Time to Refresh Your Privacy Policies

The following article is reprinted from Basis Points® , Vol. 1, Issue 3, Copyright © 2002, with the permission of CounselorLibrary.com, LLC. All Rights Reserved. Further reproduction is prohibited without permission.

Last year, it was the big thing. Everyone scrambled to try to make sense of incredibly complicated privacy rules. Now may be a good time to go back and re-examine some of the basic decisions and assumptions you made in putting your privacy policies in place. Why? The Federal Trade Commission staff (FTC) has developed a set of Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) to assist you in complying with the privacy provisions of the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act (GLB Act) and the Commission's financial privacy regulation. The FAQs are a response to the thousands of questions that the FTC and the Banking Agencies have fielded about the Privacy Rules over the last 18 months.

The following collection of questions and answers addresses some of the more important comments that affect the mortgage industry.

Who is Covered?

Who must comply with the Privacy Rule?

The rules cover any mortgage lender, any mortgage broker, and most parties involved in making, acquiring, brokering or servicing loans, such as escrow companies, appraisers, credit reporting companies, title abstractors, insurance companies and notaries. All of these people are lumped together under the general heading "financial institution." Any financial institution that provides financial products or services to consumers must comply with the privacy provisions of Subtitle A of Title V of the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act ("GLB Act") (codified at 15 U.S.C. §§ 6801-09) and the Privacy Rules. You have consumers if you provide your financial products or services to individuals, not businesses, to be used primarily for personal, family, or household purposes.

Why does the Privacy Rule sometimes refer to consumers and other times to customers? Aren't customers also consumers?

All rabbits are mammals, but all mammals are not rabbits. Likewise, under the Privacy Rules, all customers are consumers, but not all consumers are customers. A consumer is an individual who obtains a financial product or service from you that is primarily for personal, family, or household purposes. A financial product or service includes the evaluation or brokerage of information collected in connection with a request or application, such as a bank's review of loan application materials to determine whether an applicant qualifies for a loan.

A customer is a type of consumer, namely, an individual who has an ongoing relationship with you under which you provide a financial product or service. Note that neither a business nor an individual who obtains a financial product or service for business purposes is a consumer or a customer under the Privacy Rule.

The rule distinguishes consumers from customers because your responsibilities to provide notices to consumers and to customers differ in several respects.

You must give all your customers initial privacy notices.
You must give initial notices (or short form notices) to consumers who are not your customers only if you intend to disclose nonpublic personal information about those consumers to nonaffiliated third parties.
You must give annual privacy notices to your customers as long as they remain your customers.
You are never required to send annual notices to consumers who are not your customers.

It is important to remember that all consumers are entitled to the same protection from disclosures of nonpublic personal information under this regulation regardless of whether they are customers. As a result, you may not disclose the nonpublic personal information of any consumer or any customer to any nonaffiliated third party outside specific circumstances listed under the regulation unless you provide a privacy notice and a reasonable opportunity to opt out, and the consumer or customer does not opt out.

I occasionally make business loans to sole proprietors. Do I have to provide them with a privacy notice?

Although a sole proprietor is an individual, if the sole proprietor obtains a loan from you for business purposes he or she is not a "consumer" for purposes of the Privacy Rule. Therefore, you do not have to provide any privacy notices to the sole proprietor.

Is a guarantor or an endorser of a consumer loan considered my consumer or customer?

A guarantor or endorser is your customer because the individual assumes secondary liability on the loan he or she guarantees or endorses and thereby receives an extension of credit from you. You may, however, treat the primary borrower and the guarantor or endorser as joint account holders. The Privacy Rules permit you to deliver a single privacy notice to joint account holders under most circumstances. If you disclose information to nonaffiliated third parties outside of the exceptions set forth in the rule, you must also provide the primary borrower and the guarantor/endorser with an opportunity to opt out. You may deliver a single opt out notice to the joint account holders.

Non-U.S. resident consumers conduct business at my U.S. offices. Do the privacy regulations apply in cases where consumers live in another country?

Yes. The privacy regulations apply to all United States offices of financial institutions that are subject to the FTC authority under the GLB Act, regardless of where the consumer lives.

Is a person who only browses my web site my consumer?

No. The person does not obtain a financial product or service from you merely by browsing your web site.

Notices: Delivery and Content Issues

I issue credit cards to consumers. Very often, I take credit card applications by telephone and approve them within minutes. My customers wish to begin using their new accounts right away. When must I deliver initial notices in these cases?

