Session Laws

Whereas, The deferred operation of this act would tend to defeat its purpose, which is to immediately provide for the revision of terms of certain mortgages, therefore it is hereby declared to be an emergency law, necessary for the immediate preservation of the public convenience.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Court assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows:

Chapter 183 of the General Laws is hereby amended by inserting after section 63 the following section:-

Section 63A. A mortgagee may, at the request of the owner of the equity of redemption, revise the rate of interest, extend the term of the mortgage or change the amount of the periodic payments of principal or interest, or both, of an existing note and mortgage from said owner which it holds on a one to four family, owner-occupied residence located in the commonwealth; provided, however, that (i) no additional money shall be loaned or advanced thereon, except in accordance with section twenty-eight A; and (ii) the interest rate on any such note and mortgage, after any such revision, shall not be in excess of the interest rate on the existing note and mortgage so revised. The provisions of paragraph 4 of section six of chapter one hundred and sixty-seven E relative to loan to value requirements shall not apply to a bank, as defined in said chapter one hundred and sixty-seven E, in any revision made pursuant to this section. Any revision in the terms of a mortgage pursuant to this section may be made without the consent of the holders of junior encumbrances and without loss of priority and shall not be construed so as to grant to any such holder of a junior encumbrance rights which, except for said revision, he would not otherwise have. No such mortgage amended or revised pursuant to this section shall be construed to be a rewritten or refinanced mortgage loan.

Notwithstanding the provisions of section sixty-three, a holder of any such mortgage may charge a fee in connection with any such revision not to exceed one-half of one percent of the outstanding balance of the existing note and mortgage as of the date of any such revision or of the revised balance pursuant to such revision, whichever is greater, and, in addition, an amount not to exceed one-quarter of one percent of said outstanding or revised balance for the acquisition of a current credit report on said owner of the equity of redemption and for administrative expenses incidental to the preparation and execution of documents related to such revision. Such holder shall not assess any additional fees, points, so-called, or similar charges on the said owner of the equity of redemption for any such revision.

For the purposes of this section, the term "rewritten or refinanced mortgage loan" shall mean a loan that requires originating or underwriting services similar to an original mortgage application.