Massachusetts Broadens Licensees Subject To Record Keeping Requirements, Allows For Electronic Records

Mortgage Servicing Electronic Records Licensing

This week, the Massachusetts Consumer Affairs and Business Regulation Office, Division of Banks, released final amendments to the state’s licensee record keeping rules, intended to, among other things, “modernize the regulations that address electronic records.” The final amended regulations expand the state’s licensee record keeping requirements to include any person registered as a third party loan servicer, a check seller, or a foreign transmittal agency. The final amendments require licensed debt collectors and third party loan servicers to maintain records—including “a complete customer account history for each transaction”—for at least two years, and all other licensees to maintain records for at least three years. The amended regulations allow licensees to store books, records, and accounts as electronic records provided the electronic records are accessible for immediate examination through equipment available to the Commissioner of the Division of Banks or the Commissioner’s designees, and provided the licensee indicates in NMLS how its books, records, and accounts will be stored and made accessible to the Commissioner. The amended regulations become effective June 6, 2014.