You cannot deliver your privacy notice solely by explaining it over the telephone. However, you may provide an initial notice within a reasonable time after establishing a customer relationship if (i) providing it when you establish that relationship would substantially delay the customer's transaction, and (ii) the customer agrees to a later delivery. In the case of approving a credit card application by telephone, waiting until you have time to mail the notice would substantially delay the customer's use of a new credit account. As long as your new customer agrees to receive the notice later, you may deliver it within a reasonable time after establishing the customer relationship. Notwithstanding that exception, delayed delivery of an initial notice does not alter the restrictions on disclosing nonpublic personal information. That is, if you delay delivering your initial notice to a customer, you may not disclose that customer's nonpublic personal information to any nonaffiliated third party before you provide the notices and a reasonable opportunity to opt out.

I am a financial institution with several subsidiaries. Must each affiliated financial institution issue a separate privacy notice? If affiliated financial institutions are permitted to combine their notices, how may we identify them in the notice?

You and your subsidiaries may share common privacy policies and practices and you may combine your respective privacy notices into a joint notice. However, any joint notice must be accurate as to each institution, must be clear and conspicuous, and must identify which institutions it covers.

You do not have to list each financial institution by its particular legal name. Instead, if each institution shares the "ABC" name, then the joint notice could state that it applies to all institutions "with the ABC name" or "in the ABC family of companies." Conversely, if an affiliated institution does not have ABC in its name, then your notice must separately identify that institution.

My privacy notice must identify "categories" of nonpublic personal information I collect and categories of affiliates and nonaffiliated third parties with which I share that information. How detailed do the categories need to be?

The Privacy Rule does not require your privacy notices to describe in detail the information you collect or disclose. Moreover, you are not required to identify by name parties to whom you may make disclosures. Rather, you may describe the types, or categories, of information you collect and disclose, and the types of third parties to whom you disclose the information. These categories must be representative of your policies and practices.

Because the examples in the rule that describe categories of information and parties to whom you disclose information are not exclusive, you may describe the items that apply to you by using other reasonably understandable language that informs a consumer about your privacy policies and practices. You also may use different language and may provide additional detail as appropriate to explain your policies and practices to your consumers. In addition, the Privacy Rule requires you to address only those items that apply to you. Your initial notice must accurately describe your policies and procedures as of the time you provide the notice to a consumer or customer. A notice also may be accurate even if it reflects anticipated as well as current policies and practices.

After I provide an initial privacy notice to my customer, the Privacy Rule requires me to deliver privacy notices to that customer not less than annually during the continuation of the customer relationship. What does "annually" mean?

"Annually" means at least once in any period of 12 consecutive months during which a customer relationship exists. If you use the calendar year as your notice period, you have the flexibility to give the first annual notice to a customer at any point in the calendar year following the year in which the customer relationship is established. Thereafter, you are expected to provide annual notices on a consistent basis. Any period of more than 12 consecutive months between annual notices should have an appropriate business justification.

Can I combine my privacy notice with other consumer disclosures, such as those under the Truth in Lending Act (Regulation Z) or the escrow account reporting rules under RESPA?

The Privacy Rule permits you to combine your privacy notices with other information. However, you must still comply with all applicable requirements, such as those governing form, content, and delivery of notices. For example, if you combine your privacy notice with a disclosure under Regulation Z, each component of the combined notice/disclosure must comply with the "clear and conspicuous" requirements in the regulation governing that component.

I do not disclose any nonpublic personal information about my customers to any affiliates or nonaffiliated third parties, except under the conditions described in the exceptions to notice and opt out requirements. What aspects of my privacy policies and practices must my notice address?

In this case, you may use a simplified notice. A simplified notice is sufficient if it:

Describes the categories of nonpublic personal information you collect;
States the fact that you do not share nonpublic personal information about your customers or former customers to affiliates or nonaffiliated third parties, except as authorized by law; and
Describes your policies and practices for protecting the confidentiality and security of consumers' nonpublic personal information (under § 501(b) of the GLB Act).

I have a loan with co-borrowers. They share the same address. When notice is required, may I mail just one privacy notice?

Yes, you may mail one notice to two or more joint borrowers at the same address, unless one or more of the joint borrowers requests separate notices.

What if those same borrowers have different addresses?

You still may mail one notice to all borrowers jointly at one account borrower's address, unless one or more individual requests a separate notice.

