As used in this Act, unless the context otherwise requires, the term—

(1) “community” means a State or a political subdivision thereof which has zoning and building code jurisdiction over a particular area having special flood hazards;

(2) “Federal agency” means any department, agency, corporation, or other entity or instrumentality of the executive branch of the Federal Government, and includes the Federal National Mortgage Association and the Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation;

(3) “financial assistance” means any form of loan, grant, guaranty, insurance, payment, rebate, subsidy, disaster assistance loan or grant, or any other form of direct or indirect Federal assistance, other than general or special revenue sharing or formula grants made to States;

(4) “financial assistance for acquisition or construction purposes” means any form of financial assistance which is intended in whole or in part for the acquisition, construction, reconstruction, repair, or improvement of any publicly or privately owned building or mobile home, and for any machinery, equipment, fixtures, and furnishings contained or to be contained therein, and shall include the purchase or subsidization of mortgages or mortgage loans but shall exclude assistance pursuant to the Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act [42 U.S.C. 5121 et seq.] (other than assistance under such Act in connection with a flood);

(5) “Federal entity for lending regulation” means the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, the Comptroller of the Currency, the National Credit Union Administration, and the Farm Credit Administration, and with respect to a particular regulated lending institution means the entity primarily responsible for the supervision of the institution;

(6) “Administrator” means the Administrator of the Federal Emergency Management Agency;

(7) “Federal agency lender” means a Federal agency that makes direct loans secured by improved real estate or a mobile home, to the extent such agency acts in such capacity;

(8) the term “improved real estate” means real estate upon which a building is located;

(9) “lender” means a regulated lending institution or Federal agency lender;

(10) “regulated lending institution” means any bank, savings and loan association, credit union, farm credit bank, Federal land bank association, production credit association, or similar institution subject to the supervision of a Federal entity for lending regulation; and

(11) “servicer” means the person responsible for receiving any scheduled periodic payments from a borrower pursuant to the terms of a loan, including amounts for taxes, insurance premiums, and other charges with respect to the property securing the loan, and making the payments of principal and interest and such other payments with respect to the amounts received from the borrower as may be required pursuant to the terms of the loan.

The Administrator is authorized to define or redefine, by rules and regulations, any scientific or technical term used in this Act, insofar as such definition is not inconsistent with the purposes of this Act.

(Pub. L. 93–234, § 3, Dec. 31, 1973, 87 Stat. 976; Pub. L. 95–128, title VII, § 703(b), Oct. 12, 1977, 91 Stat. 1145; Pub. L. 98–181, title I [title IV, § 451(e)], Nov. 30, 1983, 97 Stat. 1229; Pub. L. 100–707, title I, § 109(t), Nov. 23, 1988, 102 Stat. 4710; Pub. L. 103–325, title V, § 511(a), Sept. 23, 1994, 108 Stat. 2255; Pub. L. 111–203, title III, § 368, July 21, 2010, 124 Stat. 1557; Pub. L. 112–141, div. F, title II, § 100238(a)(1), July 6, 2012, 126 Stat. 958.)