On December 23, 2024, the CFPB filed suit against Rocket Homes, The Jason Mitchell Group, 45 of its affiliates and CEO Jason Mitchel which it accused of providing incentives to real estate brokers/agents for steering homebuyers to Rocket Mortgage, LLC for home loans. The CFPB alleged that Rocket Homes violated Section 8 of RESPA by giving things of value to brokers/agents (which included referrals) with an understanding that they would in turn send their customers to Rocket Mortgage and/or another subsidiary Title company called Amrock.
More specifically, Rocket Homes required that the brokers and agents receiving its referrals “preserve and protect” the relationship between the consumer and Rocket Mortgage by steering clients away from other competing lenders and preventing brokers and agents from sharing valuable information with their clients concerning products not offered by Rocket Mortgage, including the availability of down-payment-assistance programs. Consumers were told that deals could fall through if they wanted to comparison shop with competitors. Jason Mitchell also provided $250 gift cards to those brokers/agents who made the most referrals in his group of companies including Rocket Mortgage and Amrock.
Section 8 violations can be a very big deal as they can carry with them civil money penalties. Institutions tell us that while they are aware of the requirements it often seems like there are a lot of “violators” out there, but no one holds them accountable. While that does seem to be the case, over the last couple years we have seen the CFPB cracking down more and more and this suit is a perfect example.
Published
2025/02/05
