treated as credited, within one business day of the date received, provided that the borrower has made the full contractual payment and has provided sufficient information to credit the account. If a servicer uses the scheduled method of accounting, any regularly scheduled payment made prior to the scheduled due date shall be credited no later than the due date. Provided, however, that if any payment is received and not credited, or treated as credited, the borrower shall be notified within 10 business days by mail at the borrower's last known address of the disposition of the payment, the reason the payment was not credited, or treated as credited to the account, and any actions necessary by the borrower to make the loan current. Provided, however, that if a written loan modification or loss mitigation agreement is entered into between the servicer and the borrower that provides for the acceptance and crediting of partial payments, no such notification is necessary if the agreed upon payments are applied as provided in the agreement.
(3)	Failure to charge the fee or provide the information within the allowable time and in the manner required under subdivision (1) of subsection (a) of this section constitutes a waiver of such fee.
(4)	All fees charged by a servicer must be otherwise permitted under applicable law and the contracts between the parties. Nothing herein is intended to permit the application of payments or method of charging interest which is less protective of the borrower than the contracts between the parties and other applicable law."
SECTION 2.  This act becomes effective October 1, 2008.