PJK:eev:ph
2013 - 2014 LEGISLATURE
September 10, 2013 - Introduced by Senators Harsdorf and Shilling, cosponsored
by Representatives Stroebel, Bernier, Nygren, A. Ott, Kooyenga, Doyle,
Jacque and Thiesfeldt. Referred to Committee on Financial Institutions and
Rural Issues.
SB290,1,3 1An Act to repeal 706.05 (9) and (10); to amend 77.25 (13), 422.306 (4) and
2428.104 (1); and to create 708.15 of the statutes; relating to: mortgage
3satisfaction and an exception to the real estate transfer fee.
Analysis by the Legislative Reference Bureau
Under current law, the holder of any type of mortgage is required to record a
satisfaction of mortgage within 30 days after the mortgagor completes full
performance of the conditions of the mortgage. However, if the mortgage is fully
performed and the mortgage holder receives by certified mail a written request from
the mortgagor for a full satisfaction, the mortgage holder must record a satisfaction
of mortgage within seven days or is liable to the mortgagor for actual damages plus
penalty damages of $100 for each day that the violation remains uncorrected, up to
$2,000 in penalty damages. This bill repeals those provisions and replaces them with
mortgage satisfaction provisions that are similar to the Uniform Residential
Mortgage Satisfaction Act (URMSA), except that, with the exception of affidavits of
satisfaction, the new provisions apply to all mortgages, not just mortgages on
residential property.
Under the bill, a creditor who has a security interest in real property must
record a satisfaction of the security instrument (mortgage) within 30 days after the
secured creditor receives full payment of the secured obligation or payment as
provided in a payoff statement provided by the creditor to the landowner or other
person authorized to request a payoff statement. If the creditor does not do so within
the required time, the creditor is liable to the landowner for $500, plus any actual
damages and reasonable attorney fees and court costs, but no punitive damages.

The bill provides another mortgage satisfaction option for mortgages on
residential real property: recording an affidavit of satisfaction of a security
instrument. Under this option, upon or at any time after full performance or
payment as provided in a payoff statement by the residential property owner, a
satisfaction agent authorized by the owner may give the secured creditor notice that
the satisfaction agent may record an affidavit of satisfaction of the security
instrument. Under the bill, only a title insurance company acting directly or through
an authorized agent may act as a satisfaction agent. The bill specifies the
information that must be contained in the notice that is sent to the secured creditor,
such as that the satisfaction agent has reasonable grounds to believe that the
property is residential real property and that the secured creditor has received full
payment or payment as provided in a payoff statement. After providing the notice,
the satisfaction agent may submit the affidavit of satisfaction to the register of deeds
for recording if the secured creditor authorizes the satisfaction agent to do so or if the
secured creditor does not, within 30 days after receiving the notice, record a
satisfaction. The satisfaction agent may not record the affidavit of satisfaction,
however, if the agent receives notice from the secured creditor that the security
instrument has been assigned, in which case the satisfaction agent must provide the
notice to record an affidavit of satisfaction to the assignee, or that the secured
obligation has not been satisfied, unless the satisfaction agent has reasonable
grounds to believe that a person paid an understated payoff amount on which the
person reasonably and detrimentally relied. An affidavit of satisfaction that
complies with the requirements in the bill is entitled to be recorded in the office of
the register of deeds, and a recorded affidavit of satisfaction constitutes a satisfaction
of the security instrument described in the affidavit. The bill contains penalties
against a satisfaction agent who records an affidavit of satisfaction erroneously or
with knowledge that the statements in the affidavit are false, and authorizes a
satisfaction agent to charge fees for providing the notice and preparing and executing
the affidavit.
The bill sets out the right of a settlement agent or a person who is obligated
under a security instrument to request a payoff statement from the secured creditor.