One borrower, A, maintains with me a single loan account and a joint loan account with another consumer, X. What are my obligations to send privacy notices to A and X? Can I satisfy the initial privacy notice requirement by sending just one notice?

In some cases, one notice may be sufficient. For example, if A and X open the joint account first and A subsequently opens an individual account, you need not provide an additional initial notice to A if the most recent notice you provided to A as part of the joint account is accurate as to the individual account.

If A already has an individual account with you but X becomes your customer at the time the joint account is opened, you must provide an initial notice to X with respect to the joint account. However, you may deliver the initial notice either to A or to X by providing one notice to those consumers jointly (unless either or both requests separate notices). For example, you may deliver one notice addressed to both A and X. You subsequently may satisfy the annual and revised notice requirements by sending one notice regarding the joint account either to A or X.

One borrower, A, has two different joint accounts, one with X and the other with Y. When annual or revised notices are required as to both accounts, how many notices must I provide?

Annual and revised notices pertaining to each of the joint accounts may be provided either to A or to both of the other account holders respectively (unless one or more requests separate notices). Thus, one notice to A is sufficient, as long as the notice is accurate as to both accounts. The Privacy Rule does not require you to mail two identical notices to A, one for each account.

However, you may not disclose to X that A has a joint account with Y or disclose to Y that A has a joint account with X, unless these facts are publicly available. The fact that a consumer is a financial institution's customer is nonpublic personal information, unless you have a reasonable basis to believe that the customer relationship is a matter of public record.

Managing the Opt Out Process

I have two borrowers who hold one account jointly. Must I deliver a separate opt out notice to each account holder and allow each of them to opt out individually? Suppose I mail only one opt out notice for that account, and one of the joint holders checks "I opt out" and returns it to me. To whom does the opt out decision apply?

You may deliver either a single opt out notice to one of the account holders or a separate notice to each account holder. In either case, the notice must permit one joint account holder to opt out on behalf of all holders of the account. So long as your notice fulfills this requirement, you also may permit joint account holders to opt out individually.

The answer to your second question depends upon how you have designed your opt out notice. Your notice must permit one joint account holder to opt out on behalf of all holders of that account. However, you have several ways to do this. For example, your notice may contain one box that, when checked, will result in an opt out by the person checking the box and all other individuals on the account. Alternatively, the opt out notice may provide boxes that enable each individual on the account to opt out separately, as well as a box that permits one account holder to opt out on behalf of everyone on the account.

With either option your notice must clearly and conspicuously describe how each applicable opt out selection will be treated. For example, the opt out selection for all account holders should disclose that the customer making that selection is opting out for all account holders with respect to information concerning that joint account. Similarly, the "individual" opt out selection should explain that the selection applies only to the customer making the selection.

If you already are disclosing nonpublic personal information because you did not receive an opt out direction after sending your initial notice, each joint account holder still may choose to opt out at a later date. You must abide by any subsequent opt out decision as soon as reasonably practicable after you receive it, and you must not delay complying with one individual account holder's opt out direction until the remaining account holder(s) opt out.

Once a consumer opts out, whether during the initial opt out period or subsequently, you must not share the consumer's nonpublic personal information to which the opt out applies unless and until the consumer subsequently revokes his or her opt out direction.

I allow joint account holders X and Y to make independent opt out elections. For opt outs, I use reply forms with check-off boxes. Must I mail two opt out response forms for one joint account?

No, only one is necessary. However, you must allow each account holder a reasonable amount of time to opt out before disclosing any nonpublic personal information about him or her. For example, suppose you normally allow each consumer 30 days to opt out, and you immediately receive an opt out instruction from X but not from Y. You still must allow Y the standard 30 days to opt out before you may disclose any nonpublic personal information relating to the joint account. You may disclose nonpublic personal information about Y if Y does not opt out within the reasonable opt out period, but only to the extent such a disclosure would not reveal nonpublic personal information about X.

I allow joint account holders to make independent opt out elections. May I require each account holder to opt out in a separate response?

No. You must allow both account holders a reasonable opportunity to opt out in one response, such as one opt out form or in one call to your toll-free opt out line.

I allow joint account holders, X and Y, to make independent opt out elections. Suppose that X opted out, but Y did not respond. What nonpublic personal information about X and Y may I disclose?

