Does mortgage rate advertising need a new copy for every rate change?

The rule requires copies of all materially different commercial communications and does not list which changes qualify. Website Archive saves a sealed copy of the page each time the daily check detects a text change, so you decide later which ones were material. Only the version live at each check is seen, so a rate that changes and changes back between checks is not detected. If your rates load with JavaScript, the check cannot read them: use a daily Fixed interval schedule for that page, about 30 captures a month.

What counts as a change, and will the check work on our site?

A new version is saved when the daily check finds changed text in the page's HTML. Spacing, letter case, ISO-format dates and times, and runs of six or more digits are ignored. If rates or other key content load from a widget or with JavaScript, or appear only in an image or a linked file, the check cannot read them, so put that page on a daily Fixed interval schedule. Not sure? Ask whoever maintains your site, or use the daily schedule for your rates page. After setup, confirm each page shows a first copy in Capture history. If a page refuses automated requests or returns an error, the check cannot read it, and the failure does not count as a change: use a daily Fixed interval schedule for it. If you have set a Full capture every 90 days and the latest copy is older than that, the check is not reading the page. After an important edit, start a capture yourself.

What do the mortgage advertising rules in Regulation N prohibit?

It is a violation to make any material misrepresentation, expressly or by implication, in any commercial communication regarding any term of any mortgage credit product. The listed examples include the annual percentage rate, simple annual rate, periodic rate, or any other rate, and the existence, nature, or amount of fees or costs to the consumer (12 CFR 1014.3). Website Archive keeps copies of what each page said, so your team can review them.

Can we use the Wayback Machine, CMS history, or screenshots instead?

The rule allows records in any legible form, so the choice is your firm's. The Wayback Machine does not keep every page on every date, and CMS history or a screenshot depends on your own systems and staff. Website Archive checks your listed pages every day and seals each detected version with file hashes, a signature, and a Bitcoin timestamp, so a copy can be checked without relying on your own systems.

Does Website Archive make us compliant?

It gives you the website copies and the facts your written procedures can cite. Keeping the required records, and deciding what they must include, remain your firm's responsibility.

Can we keep our own copies?

Yes. Download any package as a ZIP, or the whole archive with Download all captures, and store it with your records. Each package carries its own verification scripts, so it can be checked later without ProofSnap.

Who can delete a copy?

While a plan is active, including the Archive only plan, a legal hold blocks deletion, and a record of each deletion is kept. Without a hold, anyone signed in to your dashboard account can delete a copy: it goes to the trash for 30 days unless it is permanently deleted. Anyone signed in can also remove a hold; permanent deletion then stays blocked for 14 days. ProofSnap also deletes a copy when its 10-year retention period ends. API keys on the Website Archive plan are read-only and cannot delete copies.

Does Website Archive cover paid search ads?

Website Archive covers public web pages at the URLs you list. Paid search results and ads that have no public page of their own belong in your marketing records, along with email and text messages.

Which firms does the rule apply to?

The rule applies to persons over which the Federal Trade Commission has jurisdiction. Whether your firm is one of them, even if it is a bank, is a question for your counsel. The term "mortgage credit product" covers credit secured by real property or a dwelling and offered or extended to a consumer primarily for personal, family, or household purposes. State licensing rules can add requirements of their own, and they are not covered here.

Is our website covered by the MAP Rule?

A page counts when it is designed to effect a sale or create interest in purchasing goods or services, and the recordkeeping duty covers communications regarding any term of a mortgage credit product. Which pages qualify is your firm's determination.

For consumer mortgage brokers and nonbank lenders

MAP Rule (Regulation N) website archiving for mortgage firms

As of 2026, the US federal MAP Rule (Regulation N) requires covered firms to keep copies of materially different mortgage advertisements, expressly including web pages, for 24 months after last use. ProofSnap Website Archive checks up to 30 public pages daily and keeps a sealed copy of each detected version.

Run a test capture in the sandbox See pricing: $49 a month

Sandbox: 50 watermarked test captures, no card.

See what you get in this watermarked test capture: sample evidence PDF or full sample package (ZIP, 1 MB).

By Radim Motycka, Founder and Lead Engineer at ProofSnap, who built this dashboard · Updated November 7, 2026

ProofSnap Dashboard on the Website Archive plan: sealed versions of a mortgage firm's pages and automated checks on its rates page — The dashboard on the Website Archive plan. The account and the URLs are examples.

What the MAP Rule (Regulation N) requires mortgage firms to keep

One of the federal mortgage advertising rules is the Mortgage Acts and Practices Advertising Rule (MAP Rule), also known as Regulation N. It prohibits material misrepresentations about any term of a mortgage credit product in commercial communications, and it requires any person subject to it to keep evidence of compliance. Failing to keep the required records is itself a violation, and a state attorney general may bring an action under the rule. For a page that is a commercial communication about any term of a mortgage credit product, the recordkeeping duty means keeping a copy of each materially different version.

