United States Code
USC most recently checked for updates: Dec 11, 2024
Except as provided in subparagraph (C), the creditor of a loan (or proposed creditor) shall provide notice under clause (ii) to (I) any eligible homeowner who fails to pay any amount by the date the amount is due under a home loan, and (II) any applicant for a mortgage described in paragraph (4).
Notification under subparagraph (A) shall not be required with respect to any loan for which the eligible homeowner pays the amount overdue before the expiration of the 45-day period under subparagraph (B)(ii).
The Secretary shall submit a report to the Congress not less than annually regarding the extent of compliance of creditors with the requirements of subparagraphs (A) and (B) and the effectiveness of the entity monitoring such compliance. The Secretary shall also include in the report any recommendations for legislative action to increase the authority of the Secretary to penalize creditors who do not comply with such requirements.
The Secretary shall issue any regulations that are necessary to carry out this subsection.
There are authorized to be appropriated to carry out this section $7,000,000 for fiscal year 1993 and $7,294,000 for fiscal year 1994, of which amounts $1,000,000 shall be available in each such fiscal year to carry out paragraph (5)(D). Any amount appropriated under this subsection shall remain available until expended.
The Secretary of Housing and Urban Development shall carry out a program to demonstrate the effectiveness of providing coordinated prepurchase counseling and foreclosure-prevention counseling to first-time homebuyers and homeowners in avoiding defaults and foreclosures on mortgages insured under the Federal Housing Administration single family home mortgage insurance program.
Under the demonstration program under this subsection, the Secretary shall make grants to qualified nonprofit organizations under paragraph (4) to enable the organizations to provide prepurchase counseling services to eligible homebuyers and foreclosure-prevention counseling services to eligible homeowners, in counseling target areas.
The Secretary shall select nonprofit organizations to receive assistance under the demonstration program under this subsection based on the experience and ability of the organizations in providing homeownership counseling and their ability to provide community-based prepurchase and foreclosure-prevention counseling under paragraphs (5) and (6) in a counseling target area. To be eligible for selection under this paragraph, a nonprofit organization shall submit an application containing a proposal for providing counseling services in the form and manner required by the Secretary.
Under the demonstration program, the Secretary shall make counseling available for eligible homeowners who are 60 or more days delinquent with respect to a payment under a qualified mortgage on a home located within a counseling target area. The counseling shall include counseling with respect to options, programs, and actions available to the homeowner for resolving the delinquency or default.
The Secretary may coordinate the provision of assistance under subsection (c) with the demonstration program under this subsection.
The Secretary shall designate 3 counseling target areas (as provided in subparagraph (B)), which shall be located in not less than 2 separate metropolitan areas. The Secretary shall provide for counseling under the demonstration program under this subsection with respect to only such counseling target areas.
In designating counseling target areas under subparagraph (A), the Secretary shall designate at least 1 such area that meets the requirements of subparagraph (B)(iv)(I) and at least 1 such area that meets the requirements of subparagraph (B)(iv)(II).
The Secretary may expand any counseling target area during the term of the demonstration program, if the Secretary determines that counseling can be adequately provided within such expanded area and the purposes of this subsection will be furthered by such expansion. Any such expansion shall include only groups of census tracts that are contiguous to the counseling target area expanded and such census tract groups shall not be subject to the provisions of subparagraph (B).
For purposes of determining the effectiveness of counseling under the demonstration program, the Secretary shall designate 3 control areas, each of which shall correspond to 1 of the counseling target areas designated under subparagraph (A). Each control area shall be located in the metropolitan area in which the corresponding counseling target area is located, shall meet the requirements of subparagraph (B), and shall be similar to such area with respect to size, age of housing stock, median income, and racial makeup of the population. Each control area shall also comply with the requirements of subclause (I) or (II) of subparagraph (B)(iv), according to the subclause with which the corresponding counseling target area complies.
Each organization providing counseling under the demonstration program under this subsection shall maintain records with respect to each eligible homebuyer and eligible homeowner counseled and shall provide information with respect to such counseling as the Secretary or the Comptroller General may require.
The Secretary may issue any regulations necessary to carry out this subsection.
There are authorized to be appropriated to carry out this subsection $365,000 for fiscal year 1993 and $380,330 for fiscal year 1994.
The demonstration program under this subsection shall terminate at the end of fiscal year 1994.
An organization may not receive assistance for counseling activities under subsection (a)(1)(iii), (a)(2), (a)(4), (c), or (d) of this section, or under section 1701w of this title, unless the organization, or the individuals through which the organization provides such counseling, has been certified by the Secretary under this subsection as competent to provide such counseling.
Any homeownership counseling or rental housing counseling (as such terms are defined in subsection (g)(1)) required under, or provided in connection with, any program administered by the Department of Housing and Urban Development shall be provided only by organizations or counselors certified by the Secretary under this subsection as competent to provide such counseling.
The Secretary shall take such actions as the Secretary considers appropriate to ensure that individuals and organizations providing homeownership or rental housing counseling are aware of the certification requirements and standards of this subsection and of the training and certification programs under subsection (f).
The Secretary shall encourage organizations engaged in providing homeownership and rental counseling that do not receive assistance under this section to employ organizations and individuals to provide such counseling who are certified under this subsection or meet the certification standards established under this subsection.
