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All states · Filled 2026-09-17

Florida mortgage advertising rules

Adline flags phrases that match cited rules. It does not certify that Florida marketing is compliant. We flag and cite. We never certify. This is not legal advice. Whether a rule reaches you depends on your license type. Federal Reg Z and Reg N still apply.

Scanner status: Index only. The engine cites Washington, Arizona, and Idaho only. This page is an index of retrieved text. The engine does not emit a Florida citation.

No state NMLS-ID-in-advertising mandate located

Chapter 494 uses unique identifier for registry registration. Fla. Stat. 494.00165 has no identifier-display duty. The old ch. 69V-40 advertising rule was repealed in 2010. This is a verified negative needing OFR confirmation.

Regulating agency

Florida Office of Financial Regulation (OFR)

Last verified 2026-09-17.

Florida Office of Financial Regulation (OFR), Division of Consumer Finance. [OFFICIAL. flofr.gov]

Governing statute and administrative code

Last verified 2026-09-17.

  • Fla. Stat. Chapter 494. Loan Originators and Mortgage Brokers [STATUTE] [OFFICIAL. flsenate.gov]
  • Fla. Stat. § 494.00165. "Prohibited advertising; record requirements". the operative advertising section
  • Fla. Stat. § 494.0025. Prohibited practices
  • Fla. Stat. § 494.00255. Administrative penalties and fines
  • Fla. Admin. Code Chapter 69V-40. Mortgage Brokerage [REGULATION] [OFFICIAL. flrules.org]

⚠️ There is no general advertising rule in Fla. Admin. Code ch. 69V-40. Enumerated the full current (non-repealed) rule list and found no rule titled or addressed to advertising, NMLS, or unique identifier. The former Rule 69V-40.0281 (advertising, mortgage business schools) was repealed 10/1/2010. Rule 69V-40.011 ("Misleading Practice; Penalty") is not an advertising rule. its text concerns recording a mortgage before funds are available:

"The taking and recording of a mortgage is tantamount to a commitment, and when funds are not available for immediate disbursement to the mortgagor, such procedure will be considered a misleading and deceptive practice..."

Practical consequence: Florida mortgage advertising law is essentially entirely statutory. A rules-engine build that scrapes state administrative codes will produce an empty Florida ruleset. This is a real product risk.

License and NMLS ID display

None found

Statute. Guidance is not law.

Last verified 2026-09-17.

Could not find a Florida statute or rule requiring the NMLS unique identifier to appear in advertisements.

What Searched and what I found:

  • Searched the full text of Fla. Stat. ch. 494 (2025) for "unique identifier." It appears in § 494.0011(2)(b)(1) in connection with registry registration, not advertising display.
  • Enumerated the full current rule list for Fla. Admin. Code ch. 69V-40. no rule addresses NMLS ID display in advertising.
  • § 494.00165. Florida's dedicated advertising statute. contains no identifier-display requirement.

Conclusion, stated conservatively: NOT VERIFIED. Florida appears to be an outlier that did not adopt the CSBS/AARMR model "unique identifier ... on all ... solicitations or advertisements" provision that Alabama (§ 5-26-20), Alaska (AS 06.60.325), Arkansas (§ 23-39-510(c)), Connecticut (§ 36a-498d), Delaware (§ 2420), and Georgia (§ 7-1-1004.3) all did adopt. Before publishing this as an affirmative "not required," a human should confirm against OFR directly and check for any OFR order or declaratory statement. Note also that the federal SAFE Act framework and NMLS policy may still drive disclosure as a practical matter, and most multistate lenders disclose anyway.

Prohibited claims

Verified

Statute. Guidance is not law.

Last verified 2026-09-17.

It is unlawful for any person to:

"(a) Advertise that an applicant shall have unqualified access to credit without disclosing the material limitations on the availability of such credit."
"(b) Advertise a mortgage loan at an expressed interest rate unless the advertisement specifically states that the expressed rate could change or not be available at commitment or closing."
"(c) Advertise mortgage loans, including rates, margins, discounts, points, fees, commissions, or other material information ... unless the person is able to make such mortgage loans available to a reasonable number of qualified applicants."
"(d) Falsely advertise or misuse names indicating a federal agency pursuant to 18 U.S.C. s. 709."
"(e) Engage in unfair, deceptive, or misleading advertising regarding mortgage loans, brokering services, or lending services."

Analysis of what attaches to what:

  • (a) attaches to access-to-credit claims. "Guaranteed approval," "everyone qualifies," "no one turned down" are hit unless material limitations are disclosed. This is Florida's "guaranteed"/"pre-approved" hook.
  • (b) attaches to rate claims only. see §5 below. It is the most specific and most operationally significant Florida requirement.
  • (c) attaches to rates, margins, discounts, points, fees, commissions, "or other material information" and imposes a bona fide availability test: you must be able to make the advertised loan available to "a reasonable number of qualified applicants." This is a real anti-teaser provision. advertising a rate obtainable by almost no one violates (c) even if the rate is literally real.
  • (d) attaches to federal agency names, and does so by incorporating 18 U.S.C. § 709. a federal criminal statute. This is Florida's "government" prohibition.
  • (e) is the general catch-all, attaching to all advertising claims about mortgage loans, brokering, or lending services.

