Chapter 708

708.10(1)(e)3. 3. A check that is negotiable, as defined in s. 403.104 (1), and on which the lender or an affiliate of the lender is the drawee, as defined in s. 403.103 (1) (b).

708.10(1)(e)4. 4. Transfer of the loan funds by the lender into an account maintained by the lender or an affiliate of the lender in favor of the settlement agent or borrower.

708.10(1)(f) (f) “Settlement agent” means a person retained by the lender who provides services that benefit the lender and borrower in a transaction and who receives and disburses money in connection with the transaction.

708.10(1)(g) (g) “Transaction” means a transaction under s. 706.001 (1), including a refinancing of an existing indebtedness that is secured by a mortgage on real property, except that “transaction” does not include an open end credit plan as defined under 15 USC 1602 (i).

708.10(1)(h) (h) “Wire transfer” means the electronic funds transfer system of the federal reserve banks. When funds are transferred by wire transfer, delivery of the funds is complete when a transaction number has been assigned to the wire transfer.

708.10(2) (2) Loan fund disbursal.

708.10(2)(a) (a) Except as provided in par. (b), if a settlement agent is to deliver qualified loan funds to the borrower in a transaction, or to a 3rd party on behalf of the borrower, a lender may not permit or require a borrower to complete a loan settlement unless the lender unconditionally delivers qualified loan funds to the settlement agent before or immediately on completion of the loan settlement.

708.10(2)(b) (b) If the lender and the borrower have agreed that less than all of the loan funds are to be disbursed at the loan settlement, the lender shall deliver qualified loan funds to the settlement agent only in the amount to be disbursed at the loan settlement.

708.10 History History: 1995 a. 394; 1997 a. 35, 145, 152; 1999 a. 85; 2009 a. 180.

708.11 708.11 Assignments of rents, leases and profits.

708.11(1) (1) In this section, “assignment” means any assignment, pledge, transfer or any other conveyance of an interest in rents, leases or profits, whether contained in a mortgage, security agreement or other document executed by the assignor.

708.11(2) (2) When any debt or other obligation is secured by an assignment, the assignment shall be effective as to the assignor upon the execution and delivery of the assignment to the assignee. The assignment shall be perfected as to all subsequent purchasers, mortgagees, lien creditors, and all other 3rd parties for all purposes from the time and date of recording the assignment in the register of deeds office of the county in which the real property affected by the assignment is located. The assignment shall be governed by ch. 706 and shall be considered a conveyance for the purposes of ch. 706. An assignee who enforces an assignment in accordance with its terms shall not be considered to be a mortgagee in possession with attendant liability.

708.11(3) (3) 

708.11(3)(a) (a) Unless otherwise agreed upon in writing, the assignee shall be entitled to enforce the assignment without the necessity of any of the following:

708.11(3)(a)1. 1. Furnishing notice to the assignor or any lessee.

708.11(3)(a)2. 2. Obtaining possession of the real property.

708.11(3)(a)3. 3. Impounding the rents.

708.11(3)(a)4. 4. Securing the appointment of a receiver.

708.11(3)(a)5. 5. Taking any other affirmative action.

708.11(3)(b) (b) Unless otherwise agreed upon in writing, the assignee may not exercise any right to collect rents or profits created under an assignment until the assignor is in default on the obligation to the assignee. Enforcement of the assignment shall not be considered a cure of an event of default not withstanding the collection of rents or profits in excess of any delinquent amounts due the assignee.

708.11(4) (4) Any tenant or lessee who, upon notice from an assignee, makes rent payments to the assignee in accordance with the terms of the assignment shall be given credit for the payment as if the payment had been made to the assignor, but nothing in this section shall affect the other rights and obligations of the assignor or the tenant or lessee as to one another.

708.11(5) (5) This section does not invalidate assignments of leases, rents or profits that were perfected by other means before May 9, 1996.

708.11 History History: 1995 a. 283.

708.11 Annotation Enforcing Assignments of Leases, Rents and Profits. Leibsle. Wis. Law. May 1996.

708.15 708.15 Mortgage satisfaction.

708.15(1) (1) Definitions. In this section:

708.15(1)(a) (a) “Address for giving a notification” means, for the purpose of a particular type of notification, the most recent address provided in a document by the intended recipient of the notification to the person giving the notification, unless the person giving the notification knows of a more accurate address, in which case the term means that address.

708.15(1)(b) (b) “Day” means calendar day.

