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All states · Filled 2026-09-17

Virginia mortgage advertising rules

Adline flags phrases that match cited rules. It does not certify that Virginia 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 Virginia citation.

Regulating agency

Virginia State Corporation Commission, Bureau of Financial Institutions.

Last verified 2026-09-17.

Virginia State Corporation Commission, Bureau of Financial Institutions. Orders issue from the Commission; the Bureau examines.

NMLS and license display: Conjunctive.

Governing statute and administrative code

Last verified 2026-09-17.

  • [STATUTE] Va. Code tit. 6.2, ch. 16. Mortgage Lenders and Brokers. Statutory authority recited in the regulation itself: §§ 6.2-1613 and 12.1-13 of the Code of Virginia (for 10VAC5-160-10 through 10VAC5-160-90).
  • [REGULATION] 10VAC5-160. Rules Governing Mortgage Lenders and Brokers. The advertising rule is 10VAC5-160-60, "Derived from Virginia Register Volume 22, Issue 18, eff. September 1, 2006; amended, Virginia Register Volume 29, Issue 12, eff. January 28, 2013; Amended, Virginia Register Volume 33, Issue 18, eff. 5/15/2017."
  • Related: 10VAC5-160-50 (responding to Bureau requests; providing false, misleading, or deceptive information) and 10VAC5-160-110 (Commission authority).
  • Second regime: Virginia licenses consumer finance companies under a separate chapter of tit. 6.2 with its own SCC rules. NOT VERIFIED. Did not retrieve the consumer-finance advertising regulation and make no claim about it. Also NOT VERIFIED: 10VAC5-161 (Rules Governing Mortgage Loan Originators), which may carry originator-specific advertising duties.

License and NMLS ID display

Verified

Regulation. Guidance is not law.

Last verified 2026-09-17.

Required. CONJUNCTIVE, and Virginia specifies the literal string and the ordering in broadcast media.

"A. Every advertisement used by, or published on behalf of, a licensed mortgage lender or mortgage broker shall clearly and conspicuously disclose the following information: 1. The name of the mortgage lender or mortgage broker as set forth in the license issued by the commission. 2. The abbreviation 'NMLS ID #' followed immediately by the unique identifier assigned by the Registry to the mortgage lender or mortgage broker along with the address for the NMLS Consumer Access website. For example: NMLS ID # 999999 (www.nmlsconsumeraccess.org). In a radio or television advertisement, this disclosure shall be provided after the name of the mortgage lender or mortgage broker." — 10VAC5-160-60(A) [REGULATION]

Three things Virginia requires that most states do not:

  • the exact abbreviation "NMLS ID #",
  • the unique identifier immediately following that abbreviation,
  • plus the NMLS Consumer Access web address. three elements in a fixed arrangement, not merely "display your NMLS number."

"Clearly and conspicuously" is defined in the rule:

"H. For purposes of this section, the term 'clearly and conspicuously' means that a required disclosure is reasonably understandable, prominently located, and readily noticeable by a potential borrower."

Prohibited claims

Verified

Regulation. Guidance is not law.

Last verified 2026-09-17.

Virginia has the most enumerated prohibited-claims list in this batch outside Washington, and one of the few hard typography mandates in U.S. mortgage advertising law.

General deception:

"B. No mortgage lender or mortgage broker shall deceptively advertise a mortgage loan, make false or misleading statements or representations, or misrepresent the terms, conditions, or charges incident to obtaining a mortgage loan."

Government / depository affiliation:

"C. No mortgage lender or mortgage broker shall use or cause to be published an advertisement that states or implies the following: 1. The mortgage lender or mortgage broker is affiliated with, or an agent or division of, a governmental agency, depository institution, or other entity with which no such relationship exists;"

"PREAPPROVED". express, with a 14-point bold type requirement:

"2. A consumer has been or will be 'preapproved' or 'pre-approved' for a mortgage loan, unless the mortgage lender or mortgage broker (i) discloses on the face of the advertisement in at least 14-point bold type that 'THIS IS NOT A LOAN APPROVAL' and (ii) clearly and conspicuously discloses the conditions and/or qualifications associated with such preapproval. This provision is intended to supplement the requirements of the Fair Credit Reporting Act (15 USC § 1681 et seq.) relating to firm offers of credit." — 10VAC5-160-60(C)(2) [REGULATION]

Attaches to: the specific words "preapproved"/"pre-approved" and to any statement that *implies* preapproval. It is a conditional permission, not an outright ban: the claim is allowed if and only if both (i) the 14-point bold "THIS IS NOT A LOAN APPROVAL" and (ii) the conditions/qualifications appear.