The person or settlement agent, or his or her authorized agent, may give notice to the
secured creditor requesting a payoff statement for a specified payoff date that is not
more than 30 days from the date the notice is given. The secured creditor must issue
a payoff statement within seven business days after the effective date of a notice that
contains the information specified in the bill, or within a reasonable longer time if
the property that is subject to the security interest is not residential property, and
may not charge the person for the first payoff statement the person requests in any
two-month period. The bill specifies the information that the payoff statement must
contain, and provides for penalties against a secured creditor for not sending a timely
payoff statement that substantially complies with the content requirements in the
bill. If the payoff amount in a payoff statement is understated, the secured creditor
may send a corrected payoff statement, but the secured creditor is prohibited from
denying the accuracy of the payoff amount as against any person who reasonably and
detrimentally relies on the understated amount. If the secured creditor receives

payment as provided in an understated payoff statement, the secured creditor must
still record a satisfaction of the mortgage within 30 days but may recover from the
obligated party any amount that was incorrectly not included in the payoff
statement.
In addition to the security instrument satisfaction provisions, the bill specifies
acceptable methods for and the effective dates of providing notice under the bill. The
bill also provides for the recording of a document of rescission, which rescinds an
erroneously recorded satisfaction or affidavit of satisfaction, keeping the security
instrument in force.
Under current law, a real estate transfer fee must be paid when an ownership
interest in real property is transferred. Current law contains various exceptions to
the payment of the real estate transfer fee, however, including when real property
valued at or under $100 is transferred. The bill changes this real property value
amount for the exception to $1,000 or less.
Because this bill relates to an exemption from state or local taxes, it may be
referred to the Joint Survey Committee on Tax Exemptions for a report to be printed
as an appendix to the bill.
For further information see the state fiscal estimate, which will be printed as
an appendix to this bill.
The people of the state of Wisconsin, represented in senate and assembly, do
enact as follows:
SB290,1 1Section 1. 77.25 (13) of the statutes is amended to read:
SB290,3,22 77.25 (13) Of real estate having a value of $100 $1,000 or less.
SB290,2 3Section 2. 422.306 (4) of the statutes is amended to read:
SB290,3,114 422.306 (4) Within Except as provided in s. 708.15, within 45 days after
5payment by the customer of all sums for which the customer is obligated under a
6consumer credit transaction other than one pursuant to an open-end credit plan, the
7creditor shall give or forward to the customer instruments which acknowledge
8payment in full, and release of any security interest when there is no outstanding
9secured obligation, and furnish to the customer or the customer's designee evidence
10of the release or assignment to such designee of any recorded lien on real estate and
11termination of any filed financing statement which perfected such security interest.
SB290,3 12Section 3. 428.104 (1) of the statutes is amended to read:
SB290,4,9
1428.104 (1) Any time a payment is made in cash, or any other time the method
2of payment does not itself provide evidence of payment, the creditor shall furnish the
3customer, without request, a written receipt, evidencing such payment. The
4customer shall be entitled upon request, free of charge, to an annual statement of
5account showing receipts and disbursements. Upon Subject to s. 708.15, upon
6payment in full of the customer's obligation, the creditor shall release any mortgage
7by either recording the necessary instrument and forwarding the same to the
8customer, or by forwarding a satisfaction of such debt to the purchaser of the real
9property subject to such satisfied mortgage, or the creditor of such purchaser.
SB290,4 10Section 4. 706.05 (9) and (10) of the statutes are repealed.
SB290,5 11Section 5. 708.15 of the statutes is created to read:
SB290,4,12 12708.15 Mortgage satisfaction. (1) Definitions. In this section:
SB290,4,1713 (a) "Address for giving a notification" means, for the purpose of a particular
14type of notification, the most recent address provided in a document by the intended
15recipient of the notification to the person giving the notification, unless the person
16giving the notification knows of a more accurate address, in which case the term
17means that address.
SB290,4,1818 (b) "Day" means calendar day.
SB290,4,2019 (c) "Document" means information that is inscribed on a tangible medium or
20that is stored in an electronic or other medium and is retrievable in perceivable form.
SB290,4,2221 (d) "Electronic" means relating to technology having electrical, digital,
22magnetic, wireless, optical, electromagnetic, or similar capabilities.
SB290,4,2323 (e) "Entitled person" means any of the following:
SB290,4,2524 1. A person liable for payment or performance of the obligation secured by the
25real property described in a security instrument.
SB290,5,1
12. The landowner.
SB290,5,22 3. The settlement agent.
