Usury in Massachusetts

I ran across two articles on usury and expect we will see more as the debt markets and foreclosures continue to sort themselves out and more borrowers are faced with foreclosure.

Usury is the charging of excessive interest on a loan. Most states have a law prohibiting usury and defining what is meant by usury. Usury laws were originally targeted at loan sharks. As a result, most usury statutes make the charging of usurious interest a criminal act. They also generally allow the borrower to escape from making the excessive interest payments.

Massachusetts defines interest in excess of 20% to be the interest rate that triggers usury. M.G.L. Chapter 271, Section 49. The 20% threshold also includes any brokerage fees, recording fees, commissions, forbearance or any other amounts the borrower has to pay to the lender.

The 20% rate is prorated for shorter periods of time. Upfront fees can push an otherwise legal loan into a usury loan if it is maid off early. For example, if you have ten year loan at 18%, plus a 3% commission payable at closing, that loan is usurious if the borrower pays it off at the end of the first year.

M.G.L. Chapter 271, Section 49(a) provides for a criminal sentence of up to ten years and a fine of up to $10,000. Also, M.G.L. Chapter 271, Section 4(c) allows the court to void a usurious loan.

Massachusetts has two exceptions to usury. The first is the regulated lender exception in M.G.L. Chapter 271, Section 49(e). Under this exception, the usury statute does not apply to "any lender subject to control, regulation or examination by any state or federal regulatory agency" or to "any loan the rate of interest for which is regulated under any other provision of general or special law or regulations." This means that banks, credit unions and most conventional lenders are not subject to usury in Massachusetts. However, CMBS originators and investment funds may not fall under this exception.

The second exception is by use of a "leg-breaker letter." Under M.G.L. Chapter 271, Section 49(d), you can charge usurious interest as long as you send a letter to the Attorney General with the lender's and borrower's name and accurate address. This notification is good for two years.

The leg-breaker exception is very easy to comply with. I was surprised to see stories about usury in Massachusetts.

Both stories are about a loan for the development of a 186 home community and godf course in Dracut. Massachusetts Lawyers weekly reported the story: Release Won't Shield Lender from Usury Claim of Borrower subscription). It reports a story about LR5-A Limited Partnership v. Meadow Creek, LLC, et al. (Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly subscription), with a decision coming out of the Business Litigation Session of the Superior Court. The decision found that a release or waiver of claims for usury is not effective. Usury is a public policy law and cannot be waived by the parties. The case was also reported in the Boston Globe: Usury lawsuit names Harvard, Princeton, and Yale Endowments.

The borrower made notes with an interest rate in excess of 20%. The decision from the Superior Court says it was a 21% interest rate. The Boston Globe story says one of the loans was 42%. The lender was an investment fund set up by Realty Financial Partners. The lender was a non-conventional lender and therefore could not benefit from the regulated lender exception to the usury law. They should have filed a leg-breaker letter. The decision was silent on whether the filed a letter. The Boston Globe story reports that two notices were filed, but that one was filed too early (before the lending partnership was formed) and the second filed too late (after the loan was made).

The borrower goes on to charge the limited partners of the lender violated usury and is trying to bring a claim against them directly. This seems foolhardy from a legal perspective. But it apparently worked from a public relations perspective because he got his name in the paper

The problem I have with the application of the usury laws in commercial financing is that they merely give the borrower an opportunity to wiggle out from their bargain. According to the story, the borrower thought they could quickly obtain development rights and then refinance the loan with a conventional lender at a lesser interest rate. He failed and the lender had to foreclose on the property. The borrower must have thought the interest rate was acceptable at closing. Now that the deal went south, he is trying to apply the law retroactively to get himself out of his bargain.

Disclosure: Realty Financial Partners is a client of my firm.

Delay in Implementing New Mortgage Regulations

As Jay Fitzgerald of the Boston Herald reports: Companies may drop home loans

The mortgage industry does not like the new mortgage regulations proposed by the Attorney General. As I posted on this summer, these new predatory lending regulations under 93A are well intentioned but vaguely drafted: (15) Lender Must Believe the Borrower Can Repay, (16) No Documentation Loans, (17) Loans Not in the Borrower's Interest, (18) Prohibiting Discrimination.

As a result, the Attorney General announced that the regulations will not implemented this week. The new date is January 2.

New Predatory Lending Regulations - (18) Prohibiting Discrimination

The Attorney General is proposing new regulations under the Consumer Protection Act (M.G.L. 93A). The new regulations add new prohibited activities as provisions (15), (16), (17) and (18) under 940 C.M.R 8.06.


The new prohibited activity in item (18) of the proposed regulations prohibits a lender from discriminating among similar borrowers. "It is an unfair or deceptive act or practice for a lender (a) to use a pricing model for its mortgage loans which treats borrowers with similar credit criteria and bona fide qualification criteria differently; or (b) to make a mortgage loan when any or all of the cost features of the mortgage loan are based on criteria other than the borrower’s credit and other bona fide qualification criteria."


Although this regulation has a good purpose in preventing lenders from discriminating among borrowers, no two borrowers or properties are the same. The regulation gives no safe harbor for a lender to show that it is not discriminating.

New Predatory Lending Regulations - (17) Loans Not in the Borrower's Interest

The Attorney General is proposing new regulations under the Consumer Protection Act (M.G.L. 93A). The new regulations add new prohibited activities as provisions (15), (16), (17) and (18) under 940 C.M.R 8.06.