Sales scripts, training materials, product documents, and advertising that is not on a public web page are outside the scope of Website Archive. The required records remain your responsibility.

MAP Rule mortgage records: what the rule says and what Website Archive keeps

What the rule says	Website Archive gives you
Keep copies of all materially different commercial communications about any term of a mortgage credit product	A sealed package of each version the daily check detects, plus any capture you start yourself after you publish a change.
Keep them for 24 months from the last date made or disseminated	On an active plan, 10 years from the last check that found that text, or from the capture date for a capture you start yourself.
You may keep the records in any legible form, and in the same manner as you keep such records in the ordinary course of business	A screenshot, the page HTML and text, and an evidence PDF in one sealed ZIP, all of which you can print.

MAP Rule record retention: do web pages count, and when does the 24-month period start?

"Promotional materials and items and Web pages are included in the term commercial communication."

Definition in 12 CFR 1014.2.

"[...] for a period of twenty-four months from the last date the person made or disseminated the applicable commercial communication regarding any term of any mortgage credit product [...]"

12 CFR 1014.5(a).

Both from the Code of Federal Regulations, 2026 edition.

For a rates page last displayed on March 2, 2026:

Last displayed

March 2, 2026

Rule minimum runs through

March 2, 2028

On an active plan, kept until

March 2, 2036

Capture history dates each copy. When a copy's text differs from the copy before it, its date shows when the page changed, normally to within a day.

On an active plan, Website Archive keeps each copy for 10 years, five times the MAP Rule's 24-month minimum.

How Website Archive works

1List your pages. Up to 30 public URLs, such as your home, rates, loan program, closing cost, and licensing pages. Nothing to install on your site. ProofSnap reads public pages from its own servers, so no website login or borrower file is involved.
2Daily check. ProofSnap compares each page's text with its text from the previous check. Checks are not billed.
3New version, new copy. The first check that finds readable text seals a copy, and so does each check that detects a change. You can get an email when a change is detected.

Rates pages. If your rates load from a widget or with JavaScript, or appear only in an image or a linked file, or if you are not sure, use a daily Fixed interval schedule. You get a sealed copy every day, about 30 captures a month.

A 70-second demo with a sample account.

What a sealed copy of a mortgage web page contains

Each sealed copy is a package that holds a screenshot, the page HTML and text, and an evidence PDF. "Sealed" means each file is hashed into a signed manifest, and the manifest hash is sent to OpenTimestamps, which uses the public Bitcoin ledger (shown by the BTC label in Capture history). Once the timestamp is confirmed, the manifest can be shown to have existed no later than the time of the Bitcoin block that records it. You do not buy or hold any cryptocurrency. Open a sample evidence PDF or download a full sample package (ZIP, 1 MB). See every screen in the step-by-step Website Archive guide. Other regulated firms: see SEC Rule 204-2 website archiving for advisers and website archiving for the insurance advertising file.

Website Archive pricing

$49 a month

or $490 a year, two months free

Up to 30 pages checked daily
100 captures a month included, then $0.60 per capture
Copies kept for 10 years on an active plan and stored in two locations

Run a test capture in the sandbox

Test first: 50 watermarked sandbox captures, no card. Automated checks start with the plan.

Typical use. Twenty pages use 20 captures for their first copies, then about 7 a month with a Full capture every 90 days. Each detected change adds one. A rates page on a daily Fixed interval schedule adds about 30. Past 100 captures in a month, each additional capture costs $0.60. You can set a monthly limit; once you reach it, further captures wait until there is room under the limit.

If you cancel. The 10-year retention period runs while a plan is active. When a plan ends, copies are kept for 30 days and then deleted, including any under legal hold. Export them with Download all captures before then, or move to the Archive only plan at $9 a month, which keeps every package readable and verifiable.

Who is behind ProofSnap

ProofSnap is operated by Software Innovations Group LLC, a United Arab Emirates company founded in 2026 by Radim Motycka, who is based in Dubai. Registration details are in the Legal Notice, and the Terms of Service are governed by UAE law.

Packages are encrypted and stored in Frankfurt, with a second copy in Ireland; see Security and data handling. Each package carries its own verification scripts, so copies you download can be checked without ProofSnap. Send vendor due diligence questionnaires to support@getproofsnap.com.

Common questions from compliance teams

The sealed ZIP of each version. For a paper copy, print its screenshot.jpeg and domtextcontent.txt, with evidence.pdf as the cover document. Filter Capture history by page and date range to find them. The regulator can check each package with its included scripts or the public Trust Verifier, without a ProofSnap account. See a sample evidence.pdf or download the full package (ZIP, 1 MB). Both come from a test capture of a sample rates page.

Start with your rates page

Run a test capture of it first: 50 watermarked sandbox captures, no card.

Run a test capture in the sandbox