RESPA Lawyer Blog

U.S. Rep. Barney Frank officially introduced legislation to create the Consumer Financial Protection Agency (CFPA). The legislation, which is backed by the Obama Administration, would consolidate the consumer protection powers of the fifty various federal financial regulatory agencies by creating a single regulatory agency. The creation of this single regulatory agency is the single most important aspect of the proposed 229 page Consumer Financial Protection Agency proposal.

The current financial governing system encourages abuses in the industry to take place because of the loopholes created by an inefficient and ineffective regulatory structure. The loopholes are exploited even further by the mass infighting that many of the governmental regulatory bureaucracies regularly display. The consolidation of these various federal agencies into one rule-making and investigative federal division should provide more uniform rules for those in the real estate industry and for consumers of real estate products.

The CFPA will have sole authority to draft and interpret regulations under the existing consumer financial services and fair lending statutes. The recent Good Faith Estimate/HUD-1 Settlement Statement forms developed by HUD and the Truth In Lending Act form is a prime example of decisions being made by one federal agency without input from a completely different agency. The biggest benefit consolidation presents to the industry and to the consumer is that this will increase the number of enforcement investigators. The consolidation of regulatory investigators is crucial because quite often investigators in one agency stop investigating abuses that relate to other agencies due to a myriad of reasons.

Continue reading "THE CONSUMER FINANCIAL PROTECTION AGENCY (CFPA) PROPOSAL INCLUDES RESPA AND TILA REGULATORY GOVERNANCE" »

Posted by Marx Sterbcow | Permalink | Email This Post | Comments (1)

Posted In: Affiliated Business Arrangements (AfBA) , Affiliated Business Disclosure Form , Federal Housing Administration FHA , GOOD FAITH ESTIMATE "GFE" , REQUIRED USE: Section 9 under the new RESPA rule , RESPA , RESPA CONFERENCE , RESPA LITIGATION , RESPA Marketing Agreements , RESPA Reform , RESPA SECTION 6: LOAN SERVICING , RESPA SECTION 8(b): UNEARNED FEES , RESPA SECTION 8: ILLEGAL KICKBACKS & REFERRAL FEES , RESPA SECTION 9: REQUIRED USE , RESPA VIOLATIONS , RESPA: SECTION 10 ESCROW ACCOUNTS , RESPA: YIELD SPREAD PREMIUM , THE CONSUMER FINANCIAL PROTECTION AGENCY (CFPA)

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The Obama Administration is pushing new legislation which would create a financial services regulatory commission. The commission would be called "The Financial Product Safety Commission" and it would regulate all mortgages, credit cards, and mutual funds. The Washington Post's Zachary A. Goldfarb, Binyamin Appelbaum and David Cho wrote an article on May 20, 2009.

The Senate version of this bill under Section 10: Enforcement has some very strong criminal and civil money penalties that could further strengthen consumer protections against businesses. The current senate & house versions of the bill could add considerable consumer protections against loan servicing companies which under Section 6 of RESPA offer consumers very little protection from some mortgage servicing companies abusive practices. This is definitely one of those bills to keep an eye on as the ramifications could be huge for businesses and consumers.

Continue reading "RESPA: THE FINANCIAL PRODUCT SAFETY COMMISSION ACT OF 2009" »

Posted by Marx Sterbcow | Permalink | Email This Post | Comments (0)

Posted In: Administrative Brokerage Commission Fees (ABC) , Affiliated Business Arrangements (AfBA) , Affiliated Business Disclosure Form , GOOD FAITH ESTIMATE "GFE" , REQUIRED USE: Section 9 under the new RESPA rule , RESPA , RESPA LITIGATION , RESPA Marketing Agreements , RESPA Reform , RESPA SECTION 6: LOAN SERVICING , RESPA SECTION 8(b): UNEARNED FEES , RESPA SECTION 9: REQUIRED USE , RESPA VIOLATIONS , RESPA: SECTION 10 ESCROW ACCOUNTS

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October Research has selected Charles C. Cain to be a speaker at the 2009 National Compliance Summit on February 19-20, 2009 at The Westin Casuarina Las Vegas Hotel, Casino & Spa. Charles Cain is Of Counsel to the Sterbcow Law Group LLC in New Orleans, Louisiana and is President of Alliance Solutions LLC based in Cincinnati, Ohio.

Posted by Marx Sterbcow | Permalink | Email This Post | Comments (0)

Posted In: Administrative Brokerage Commission Fees (ABC) , Affiliated Business Disclosure Form , REQUIRED USE: Section 9 under the new RESPA rule , RESPA , RESPA CONFERENCE , RESPA LITIGATION , RESPA Marketing Agreements , RESPA Reform , RESPA SECTION 6: LOAN SERVICING , RESPA SECTION 9: REQUIRED USE

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The Denver Post reports that First American Residential Group Inc. terminated a $600,000.00 a year marketing agreement contract with Re/Max International Inc. after Colorado regulators questioned the legitimacy of their arrangement. Erin Toll, the director of the Colorado Division of Real Estate has asked the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development's (HUD) RESPA Division to help them in their investigation of these types of marketing agreement relationships to determine whether they are legal or illegal.

First American paid Re/Max $2.4 million dollars over the course of 4 years under this "secretive" marketing agreement. Re/Max sued First American because First American refused to pay $693,000.00 under the terms of the marketing agreement contract.

Be extremely careful in the use of Marketing Agreements as HUD has quietly taken the position that all Marketing Agreements may be illegal.

Continue reading "RESPA MARKETING AGREEMENT ABRUPTLY TERMINATED AND LAWSUIT ENSUES" »

Posted by Marx Sterbcow | Permalink | Email This Post

Posted In: RESPA Marketing Agreements

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