§480E-3 Distressed property consultant contract. (a) A distressed property consultant contract shall be in writing and shall fully disclose all services to be performed by the distressed property consultant and all terms of any agreements between the distressed property consultant and all distressed property owners, including the total amount and terms of compensation to be directly or indirectly received by the distressed property consultant.

(b) A distressed property consultant contract shall contain on its first page in a type size no smaller than fourteen-point boldface type:

(1) A description of the distressed property;

(2) The name, street address, and telephone number of the distressed property consultant; and

(3) The name and address of the distressed property consultant to which notice of cancellation is to be delivered.

(c) A distressed property consultant contract shall be dated and signed by the distressed property consultant. If the distressed property consultant is a person other than an individual, the individual executing the distressed property consultant contract on behalf of the distressed property consultant shall identify the title and office held by the individual.

(d) A distressed property consultant contract shall be dated and signed by all distressed property owners.

(e) A distressed property consultant contract shall disclose the following information, and shall be substantially in the following form and printed in not less than fourteen-point type:

"You may stop doing business with us at any time. You may accept or reject the offer of mortgage assistance we obtain from your lender (or servicer). If you reject the offer, you do not have to pay us. If you accept the offer, you will have to pay us [insert amount or method of calculating the amount] for our services.

[Name of the company] is not associated with the government, and our service is not approved by the government or your lender.

Even if you agree to use our service in an attempt to obtain mortgage assistance relief from the lending party, your lender may not agree to change your loan.

IF YOU STOP PAYING YOUR MORTGAGE, YOU COULD LOSE YOUR HOME AND DAMAGE YOUR CREDIT RATING."

For the purposes of this subsection, the amount "you will have to pay" shall consist of the total amount the consumer must pay to purchase, receive, and use all of the mortgage assistance relief services that are the subject of the sales offer, including but not limited to all fees and charges.

(f) The distressed property consultant shall provide each distressed property owner with a copy of the distressed property consultant contract and attached notice of cancellation immediately upon execution by all parties to the distressed property consultant contract. A distressed property consultant contract shall not be effective until all parties to the distressed property consultant contract have signed the contract.

(g) For forms of mortgage assistance relief that can only be obtained from a lending party, the objective of every such distressed property consultant contract shall be to obtain from the lending party a written offer to the distressed property owner for mortgage assistance relief on terms acceptable to the property owners. Any such agreement with the lending party for mortgage assistance relief shall be in writing, and shall become binding upon the distressed property owners only after all property owners have accepted the offer by executing the written contract.[L 2008, c 137, pt of §2; am L 2016, c 142, §5]