Impersonating the consumer's existing lender:

"D. A mortgage lender or mortgage broker shall not use or cause to be published any advertisement that gives a consumer the false impression that the advertisement is being sent by the consumer's current noteholder or lienholder. If an advertisement contains the name of the consumer's current noteholder or lienholder, it shall not be more conspicuous than the name of the mortgage lender or mortgage broker using the advertisement."

Government-mailing look-alike:

"E. A mortgage lender or mortgage broker shall not deliver or cause to be delivered to a consumer any envelope or other written material that gives the false impression that the mailing or written material is an official communication from a governmental entity, unless required by the United States Postal Service."

Refinance / lower-payment claims. a mandatory counter-disclosure:

"F. If an advertisement states or implies that a consumer can reduce his monthly payment by refinancing his current mortgage loan, a mortgage lender or mortgage broker shall clearly and conspicuously disclose to the consumer that by refinancing the consumer's existing loan, the consumer's total finance charges may be higher over the life of the loan."

No express ban on "lowest," "best," "cheapest," "guaranteed," "free," or "no cost". those fall under B.

Federal incorporation:

"G. Every advertisement used by, or published on behalf of, a mortgage lender or mortgage broker shall comply with 12 CFR Part 1014 (Regulation N) and the disclosure requirements for advertisements contained in 12 CFR Part 1026 (Regulation Z)."

Rate advertising

Verified

Regulation. Guidance is not law.

Last verified 2026-09-17.

"3. If an advertisement contains a rate of interest, a statement that the stated rate may change or not be available at the time of loan commitment or lock-in." — 10VAC5-160-60(A)(3) [REGULATION]

This is structurally different from the Tennessee/Vermont/Wisconsin model. Those states require the rate to *be* available; Virginia requires an affirmative disclaimer that it may not be. Both approaches can be satisfied at once, but a single national rate-ad template will fail Virginia if it omits the disclaimer sentence.

Trigger-lead / existing-loan-information sourcing:

"4. If an advertisement contains specific information about a consumer's existing mortgage loan and such information was not obtained from the consumer, a statement identifying the source of such information (e.g., public court records, credit reporting agency, etc.)." — 10VAC5-160-60(A)(4)

Ad filing, prior approval, retention

Verified

Regulation. Guidance is not law.

Last verified 2026-09-17.

  • No filing or prior approval required.
  • Retention. three years, with an explicit internet carve-out:

> "I. Every mortgage lender and mortgage broker shall retain for at least three years after it is last published, delivered, transmitted, or made available, an example of every advertisement used, including but not limited to solicitation letters, commercial scripts, and recordings of all radio and television broadcasts, but excluding copies of Internet web pages." >. 10VAC5-160-60(I) [REGULATION]

Two things to flag: the clock runs from last publication/availability (a long-running evergreen campaign never starts its clock), and radio and TV recordings, not merely scripts, must be retained.

Social media and character-limited media

Not yet verified

Last verified 2026-09-17.

NOT VERIFIED. no social media provision found. 10VAC5-160-60 has no social media, texting, or character-limited-media accommodation. The rule's only medium-specific accommodation is the radio/TV ordering rule in A.2 (NMLS disclosure after the name).

This creates a practical problem worth flagging: subsection A requires the full three-part "NMLS ID # 999999 (www.nmlsconsumeraccess.org)" string in every advertisement, and Virginia grants no abbreviated-disclosure relief for character-limited media. unlike Texas §56.203(e), which lets the identifiers live on the profile page. A Virginia-facing social post or SMS must carry the whole string.

Anything unusual

Last verified 2026-09-17.

  • The 14-point bold "THIS IS NOT A LOAN APPROVAL" mandate (C.2) is one of very few hard type-size requirements in state mortgage advertising law. It is a formatting rule, so it cannot be satisfied by wording alone and it does not survive a responsive-design breakpoint that reflows type. Any preapproval creative needs a rendered-output check, not a copy check.
  • Internet web pages are expressly EXCLUDED from ad retention (I). Counter-intuitive: the medium most easily archived is the one Virginia does not require you to archive. Do not build a Virginia retention control that over-collects web pages and under-collects broadcast recordings.
  • Relative-prominence rule for the current lender's name (D). a named-competitor-prominence test, not just a "don't impersonate" rule.
  • Mandatory refinance counter-disclosure (F) attaches to any ad that "states or implies" a monthly-payment reduction. Payment-savings calculators and "lower your payment" headlines both trigger it.

Penalties

Not yet verified

Last verified 2026-09-17.

NOT VERIFIED. 10VAC5-160-110 is titled "Commission authority," and Va. Code §§ 6.2-1613 and 12.1-13 are the recited rulemaking authority, but Did not retrieve the Virginia penalty statute (§ 6.2-1620 / § 6.2-1621 or their current equivalents) and I state no dollar amount or sanction list for Virginia.

Sources

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