Because X has opted out, you must not disclose any nonpublic personal information about X. In addition, you must not disclose nonpublic personal information about Y except as permitted by an exception if the disclosure of that information also would disclose nonpublic personal information about X. For example, suppose that X and Y are married, share the same surname, reside at the same address, and jointly hold a loan account with you. You may disclose nonpublic personal information relating to that account about Y, such as the average monthly balance in the account, as long as that disclosure does not include any nonpublic personal information about X. Further, you must not disclose the fact that Y holds the joint account together with X.

Must I provide opt out notices if I do not disclose nonpublic personal information to nonaffiliated third parties, except as permitted under one of the exceptions?

No. If you disclose nonpublic personal information only under one or more of those exceptions, you need not provide any opt out notices. Nonetheless, be aware that if you disclose nonpublic personal information to service providers or in joint marketing arrangements, then you must provide an initial notice that includes a separate statement that describes that disclosure. Also, you must provide an annual notice to your customers regardless of your disclosure policies and practices.

What are some reasonable means of allowing consumers an opportunity to opt out?

You may provide various opt out methods that are reasonable, depending on the circumstances surrounding the financial product or service. For example, for new customers who open credit card accounts, you may deliver a form with a check-off box that they can check and return to you. If you use this method, you must deliver the check-off form with your opt out notice. You also may provide a toll-free telephone number that consumers can call to opt out.

The Privacy Rule provides that you may require a consumer to opt out through a specific means if that means is reasonable for that particular consumer. For example, you may require a consumer who has agreed to the electronic delivery of notices to opt out by using a process available on your web site if that consumer uses your web site to access financial products or services. You also may require a consumer who conducts an isolated transaction at your branch or office in person to decide whether to opt out as a necessary part of completing the transaction and to use the means you specify to effect his or her opt out direction.

Note that you may allow any consumer to opt out by e-mail or by using a process available on your web site, but you may not require the consumer to use an electronic method if the consumer has not agreed to electronic delivery of notices. Under these circumstances, you must provide other reasonable methods for the consumer to opt out.

No particular method described in an example in the Privacy Rule is strictly required and there may be other reasonable methods for allowing a consumer to opt out of disclosures. Some methods to opt out, however, are unreasonable. For instance, you must not require consumers to write their own letters to opt out as the only opt out method.

If I allow my customers to mail a form to indicate their opt out election, am I required to provide my customers with a postage-paid envelope so they can mail the form back?

No. You are not required to provide an individual with a postage-paid envelope to meet the requirement that you provide a reasonable means for consumers to opt out.

In our initial and annual notices, our company would like to provide a tear-off opt out form and its privacy policies on the front and back of a single sheet of paper. Is this permissible?

Yes, provided the opt out form may be detached without removing text from your privacy policy. However, if by detaching the opt out form the customer removes text from the privacy policy, the practice may not be workable. A financial institution must provide its privacy notices in a form in which a customer can retain them or obtain them later. If the customer would remove text from your privacy policy by detaching the opt out notice, then you should either redesign the privacy notice or have procedures in place to provide a customer with the complete text of your privacy notice upon request.

I would like to disclose to nonaffiliated third parties different types of nonpublic personal information about my customers, such as their addresses and their account information. The nonaffiliated third parties are not financial institutions with which I have a joint agreement. I realize that I must allow my customers to opt out of all these disclosures, but may I give them the choice to opt out of disclosures of certain categories of information as well as all categories of information to nonaffiliated third parties?

Yes. You must allow your customers to opt out of all these disclosures to nonaffiliated third parties. Additionally, you may allow your customers to choose to opt out of some types of disclosures, rather than simply all of those disclosures. For example, you may allow your customers to opt out of disclosures of account information and provide a separate opportunity for customers to opt out of disclosures of their addresses.

I make consumer loans. I would like to disclose my customer list to nonaffiliated clothing retailers and to nonaffiliated automobile dealers. These nonaffiliated third parties are not financial institutions with which I have a joint agreement. I realize that I must allow my customers to opt out of all these disclosures. But may I also give them the choice to opt out of disclosures to certain kinds of nonaffiliated third parties without having to opt out of disclosures to all kinds of third parties?

Yes. You must allow your customers to opt out of all these disclosures. Additionally, you may allow your customers to choose to opt out of disclosures to some kinds of nonaffiliated third parties instead of simply all of those parties. For example, you may allow your customers to opt out of disclosures to clothing retailers and allow a separate opportunity for the same customers to opt out of disclosures to automobile dealers.