708.15(1)(c) (c) “Document” means information that is inscribed on a tangible medium or that is stored in an electronic or other medium and is retrievable in perceivable form.

708.15(1)(d) (d) “Electronic” means relating to technology having electrical, digital, magnetic, wireless, optical, electromagnetic, or similar capabilities.

708.15(1)(e) (e) “Entitled person” means any of the following:

708.15(1)(e)1. 1. A person liable for payment or performance of the obligation secured by the real property described in a security instrument.

708.15(1)(e)2. 2. The landowner.

708.15(1)(e)3. 3. The settlement agent.

708.15(1)(f) (f) “Good faith” means honesty in fact and the observance of reasonable commercial standards of fair dealing.

708.15(1)(g) (g) “Landowner” or “owner” means a person that, before foreclosure, has the right of redemption in the real property described in a security instrument. The term does not include a person that holds only a lien on the real property.

708.15(1)(h) (h) “Notification” means a document containing information required under this section and signed by the person required to provide the information.

708.15(1)(i) (i) “Payoff amount” means the sum necessary to satisfy a secured obligation, as set forth in a payoff statement by the secured creditor.

708.15(1)(j) (j) “Payoff statement” means a document containing the information specified in sub. (3) (d).

708.15(1)(k) (k) “Person” means an individual, corporation, business trust, estate, trust, partnership, limited liability company, association, joint venture, public corporation, government, or governmental subdivision, agency, or instrumentality, or any other legal or commercial entity.

708.15(1)(L) (L) “Recording data” means the date of recording, the document number, and, if given on the document, the volume and page where the document is recorded in the office of the register of deeds under s. 59.43.

708.15(1)(m) (m) “Residential real property” means real property located in this state that is used primarily for personal, family, or household purposes and is improved by one to 4 dwelling units.

708.15(1)(n) (n) “Secured creditor” means a person that holds or is the beneficiary of a security interest or that is authorized both to receive payments on behalf of a person that holds a security interest and to record a satisfaction of the security instrument upon receiving full performance of the secured obligation. The term does not include a trustee under a security instrument.

708.15(1)(o) (o) “Secured obligation” means an obligation the payment or performance of which is secured by a security interest.

708.15(1)(p) (p) “Security instrument” means an agreement, however denominated, that creates or provides for an interest in real property to secure payment or performance of an obligation, whether or not it also creates or provides for a lien on personal property.

708.15(1)(q) (q) “Security interest” means an interest in real property created by a security instrument.

708.15(1)(r) (r) “Settlement agent” means the person responsible for the preparation of the settlement statement for the conveyance of real property.

708.15(1)(s) (s) “Sign” means, with present intent to authenticate or adopt a document, any of the following:

708.15(1)(s)1. 1. To execute or adopt a tangible symbol.

708.15(1)(s)2. 2. To attach to or logically associate with the document an electronic sound, symbol, or process.

708.15(1)(t) (t) “State” means a state of the United States, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, the United States Virgin Islands, or any territory or insular possession subject to the jurisdiction of the United States.

708.15(1)(u) (u) “Submit for recording” means to deliver, with required fees and taxes, a document sufficient to be recorded under this section, to the office of the register of deeds under s. 59.43.

708.15(1)(v) (v) “Title insurance company” means an organization authorized to conduct the business of insuring titles to real property in this state.

708.15(2) (2) Notification: manner of giving and effective date.

708.15(2)(a) (a) A person gives a notification by doing any of the following:

708.15(2)(a)1. 1. Depositing it with the U.S. Postal Service with 1st class postage paid or with a commercially reasonable delivery service with cost of delivery provided, properly addressed to the recipient’s address for giving a notification.

708.15(2)(a)2. 2. Sending it by facsimile transmission, electronic mail, or other electronic transmission to the recipient’s address for giving a notification.

708.15(2)(a)3. 3. Causing it to be received at the address for giving a notification within the time that it would have been received if given in the manner provided in subd. 1.

708.15(2)(b) (b) A notification is effective at any of the following times:

708.15(2)(b)1. 1. The day after it is deposited with a commercially reasonable delivery service for overnight delivery.

708.15(2)(b)2. 2. Three days after it is deposited with the U.S. Postal Service, with 1st class mail with postage prepaid, or with a commercially reasonable delivery service for delivery other than by overnight delivery.

708.15(2)(b)3. 3. The day it is given, if given as provided in par. (a) 2.

708.15(2)(b)4. 4. The day it is received, if given by a method other than as provided in par. (a) 1. or 2.

