Oregon mortgage advertising rules

License and NMLS ID display

Statute. Guidance is not law.

Last verified 2026-09-17.

REGULATION. OAR 441-870-0080(2), entity-level, quoted in full:

"All advertisements a mortgage banker or mortgage broker disseminates by any means must contain the mortgage banker or mortgage broker's unique identifier or Oregon-issued license number, the mortgage banker or mortgage broker's name, or the mortgage banker or mortgage broker's assumed business name that conforms to a name on file with the director."

Conjunctive or disjunctive. genuinely unclear on the face of the text, and this matters. The sentence contains three list items separated by commas with a terminal "or": 1. "unique identifier or Oregon-issued license number" (internally disjunctive. either will do), 2. "the ... name", 3. "the ... assumed business name that conforms to a name on file with the director."

Read literally with the terminal "or" controlling, the whole thing is DISJUNCTIVE. an ad containing only the company's name would satisfy it. Read as intended (identifier-or-license-number and name-or-assumed-name), it is CONJUNCTIVE across two required elements. The safe compliance posture is to treat it as conjunctive: include (identifier or Oregon license number) AND (name or approved assumed business name). Do not code this as a clean disjunctive rule in a compliance product without counsel sign-off.

MLO-level. OAR 441-870-0080(1)(p)–(s). Four separate subparagraphs make it false, misleading or deceptive to disseminate, without the unique identifier of each mortgage loan originator:

• (p) "Solicitations from a particular mortgage loan originator or a group of mortgage loan originators";
• (q) "Advertisements pertaining to a particular mortgage loan originator or a group of mortgage loan originators";
• (r) "Promotional materials pertaining to a particular mortgage loan originator or a group of mortgage loan originators"; and
• (s) "Websites if the website lists the mortgage loan originator's name in relation to residential mortgage lending without the unique identifier of the particular mortgage loan originator."

Note "each" and "group." A team ad naming five originators requires five unique identifiers. This is stricter than the typical SAFE Act formulation and is a real trap for team-branded marketing.

Prohibited claims

Statute. Guidance is not law.

Last verified 2026-09-17.

The chapeau: "Advertising containing any of the following is false, misleading or deceptive." Selected items with what they attach to:

• (1)(o). "PREAPPROVED"/"PREQUALIFIED", EXPRESSLY. Prohibited: "Terms such as 'verified as eligible', 'preapproved', 'prequalified' or similar words or phrases, without at least as prominently disclosing language that describes prerequisites to qualify for the loan, including, but not limited to, income verification, credit check, and property appraisal or evaluation." *Attaches to: eligibility/approval-status claims. Note the cure is disclosure of prerequisites, "at least as prominently."*
• (1)(k). GOVERNMENT LOOK-ALIKE (visual). Prohibited: "Official looking emblems or logos, such as eagles, crests, or flags, which resemble a format similar to that used by any governmental agency."
• (1)(l). GOVERNMENT LOOK-ALIKE (envelope). Prohibited: "Envelopes which resemble an official government mailing, from entities such as the Internal Revenue Service, U.S. Treasury, a state taxing authority, or other governmental mailer."
• (1)(m). GOVERNMENT SLOGAN. Prohibited: "Slogans such as 'Buy U.S. Savings Bonds' without at least as prominently disclosing that the mailing is an advertisement and not from a government agency."
• (1)(n). EXISTING-LENDER NAME USE. Using the name or logo of a financial institution or the holder of an existing loan, absent association or a cooperative agreement, unless the advertiser's own name is disclosed at least as prominently together with three mandated statements, verbatim: "This is an advertisement"; "This is an offer for a new loan"; and "This offer is not related to your existing mortgage lender or holder of your loan". *These are prescribed strings, not paraphrasable concepts.*
• (1)(f). BAD-CREDIT QUALIFYING CLAIMS. Prohibited: representing "that all or most borrowers may or will qualify for a loan or that persons with bad credit histories or no credit histories may or will qualify for this loan unless the person can demonstrate that borrowers with bad credit or no credit have been routinely and successfully qualified for loans by that lender." *Note the defense is an evidentiary one. the advertiser must be able to demonstrate a track record.*
• (1)(e). BAIT. Prohibited: an offer "to procure, arrange, or otherwise assist a borrower to obtain a mortgage loan on terms which the person cannot, does not intend, or does not want to provide, or which the person knows or should know cannot be reasonably provided."
• (1)(i). "WHOLESALE RATES". Prohibited: "The phrase 'wholesale rates' when the advertising is directed to or accessible by the public." *A flat ban on a specific phrase in consumer-facing media.*
• (1)(c). LOW-DOC PRODUCTS. Representing ability to make or negotiate "low doc/no doc," "no income/no asset," "alt doc," "stated income," "stated asset," "no ratio," or similar products without at least as prominently disclosing that these "may have a higher interest rate, more points, or more fees than other products that require income documentation."
• (1)(g) and (1)(h). incorporate RESPA/Regulation X (12 C.F.R. Part 1024, kickbacks and unearned fees, "including soliciting referrals with a promise to pay the advertising costs of any settlement provider") and Regulation Z (12 C.F.R. Part 1026) advertising violations as state violations.

No express Oregon ban on the bare words "lowest," "best," "cheapest," or "free" was found, and no general superlative prohibition. Oregon instead bans specific phrases ("wholesale rates") and regulates specific claim categories.

Rate advertising

Regulation. Guidance is not law.

Last verified 2026-09-17.

• (1)(b). APR PROMINENCE: it is false, misleading or deceptive to advertise "An interest rate without as least as prominently disclosing the annual percentage rate of the note." *Attaches to: any stated interest rate. This is a state-level APR-equal-prominence rule.*
• (1)(d). DECIMAL PRECISION: prohibited is "An interest rate or annual percentage rate expressed in less than three decimal places, provided that ending zeros following the decimal point may be omitted." *This is genuinely unusual. "6.25%" is non-compliant on its face; "6.250%" or "6.25%" with the trailing zero omitted per the proviso is the intended form. This is a concrete, mechanically checkable rule and a good candidate for automated linting.*
• (1)(a). PAYMENT-AMOUNT TRIGGER: stating a specific installment repayment amount requires disclosing, at least as prominently: "(A) Principal amount; (B) Annual percentage rate; (C) Whether the interest rate is fixed or variable, and if variable, the loan terms; (D) Number, amount and period of payments scheduled to the date of maturity; and (E) Balance due at maturity (balloon payment) if not fully amortized."
• (1)(j). NEGATIVE AMORTIZATION: any statement about a loan carrying negative-amortization potential requires clearly identifying that potential and disclosing at least as prominently "(A) The market or fully indexed rate; (B) The term of the reduced payments; (C) The term of the entire loan; and (D) The annual percentage rate."

No Oregon rate-lock-terms or standalone "rates subject to change" advertising mandate was located.

Penalties

Statute. Guidance is not law.

Last verified 2026-09-17.

ORS 86A.992(1) Statute [REPRODUCTION. oregon.public.law, source-linked to oregonlegislature.gov]: "any person who violates or who procures, aids or abets in the violation of any provision of ORS 86A.095 to 86A.198 or any rule or order of the Director of the Department of Consumer and Business Services shall be subject to a penalty of not more than $5,000 for every violation, which shall be paid to the General Fund of the State Treasury." ORS 86A.992(3): "the maximum penalty for any continuing violation shall not exceed $20,000 for each offense." Licensing action remains available under ORS 86A.115.