The new prohibited activity under item (17) makes it a "deceptive act or practice for a mortgage broker to process, make or arrange a loan that is not in the borrower's interest." It goes on to require the broker to disclose when the financial interest of the broker conflicts with the financial interest of the borrower. If the broker is going to get paid more if the borrower gets a loan with a higher interest rate, the broker needs to disclose the conflict and not help with the loan. The regulation further provides that the broker cannot disclaim a fiduciary duty to the borrower.


I surprised that the regulation requires the mortgage broker to have a fiduciary for the borrower. I think the mortgage broker is acting as an agent for their lenders, not as an agent of the borrower.


I think this regulation, if enacted, will leave mortgage brokers scratching their head as to how to operate. How can they determine if a loan is in a borrower's interest?

New Predatory Lending Regulations - (16) No Documentation Loans

The Attorney General is proposing new regulations under the Consumer Protection Act (M.G.L. 93A). The new regulations add new prohibited activities as provisions (15), (16), (17) and (18) under 940 C.M.R 8.06.


The proposed prohibited activity in (16) limits the mortgage lender's ability to make no-documentation or limited documentation loans. These types of loans were targeted at borrowers who had trouble documenting all of their income. Typically this type of borrower would be an independent contractor or small business owner. [CNN.Money background article]


On the dark side, I believe these borrowers were typically a contractor or business owner who did not do a good job tracking all of the cash they received and was hiding income from the taxman. I also think these loans were used for a borrower trying to get more of a mortgage than they would ordinarily be able to get using typical underwriting standards. The borrower would state that they had more income than they actually did. I never saw a good reason for this type of loan to exist other than to cheat the lender or the taxman.


The Washington Post does not paint a pretty picture on the use of these loans: The Lowdown on Low-Doc Loans.


Although the new regulation does not prohibit this type of loan, the regulation makes them very unappealing to lenders. The lender must deliver a statement with the borrower's income and a disclosure that the loan will be at a higher interest rate because of the "no-doc" option. Also, the lender needs to verify the employment and income when the stated income is "not reasonable for the occupation or experience of the borrower.. . ."


I do not know how a lender is supposed to determine what a reasonable income is for a person in a particular occupation with a particular level of experience. Effectively, a lender is leaving itself wide open for a claim under 93A if makes no-doc or limited doc loans in Massachusetts.

New Predatory Lending Regulations - (15) Lender Must Believe the Borrower Can Repay

The Attorney General is proposing new regulations under the Consumer Protection Act (M.G.L. 93A). The new regulations add new prohibited activities as provisions (15), (16), (17) and (18) under 940 C.M.R 8.06.


The new (15) provides in part: "It is an unfair or deceptive act or practice for a . . . lender to . . . make a mortgage loan unless the . . . lender . . . reasonably believes at the time the loan is expected to be made that the borrower will be able to repay the loan based upon a consideration of the borrower’s income, assets, obligations, employment status, credit history, and financial resources, not limited to the borrower’s equity in the dwelling which secures repayment of the loan. . . ."

The problem with this new prohibited activity is the lack of a benchmark for a lender to rely on. The challenge from the borrower under (15) will almost always come after the person has gone into default and is scrambling to prevent foreclosure. How can the lender prove that they reasonably believed the borrower could repay the loan when it turns out that the borrower could not.


How much of their income should a borrower reasonably be expected to expend on their mortgage and still be expected to be able to repay the loan? Certainly a loan with monthly payments in excess of 100% of a borrowers net monthly income would be a violation of this new provision. But I am not sure where the percentage hits the tipping point to become reasonably expected to be able to repay. 90%? 75%? 50%? 25%?

I think the borrower should be the party that determines if they will be able to repay the loan.

Summary of Proposed Predatory Lending Regulations

The Attorney General is proposing new regulations under the Consumer Protection Act (M.G.L. 93A).

The Attorney General summarized wants to enact the new regulations to:

· Prohibit mortgage brokers or lenders from making a loan if they do not have a
reasonable belief that the borrower is able to repay the loan.
· Restrict the abuse of no-documentation or “stated income” loans by requiring that the mortgage broker or lender disclose how the interest rates or other charges will increase under a “no-doc” loan, and obtain the borrower’s signed statement of income in order to process those types of loans.
· Prohibit mortgage brokers from arranging or processing loans that are not in the borrower’s interest, and prohibit brokers from brokering loans if their financial interests conflict with the borrower’s.
· Prohibit mortgage lenders from steering borrowers to loan products that are more costly than those that the borrower qualifies for, and prohibits lenders from discriminating between similarly qualified borrowers.

These new regulations are an update of regulations from 1992 when the last big mortgage crisis affected the Commonwealth. The regulations apply to all residential mortgages, except open end home equity lines of credit.


The update adds new prohibited activities as provisions (15), (16), (17) and (18) under 940 C.M.R 8.06.

I have a lot of concern about knee-jerk reactions to mortgage crisis. One person's predatory lending is another person's provider of an opportunity to invest in real estate.

Predatory Lending Regulations and Hearing Schedule

The Massachusetts Attorney General is reacting to the current sub-prime mortgage lending situation by proposing several new regulations under M.G.L. 93A

A copy of the proposed regulations can be found here.

The hearing schedule for the proposed regulations is as follows:

Monday, September, 17, 2007, 11:00 a.m.
Worcester Regional Chamber of Commerce
339 Main Street
Worcester, MA 01608

Tuesday, September 18, 2007, 11:00 a.m.
Brockton District Court, Rotunda Hearing Room
215 Main Street
Brockton, MA 02301


Wednesday, September 19, 2007, 10:00 a.m.
Office of the Attorney General
1350 Main Street, 3rd Floor Conference Room
Springfield, MA 01103


Thursday, September 20, 2007, 10:00 a.m.
The State House - Gardner Auditorium
Boston, MA 02108