We deliver opt out notices by mail and allow our new customers 30 days to opt out before we begin sharing their information with nonaffiliated third parties. The Privacy Rules provide that a financial institution must comply with a consumer's opt out direction as soon as reasonably practicable after the financial institution receives it. It may take our company up to five weeks to process an opt out direction. If we mail a new customer a privacy and opt out notice on September 1 and we receive the customer's opt out direction on September 15, may we share that individual's nonpublic personal information between September 15 and October 22 - the date by which we can process the opt out?

No. The Privacy Rule provides that a financial institution may not share a consumer's nonpublic personal information unless the institution has given the consumer an initial privacy notice, an opt out notice, and a reasonable opportunity to opt out, and the consumer has not opted out. If your customer opts out at any point within the 30-day period in your example, then you would not be able to disclose that individual's information to nonaffiliated third parties unless the customer subsequently revoked the opt out direction.

Because the Privacy Rule permits consumers to opt out at any time, it provides an institution with a reasonable period of time to process an existing consumer's opt out election before the institution must cease disclosing the consumer's information. The institution must process the opt out election as soon as reasonably practicable. For example, following the 30-day period that you provide initially for your customers to opt out, you may disclose the nonpublic personal information of those individuals who have not exercised their right to opt out. However, you must honor any subsequent opt out election by any of those customers "as soon as reasonably practicable."

Disclosure of Nonpublic Information - Things Consumers Can Not Opt Out Of

I am a mortgage lender, but a nonaffiliated third party ("Servicer") services my loans. I disclose nonpublic personal information to the Servicer under an exception for that purpose. I have the following questions.

I disclose nonpublic personal information about my customers to the Servicer so the Servicer can process transactions that the customers have requested. May the Servicer disclose the information it collects from me about my customers to a retail merchant that is not affiliated with me?

Generally, no. When the Servicer receives nonpublic personal information about your customers under an exception to the notice and opt out provisions, such as in connection with servicing your loans, the Servicer's use and disclosure of that information is limited. The Servicer must not disclose any nonpublic personal information to a retail merchant not affiliated with you unless the Servicer may do so under an applicable exception. For example, the Servicer may not provide information about your customers to the retail merchant for marketing purposes.

May the Servicer disclose the nonpublic personal information to my affiliate?

Yes. The Privacy Rule explicitly provides that the Servicer may disclose the information to your affiliate.

May the Servicer disclose the information to the Servicer's affiliate?

Yes, but the Servicer's affiliate may disclose and use the information only as the Servicer could disclose and use it. The Servicer's affiliate therefore may use the information to service your loans. The affiliate also may disclose the information under an applicable exception in the ordinary course of business to carry out the activity covered by the exception under which the Servicer received the information.

Disclosure of Nonpublic Information - When the Consumer does not Opt Out

I am a mortgage lender and am affiliated with a property insurer. In my privacy notices I inform consumers that I disclose nonpublic personal information to my affiliated insurance company. My privacy notice also states that, if a consumer does not opt out, I may disclose nonpublic personal information about the consumer to nonfinancial companies, such as retailers.

Among the nonaffiliated third parties to whom I disclose information are an automobile dealer and a residential plumbing company. The plumbing company is affiliated with a company that sells air conditioning products and services. I have the following questions about disclosing information about consumers who do not opt out.

I disclose information about my customers who do not opt out to a residential plumbing company. Can the plumbing company use the information for marketing purposes?

Yes. This is permissible because you disclosed nonpublic personal information to the plumbing company in accordance with the notice and opt out provisions of the GLB Act. In other words, you disclosed information about a consumer consistent with your privacy notice and the consumer's choice not to opt out.

As illustrated in the following questions and answers, when the plumbing company receives from you nonpublic personal information about a consumer who has not elected to opt out, the company is free to use the information for marketing or other purposes. However, the plumbing company may disclose the nonpublic personal information it receives from you only if such a disclosure is consistent with the restrictions on disclosure of the information described in your privacy policy. The plumbing company therefore is required to honor any subsequent opt out elections made by consumers pursuant to your privacy policy and accordingly must have a mechanism through which it can monitor and implement subsequent opt out elections you receive.

One of my affiliates sells insurance. May the plumbing company, who received my customers' information outside an exception, disclose that information to my affiliated insurer?

Yes. The Privacy Rule explicitly provides that the plumbing company may disclose the information to your affiliate.