SB290,5,43 (f) "Good faith" means honesty in fact and the observance of reasonable
4commercial standards of fair dealing.
SB290,5,75 (g) "Landowner" or "owner" means a person that, before foreclosure, has the
6right of redemption in the real property described in a security instrument. The term
7does not include a person that holds only a lien on the real property.
SB290,5,98 (h) "Notification" means a document containing information required under
9this section and signed by the person required to provide the information.
SB290,5,1110 (i) "Payoff amount" means the sum necessary to satisfy a secured obligation,
11as set forth in a payoff statement by the secured creditor.
SB290,5,1312 (j) "Payoff statement" means a document containing the information specified
13in sub. (3) (d).
SB290,5,1714 (k) "Person" means an individual, corporation, business trust, estate, trust,
15partnership, limited liability company, association, joint venture, public corporation,
16government, or governmental subdivision, agency, or instrumentality, or any other
17legal or commercial entity.
SB290,5,2018 (L) "Recording data" means the date, document number, volume and page
19number, if any, that indicate where a document is recorded in the office of the register
20of deeds under s. 59.43.
SB290,5,2321 (m) "Residential real property" means real property located in this state that
22is used primarily for personal, family, or household purposes and is improved by one
23to 4 dwelling units.
SB290,6,324 (n) "Secured creditor" means a person that holds or is the beneficiary of a
25security interest or that is authorized both to receive payments on behalf of a person

1that holds a security interest and to record a satisfaction of the security instrument
2upon receiving full performance of the secured obligation. The term does not include
3a trustee under a security instrument.
SB290,6,54 (o) "Secured obligation" means an obligation the payment or performance of
5which is secured by a security interest.
SB290,6,96 (p) "Security instrument" means an agreement, however denominated, that
7creates or provides for an interest in real property to secure payment or performance
8of an obligation, whether or not it also creates or provides for a lien on personal
9property.
SB290,6,1110 (q) "Security interest" means an interest in real property created by a security
11instrument.
SB290,6,1312 (r) "Settlement agent" means the person responsible for the preparation of the
13settlement statement for the conveyance of real property.
SB290,6,1514 (s) "Sign" means, with present intent to authenticate or adopt a document, any
15of the following:
SB290,6,1616 1. To execute or adopt a tangible symbol.
SB290,6,1817 2. To attach to or logically associate with the document an electronic sound,
18symbol, or process.
SB290,6,2119 (t) "State" means a state of the United States, the District of Columbia, Puerto
20Rico, the United States Virgin Islands, or any territory or insular possession subject
21to the jurisdiction of the United States.
SB290,6,2422 (u) "Submit for recording" means to deliver, with required fees and taxes, a
23document sufficient to be recorded under this section, to the office of the register of
24deeds under s. 59.43.
SB290,7,2
1(v) "Title insurance company" means an organization authorized to conduct the
2business of insuring titles to real property in this state.
SB290,7,4 3(2) Notification: manner of giving and effective date. (a) A person gives a
4notification by doing any of the following:
SB290,7,75 1. Depositing it with the U.S. Postal Service with 1st class postage paid or with
6a commercially reasonable delivery service with cost of delivery provided, properly
7addressed to the recipient's address for giving a notification.
SB290,7,98 2. Sending it by facsimile transmission, electronic mail, or other electronic
9transmission to the recipient's address for giving a notification.
SB290,7,1110 3. Causing it to be received at the address for giving a notification within the
11time that it would have been received if given in the manner provided in subd. 1.
SB290,7,1212 (b) A notification is effective at any of the following times:
SB290,7,1413 1. The day after it is deposited with a commercially reasonable delivery service
14for overnight delivery.
SB290,7,1715 2. Three days after it is deposited with the U.S. Postal Service, with 1st class
16mail with postage prepaid, or with a commercially reasonable delivery service for
17delivery other than by overnight delivery.
SB290,7,1818 3. The day it is given, if given as provided in par. (a) 2.
SB290,7,2019 4. The day it is received, if given by a method other than as provided in par. (a)
201. or 2.
SB290,7,2421 (c) If this section or a notification given under this section requires performance
22on or by a certain day and that day is a Saturday, Sunday, or legal holiday under the
23laws of this state or the United States, the performance is sufficient if performed on
24the next day that is not a Saturday, Sunday, or legal holiday.