708.15(2)(c) (c) If this section or a notification given under this section requires performance on or by a certain day and that day is a Saturday, Sunday, or legal holiday under the laws of this state or the United States, the performance is sufficient if performed on the next day that is not a Saturday, Sunday, or legal holiday.

708.15(3) (3) Payoff statement: request and content.

708.15(3)(a) (a) An entitled person, or an agent authorized by an entitled person to request a payoff statement, may give to the secured creditor a notification requesting a payoff statement for a specified payoff date not more than 30 days after the notification is given. The notification must contain all of the following:

708.15(3)(a)1. 1. The entitled person’s name.

708.15(3)(a)2. 2. If given by a person other than an entitled person, the name of the person giving the notification and a statement that the person is an authorized agent of the entitled person.

708.15(3)(a)3. 3. A direction whether the statement is to be sent to the entitled person or that person’s authorized agent.

708.15(3)(a)4. 4. The address, facsimile transmission number, or electronic mail or other electronic transmission address to which the secured creditor must send the statement.

708.15(3)(a)5. 5. Sufficient information to enable the secured creditor to identify the secured obligation and the real property encumbered by the security interest.

708.15(3)(b) (b) If a notification under par. (a) directs the secured creditor to send the payoff statement to a person identified as an authorized agent of the entitled person, the secured creditor must send the statement to the agent, unless the secured creditor knows that the entitled person has not authorized the request.

708.15(3)(c) (c)

708.15(3)(c)1. 1. Except as provided in subd. 2., within 7 business days after the effective date of a notification that complies with par. (a) or, if the security interest encumbers real property that is not residential real property, within a reasonable longer time after the effective date of such a notification, the secured creditor shall issue a payoff statement and send it as directed under par. (a) 3. in the manner prescribed in sub. (2) for giving a notification.

708.15(3)(c)2. 2. If the person to whom the notification is given once held an interest in the secured obligation but has since assigned that interest, the person need not send a payoff statement but shall, within 7 business days after the effective date of the notification, give a notification of the assignment to the person to whom the payoff statement otherwise would have been sent, providing the name and address of the assignee.

708.15(3)(c)3. 3. A secured creditor that sends a payoff statement to the entitled person or the authorized agent may not claim that the notification did not satisfy par. (a).

708.15(3)(d) (d) Except as provided in par. (f) 2., a payoff statement shall contain all of the following:

708.15(3)(d)1. 1. The date on which it was prepared and the payoff amount as of that date. If the entitled person or the person’s authorized agent specifically requests it, the payoff statement shall include the amount by type of each fee, charge, or other sum included within the payoff amount.

708.15(3)(d)2. 2. The information reasonably necessary to calculate the payoff amount as of the requested payoff date, including the per diem interest amount, if applicable.

708.15(3)(d)3. 3. The payment cutoff time, if any, the address or place where payment, including payment by electronic transmission, if available, must be made, and any limitation as to the authorized method of payment.

708.15(3)(e) (e) A payoff statement may contain the amount of any fees authorized under this subsection not included in the payoff amount.

708.15(3)(f) (f)

708.15(3)(f)1. 1. If the security instrument secures an interest in residential real property, a secured creditor may not qualify a payoff amount or state that the payoff amount is subject to change before the payoff date.

708.15(3)(f)2. 2. A secured creditor may qualify a payoff amount or state that the payoff amount is not practicably determinable or is subject to change before the payoff date if all of the following apply:

708.15(3)(f)2.a. a. The security instrument secures an interest in real property that is not residential real property.

708.15(3)(f)2.b. b. The payoff statement provides instructions for how the entitled person or an authorized agent of the entitled person may obtain an updated payoff amount at no charge during the secured creditor’s normal business hours on the payoff date or the immediately preceding business day.

708.15(3)(g) (g) A secured creditor must provide upon request one payoff statement without charge during any 2-month period. A secured creditor may charge a fee of $25 for each additional payoff statement requested during that 2-month period. However, a secured creditor may not charge a fee for providing a corrected payoff statement under sub. (4) (a).

708.15(3)(h) (h) Except as otherwise provided in sub. (7), if a secured creditor to which a notification has been given under par. (a) does not send a timely payoff statement that substantially complies with par. (d), the secured creditor is liable to the entitled person for any actual damages caused by the failure plus $500, but not punitive damages. A secured creditor that does not pay the damages provided in this paragraph within 30 days after receipt of a notification demanding payment may also be liable for reasonable attorney fees and costs.

708.15(4) (4) Understated payoff statement: correction; effect.