I disclosed information to the plumbing company outside an exception. The plumbing company is affiliated with an air conditioning company. The air conditioning company is not affiliated with me. May the plumbing company disclose my consumers' nonpublic personal information to that air conditioning company?

Yes. The Privacy Rule permits a party that receives nonpublic personal information outside of an exception to disclose that information to its affiliates. In this case, therefore, the plumbing company may disclose the information to its affiliated air conditioning company. However, the affiliated air conditioning company may, in turn, disclose the information only to the extent that the plumbing company may, consistent with your privacy notice.

I disclosed information to the plumbing company outside an exception. May the plumbing company disclose my consumers' nonpublic personal information to a nonaffiliated automobile parts retailer?

Yes. The Privacy Rule permits a party that receives nonpublic personal information outside of an exception to disclose that information to another nonaffiliated third party, provided that it would be lawful for the original financial institution to make that disclosure directly to that party.

Under your privacy notice, it would be lawful for you to disclose nonpublic personal information about those consumers who chose not to opt out to the automobile parts retailer. However, the plumbing company could not disclose nonpublic personal information obtained from you to other nonaffiliated retailers if your privacy policy would not permit such disclosures.

Special Issues Related to Account Numbers

I am a financial institution. I transform my customers' account numbers into encrypted forms that can be used solely to identify those customers. I enter into an arrangement with a third party telemarketing firm whereby I disclose my customers' names, telephone numbers, and encrypted identifying numbers. The third party telemarketing firm uses that information to market products (other than products I offer) to those customers. For those customers who agree to purchase the products, the third party telemarketing firm submits their encrypted identifying numbers to me, and I decrypt them into account numbers. At the end of this process, am I permitted to disclose the customers' actual account numbers to the third party telemarketing firm so that the telemarketing firm can initiate the charges to the customers' accounts?

No. The Privacy Rule generally prohibits you from disclosing credit card, deposit, or other transaction account numbers "for use in telemarketing, direct mail marketing, or other marketing through electronic mail to the consumer." Accordingly, you must not provide your customers' account numbers to the third party telemarketing firm "for use in telemarketing."

The Privacy Rule provides only three exceptions. A financial institution may disclose its customers' account numbers to:

a consumer reporting agency;
its agent to market the institution's own products or services, provided that the agent is not authorized to directly initiate charges to the account; or
another participant in a private label credit card or an affinity or similar program involving the institution.

Because none of these exceptions applies in your case, you must not provide your customers' account numbers to a third party telemarketing firm so that it can initiate the charges to the customers' accounts.

I would like to enter an arrangement with a nonaffiliated insurance agency that markets its products to my customers through direct mail solicitations. The proposed arrangement contemplates that I would disclose a customer's account number to the insurance agency's affiliate. The affiliate then would use the account number to debit the purchase price from my customer's account in response to these solicitations. The affiliate's only role in the arrangement would be initiating the charges. Does the Privacy Rule allow me to disclose a customer's account number to the insurance agency's affiliate under these circumstances?

No. The Privacy Rule prohibits you from disclosing your customers' account numbers to any nonaffiliated third party for use in marketing. Although the affiliate in your hypothetical does not distribute marketing materials but only initiates charges, its conduct of that activity is an integral part of your marketing arrangement with the insurance company. The disclosure of a customer's account number to the insurance company's affiliate under these circumstances therefore would be a disclosure for use in marketing that violates the Privacy Rule.

To view all other Basis Points Articles click here.

Basis Points® is a concise, easy-to-read, monthly legal update for the mortgage lending industry. Basis Points® addresses complex legal issues from an industry perspective and keeps you informed on new legal developments affecting your business. Written in plain English, Basis Points® provides familiar factual scenarios, identifies the legal issues involved, presents real court resolutions and suggests how you might avoid similar legal pitfalls. Topics featured in Basis Points® include: Predatory Lending; Yield-Spread Premiums; RESPA - Fee Splitting and Up charges; Privacy; RESPA - Joint Venture; Bankruptcy; Fair Lending and Discrimination; and Truth in Lending/ Regulation Z. Basis Points® is published by CounselorLibrary.com, LLC, an affiliate of the Hudson Cook, LLP law firm. The CounselorLibrary.com, LLC is also the publisher of CARLAW®, HouseLaw®, Spot Delivery®, and the Counselor Library Series. For more information, please visit: www.counselorlibrary.com.