No express word-ban on "lowest," "best," "cheapest," "free," or "no cost" located. Superlatives run through (e) and, where they are price claims, (c).

§ 494.0025(9) [STATUTE] [OFFICIAL] separately prohibits use of a financial institution's name or logo:

"To use the name or logo of a financial institution ... when marketing or soliciting ... in a manner that would lead a reasonable person to believe" the material is endorsed by that institution

§ 494.0025(4)–(5) prohibit schemes to defraud, transactions operating as a fraud, misrepresenting a residential mortgage loan as a business-purpose loan, and knowingly falsifying or concealing material facts.

Rate advertising

Verified

Statute. Guidance is not law.

Last verified 2026-09-17.

§ 494.00165(1)(b) is a hard, affirmative, Florida-specific disclosure requirement that goes beyond Reg Z:

"Advertise a mortgage loan at an expressed interest rate unless the advertisement specifically states that the expressed rate could change or not be available at commitment or closing."

Analysis. this is one of the highest-value cells in the whole batch:

  • Trigger: advertising *any* "expressed interest rate." This is broader than Reg Z's trigger-term rule. it does not require a payment, term, or other trigger term; a bare rate is enough.
  • Required content is a two-pronged statement: the rate "could change" OR "not be available at commitment or closing." Read literally, the statute requires the advertisement to state both possibilities. a bare "rates subject to change" arguably addresses only the first prong and not availability at commitment/closing. Conservative build: require language covering both change AND availability at commitment or closing.
  • "Specifically states". an implied or general disclaimer is unlikely to satisfy it.
  • Combined with (c)'s bona fide availability test, Florida rate advertising carries two independent requirements: the disclaimer, and actual availability to a reasonable number of qualified applicants.

Ad filing, prior approval, retention

None found

Statute. Guidance is not law.

Last verified 2026-09-17.

No prior approval or filing requirement located.

§ 494.00165(2) [STATUTE] [OFFICIAL]:

"Each person required to be licensed under this chapter must maintain a record of samples of each of its advertisements, including commercial scripts of each radio or television broadcast, for examination by the office for 2 years after the date of publication or broadcast."

Note: "samples of each of its advertisements". sampling by category is not obviously sufficient. The clock runs from date of publication or broadcast. Radio and TV scripts must be retained as scripts, not merely as media files.

Social media and character-limited media

Not yet verified

Last verified 2026-09-17.

NOT VERIFIED. No Florida guidance, rule, or abbreviated-disclosure accommodation located. Note the interaction risk: § 494.00165(1)(b)'s required rate disclaimer has no character-limit accommodation, and § 494.00165(2)'s retention duty covers "each of its advertisements". which on a literal reading includes individual social posts and paid social variants. Retention of per-variant social creative for 2 years is a real operational obligation in Florida.

Anything unusual

Last verified 2026-09-17.

  • The administrative code is empty on advertising. Everything is in § 494.00165. Automated code-scraping will miss Florida entirely.
  • No verified state NMLS-ID-in-advertising mandate. Florida diverges from its peers. (See §3 caveat.)
  • § 494.00165(1)(b) triggers on a bare expressed interest rate, with no Reg Z-style trigger-term predicate. Many national templates rely on Reg Z triggers and will under-disclose in Florida.
  • § 494.00165(1)(c)'s "reasonable number of qualified applicants" is a genuine bona fide-offering test with no safe harbor defined.
  • § 494.00165(1)(d) incorporates a federal criminal statute (18 U.S.C. § 709) into the state licensing standard.
  • Retention expressly includes commercial scripts for radio/TV.
  • § 494.0025(9) reaches use of *another* financial institution's name or logo. directly relevant to comparison and "switch from [Bank]" creative, and to co-branded realtor/builder marketing.

Penalties

Verified

Statute. Guidance is not law.

Last verified 2026-09-17.

Fla. Stat. § 494.00255 [STATUTE] [OFFICIAL. flsenate.gov]:

"Imposition of a fine in an amount up to $25,000 for each count or separate offense."

and:

"An administrative fine of up to $1,000 per day, but not to exceed $25,000 cumulatively, for each day that" an unlicensed branch office operates or an unlicensed person acts as a loan originator, mortgage broker, or mortgage lender.

⚠️ Note: the grounds-for-discipline list in § 494.00255(1) that Retrieved did not expressly enumerate § 494.00165 advertising violations. Discipline for an advertising violation most plausibly runs through the general "failure to comply with any provision of this chapter" ground. Confirm the exact subsection before asserting a penalty pathway for advertising specifically.

Sources

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Sources

Last verified 2026-09-17. Official means the legislature, the official administrative-code publisher, or the regulator. Reproduction is not the official publisher.