To the extent amounts are provided in appropriations Acts under paragraph (7), the Secretary shall contract with an appropriate entity (which may be a nonprofit organization) to carry out a program under this subsection to train individuals to provide homeownership and rental counseling and to administer the examination under subsection (e)(2) and certify individuals under such subsection.
To be eligible to provide the training and certification program under this subsection, an entity shall have demonstrated experience in training homeownership and rental counselors.
The Secretary shall require that training of counselors under the program under this subsection be designed and coordinated to prepare individuals for successful completion of the examination for certification under subsection (e)(2). The Secretary, in consultation with the entity selected under paragraph (2)(B), shall establish the curriculum and standards for training counselors under the program.
The entity selected under paragraph (2)(B) shall administer the examination under subsection (e)(2) and, on behalf of the Secretary, certify individuals successfully completing the examination. The Secretary, in consultation with such entity, shall establish the content and format of the examination.
Subject to the approval of the Secretary, the entity selected under paragraph (2)(B) may establish and impose reasonable fees for participation in the training provided under the program and for examination and certification under subsection (e)(2), in an amount sufficient to cover any costs of such activities not covered with amounts provided under paragraph (7).
The entity selected under paragraph (2)(B) to carry out the training and certification program shall establish the program as soon as possible after such selection, and shall make training and certification available under the program on a national basis not later than the expiration of the 1-year period beginning upon such selection.
There are authorized to be appropriated to carry out this subsection $2,000,000 for fiscal year 1993 and $2,084,000 for 1994.
The Secretary shall establish, coordinate, and monitor the administration by the Department of Housing and Urban Development of the counseling procedures for homeownership counseling and rental housing counseling provided in connection with any program of the Department, including all requirements, standards, and performance measures that relate to homeownership and rental housing counseling.
The Secretary, in consultation with the advisory committee established under subsection (g)(4) 1 of the Department of Housing and Urban Development Act, shall establish standards for materials and forms to be used, as appropriate, by organizations providing homeownership counseling services, including any recipients of assistance pursuant to subsection (a)(4).
Such certified computer software programs shall be used to supplement, not replace, housing counseling. The Secretary shall provide that such programs are initially used only in connection with the assistance of housing counselors certified pursuant to subsection (e).
After a period of initial availability under subparagraph (B) as the Secretary considers appropriate, the Secretary shall take reasonable steps to make mortgage software systems certified pursuant to this paragraph widely available through the Internet and at public locations, including public libraries, senior-citizen centers, public housing sites, offices of public housing agencies that administer rental housing assistance vouchers, and housing counseling centers.
This paragraph shall be effective only to the extent that amounts to carry out this paragraph are made available in advance in appropriations Acts.
The Director of Housing Counseling shall develop, implement, and conduct national public service multimedia campaigns designed to make persons facing mortgage foreclosure, persons considering a subprime mortgage loan to purchase a home, elderly persons, persons who face language barriers, low-income persons, minorities, and other potentially vulnerable consumers aware that it is advisable, before seeking or maintaining a residential mortgage loan, to obtain homeownership counseling from an unbiased and reliable sources 2
Each segment of the multimedia campaign under subparagraph (A) shall publicize the toll-free telephone number and website of the Department of Housing and Urban Development through which persons seeking housing counseling can locate a housing counseling agency in their State that is certified by the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development and can provide advice on buying a home, renting, defaults, foreclosures, credit issues, and reverse mortgages.
There are authorized to be appropriated to the Secretary, not to exceed $3,000,000 for fiscal years 2009, 2010, and 2011, for the development, implementation, and conduct of national public service multimedia campaigns under this paragraph.
In conducting the education program described under clause (i), the Director of Housing Counseling shall also place an emphasis on serving communities that have a high percentage of retirement communities or a high percentage of low-income minority communities.
An area has a “high density of foreclosures” if such area is one of the metropolitan statistical areas (as that term is defined by the Director of the Office of Management and Budget) with the highest home foreclosure rates.
An area has a “high percentage of retirement communities” if such area is one of the metropolitan statistical areas (as that term is defined by the Director of the Office of Management and Budget) with the highest percentage of residents aged 65 or older.
An area has a “high percentage of low-income minority communities” if such area contains a higher-than-normal percentage of residents who are both minorities and low-income, as defined by the Director of Housing Counseling.
The Secretary shall provide advice and technical assistance to States, units of general local government, and nonprofit organizations regarding the establishment and operation of, including assistance with the development of content and materials for, educational programs to inform and educate consumers, particularly those most vulnerable with respect to residential mortgage loans (such as elderly persons, persons facing language barriers, low-income persons, minorities, and other potentially vulnerable consumers), regarding home mortgages, mortgage refinancing, home equity loans, home repair loans, and where appropriate by region, any requirements and costs associated with obtaining flood or other disaster-specific insurance coverage.
The term “nonprofit organization” has the meaning given such term in section 12704(5) of title 42, except that subparagraph (D) of such section shall not apply for purposes of this section.
The term “State” means each of the several States, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, the District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, Guam, the Virgin Islands, American Samoa, the Trust Territories of the Pacific, or any other possession of the United States.
The term “unit of general local government” means any city, county, parish, town, township, borough, village, or other general purpose political subdivision of a State.
The term “State housing finance agency” means any public body, agency, or instrumentality specifically created under State statute that is authorised to finance activities designed to provide housing and related facilities throughout an entire State through land acquisition, construction, or rehabilitation.
For purposes of this subsection, the term “covered assistance” means any grant or other financial assistance provided under this section.