RESPA Section 8

If you’ve ever heard me train on RESPA, I always mention Section 8 and warn lenders not to play games with this deadly snake.  HUD takes kickbacks & referral fees very seriously, as evidenced by two recent settlements:

Fidelity National Financial – a title company  – paid a $4.5 million fine on July 11, 2011, for illegally paying kickbacks to brokers for the referral of home loan services.

Two days later, HUD fined Prospect Mortgage, LLC – a California based mortgage lender – $3.1 million for paying improper kickbacks or referral fees to affiliates.

At the end of each press releases is the following statement:

RESPA was enacted in 1974 to provide consumers advance disclosures of settlement charges and to prohibit illegal kickbacks and excessive fees in the homebuying process. Section 8(a) of RESPA prohibits a person from giving or accepting anything of value in exchange for the referral of settlement service business and Section 8(b) prohibits unearned fees.

Don’t play games with Section 8 of RESPA.  The consequences are too great!

Published
2011/07/18
David Dickinson

David Dickinson

David’s banking career began as a field examiner for the FDIC in 1990. He later became a Compliance Officer and Loan Officer for a small bank. In 1993, he established Banker’s Compliance Consulting. Along with his amazingly talented Team, he has written numerous compliance articles for prestigious banking publications and has developed compliance seminars that Banker’s Compliance Consulting produces.

He is an expert in compliance regulations. He is also a motivational speaker and innovative educator. His quick wit and sense of humor transforms the usually tiring topic of compliance into an enjoyable educational experience. David is on the faculty of the American Bankers Association National Compliance Schools and has served on the faculty of the Center for Financial Training for many years. He also is a frequent speaker at the ABA’s Regulatory Compliance Conference. He is also a trainer for hundreds of webinars, is a Certified Regulatory Compliance Manager (CRCM) and has been a BankersOnline Guru for many years. The American Bankers Association honored David with their Distinguished Service Award in 2016.

David and his wife Karen have three adult children, four grandchildren (none of whom live at home!) and two cats (of which Dave is allergic … the cats, not the children!). They recently moved to an acreage outside of Lincoln, Nebraska where he gets to play with his tractor. When possible David can be found fishing, making sawdust in his shop, or playing the guitar and piano. He also enjoys leading worship at his church.

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