(a) Exempted person means a person, partnership, association, trust, corporation or other entity engaged in the business of servicing mortgage loans with respect to any property located in this State to which the registration requirement in section 590(2)(b-1) of the Banking Law does not apply.

(b) Mortgage loan means a loan to a natural person made primarily for personal, family or household use, secured by a mortgage or other consensual security interest on residential real property or certificates of stock or other evidence of ownership interests in, and a proprietary lease from, a corporation or partnership formed for the purpose of cooperative ownership of residential real property and, if determined by regulation, shall include such a loan secured by a security interest on a manufactured home.

(c) Mortgage loan servicer, servicer, or MLS means a person registered or required to be registered pursuant to Banking Law, section 590(2)(b-1) to engage in the business of servicing mortgage loans for property located in this State, or a person exempted from such registration requirement.

(d) Servicing mortgage loans means receiving any scheduled periodic payments from a borrower pursuant to the terms of any mortgage loan, including amounts for escrow accounts under section 6-k of the Banking Law, title 3-A of article IX of the Real Property Tax Law or section 10 of 12 U.S.C. 2609, and making payments to the owner of the loan or other third parties 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 mortgage loan documents or servicing contract. In the case of a home equity conversion mortgage or reverse mortgage as referenced in section 6-h of the Banking Law, sections 280 and 280-a of the Real Property Law or 24 CFR 3500.2, servicing includes making payments to the borrower. The term includes a person who makes or holds a mortgage loan if such person also directly or indirectly is the holder of the mortgage servicing rights or has been delegated servicing functions for the mortgage loan.

(e) Person means any individual or legal entity, including any corporation, partnership, association or limited liability company.

(f) Residential real property means real property located in this State improved by a one-to-four family residence or residential unit in a building used or occupied, or intended to be used or occupied, wholly or partly, as the home or residence of one or more persons, but shall not refer to unimproved real property upon which such dwellings are to be constructed.

(g) Third-party servicer means, with respect to particular mortgage loans, a servicer that does not own such mortgage loans or the servicing rights thereto but only performs servicing or sub-servicing for the owner of such loans or servicing rights or another third-party servicer, provided that for a person to be deemed to be a third-party servicer, the owner of the servicing rights must remain responsible for all advance and repurchase obligations related to the servicing.