SB290,8,5
1(3) Payoff statement: request and content. (a) An entitled person, or an agent
2authorized by an entitled person to request a payoff statement, may give to the
3secured creditor a notification requesting a payoff statement for a specified payoff
4date not more than 30 days after the notification is given. The notification must
5contain all of the following:
SB290,8,66 1. The entitled person's name.
SB290,8,97 2. If given by a person other than an entitled person, the name of the person
8giving the notification and a statement that the person is an authorized agent of the
9entitled person.
SB290,8,1110 3. A direction whether the statement is to be sent to the entitled person or that
11person's authorized agent.
SB290,8,1412 4. The address, facsimile transmission number, or electronic mail or other
13electronic transmission address to which the secured creditor must send the
14statement.
SB290,8,1615 5. Sufficient information to enable the secured creditor to identify the secured
16obligation and the real property encumbered by the security interest.
SB290,8,2017 (b) If a notification under par. (a) directs the secured creditor to send the payoff
18statement to a person identified as an authorized agent of the entitled person, the
19secured creditor must send the statement to the agent, unless the secured creditor
20knows that the entitled person has not authorized the request.
SB290,9,221 (c) 1. Except as provided in subd. 2., within 7 business days after the effective
22date of a notification that complies with par. (a) or, if the security interest encumbers
23real property that is not residential real property, within a reasonable longer time
24after the effective date of such a notification, the secured creditor shall issue a payoff

1statement and send it as directed under par. (a) 3. in the manner prescribed in sub.
2(2) for giving a notification.
SB290,9,83 2. If the person to whom the notification is given once held an interest in the
4secured obligation but has since assigned that interest, the person need not send a
5payoff statement but shall, within 7 business days after the effective date of the
6notification, give a notification of the assignment to the person to whom the payoff
7statement otherwise would have been sent, providing the name and address of the
8assignee.
SB290,9,109 3. A secured creditor that sends a payoff statement to the entitled person or the
10authorized agent may not claim that the notification did not satisfy par. (a).
SB290,9,1111 (d) A payoff statement must contain all of the following:
SB290,9,1512 1. The date on which it was prepared and the payoff amount as of that date.
13If the entitled person or the person's authorized agent specifically requests it, the
14payoff statement shall include the amount by type of each fee, charge, or other sum
15included within the payoff amount.
SB290,9,1716 2. The information reasonably necessary to calculate the payoff amount as of
17the requested payoff date, including the per diem interest amount, if applicable.
SB290,9,2018 3. The payment cutoff time, if any, the address or place where payment,
19including payment by electronic transmission, if available, must be made, and any
20limitation as to the authorized method of payment.
SB290,9,2221 (e) A payoff statement may contain the amount of any fees authorized under
22this subsection not included in the payoff amount.
SB290,9,2423 (f) A secured creditor may not qualify a payoff amount or state that the payoff
24amount is subject to change before the payoff date.
SB290,10,5
1(g) A secured creditor must provide upon request one payoff statement without
2charge during any 2-month period. A secured creditor may charge a fee of $25 for
3each additional payoff statement requested during that 2-month period. However,
4a secured creditor may not charge a fee for providing a corrected payoff statement
5under sub. (4) (a).
SB290,10,126 (h) Except as otherwise provided in sub. (7), if a secured creditor to which a
7notification has been given under par. (a) does not send a timely payoff statement
8that substantially complies with par. (d), the secured creditor is liable to the entitled
9person for any actual damages caused by the failure plus $500, but not punitive
10damages. A secured creditor that does not pay the damages provided in this
11paragraph within 30 days after receipt of a notification demanding payment may
12also be liable for reasonable attorney fees and costs.
SB290,10,18 13(4) Understated payoff statement: correction; effect. (a) If a secured
14creditor determines that the payoff amount it provided in a payoff statement was
15understated, the secured creditor may send a corrected payoff statement. If the
16entitled person or the person's authorized agent receives and has a reasonable
17opportunity to act upon a corrected payoff statement before making payment, the
18corrected statement supersedes an earlier statement.
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