Introduction
The
Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) enforces the Real Estate Settlement
Procedures Act of 1974 (RESPA). The Congressional act was designed to implement
significant reforms in the real estate settlement process needed to
ensure that consumers are provided with greater and timelier information on the
nature and costs of the residential real estate settlement process and are
protected from unnecessarily high settlement charges caused by certain abusive
practices.1 The CFPB has promulgated regulations codified
in Title 12, Part 1024 of the U.S. Code of Federal Regulations (CFR).2 Among those regulations are specific sections
that address the CFPB’s concerns regarding referrals, kickbacks, and Affiliated
Business Arrangements (AfBA), which must be evaluated in light of referral
incentive programs. RESPA has teeth, and mortgage lenders are well advised to
guard against non-compliance.
While
it is imperative that a mortgage lender comply fully with the law and
regulations that support CFPB oversight, the lender must do so in a manner that
appropriately balances the regulatory requirements and the business structure
in accordance with its risk appetite. To fail to faithfully uphold RESPA’s
requirements or to manipulate semantics to achieve noncompliant results would
be both unethical and illegal. But to construe RESPA too broadly beyond its
legislative intent, plain textual construction, and documented regulatory
examination expectations would serve only to increase financial costs, generate
operational complexity, and reduce sales opportunities to the lender and its shareholders
without a corresponding improvement in regulatory compliance.
Commencement of RESPA Obligations
RESPA
obligations apply to “all federally related mortgage loans, except for the
exemptions provided” in 12 CFR 1024.5(b). Exemptions applicable to mortgage
transactions include:
“(1) A
loan on property of 25 acres or more;
(2) Business purpose loans;
(3) Temporary financing;
(4) Vacant land;
(5) Assumption without lender approval;
(6) Loan conversions; and
(7) Secondary market transactions.”3
The
regulations define a federally related mortgage
loan as it applies to a lender to mean “any loan…secured by a first or
subordinate lien on residential real property… made in whole or in part by any lender that is
either regulated by or whose deposits or accounts are insured by any agency of
the Federal Government.”4
The regulations define settlement to mean “the process of executing legally binding
documents regarding a lien on property that is subject to a federally related
mortgage loan.” This process may also be called “closing” or “escrow” in
different jurisdictions.5 Even construed most narrowly, a prospective or
actual settlement process cannot exist in the absence of a real estate mortgage
loan inquiry. A real estate settlement process typically involves one or more
settlement services.
“Settlement
service means any service provided in connection with a prospective or
actual settlement”6, including many services commonly associated
with closing a mortgage loan. While the regulation provides a non-exclusive list
of settlement services, only a service that could be provided as a function of
a real estate settlement process would be deemed a settlement service. A
“referral” is not defined nor implied to be a settlement service under 12 CFR
1024.2(b). Services that would never be involved in a real estate settlement
process are not deemed to be settlement services under RESPA.
Referrals, Kickbacks, and Affiliated Business
Arrangements
Congress
sought to guard against abusive referral practices that would result in
kickbacks and unearned fees at the expense of the consumer. RESPA allows for civil
and criminal liability for violating the prohibition against kickbacks and unearned
fees including treble damages, fines and imprisonment. The CFPB has codified
that “[a]ny referral of a settlement service is not a compensable service,
except as set forth in §1024.14(g)(1). A company may not pay any other company
or the employees of any other company for the referral of settlement service
business.”7 While a company may not pay any other company
or the employees of any other company, 12 CFR 1024.14(g)(1)(vii) explains that
“Section 8 of RESPA permits: …An employer's payment to its own employees for
any referral activities.”
Recognizing
the potential for abusive practices among affiliated settlement service providers, especially those to whom a lender
directs a mortgage loan applicant, RESPA regulates affiliated business
arrangements at 12 CFR 1024.15.8 If a loan originator (or an
associate) has either an affiliate relationship or a direct or beneficial
ownership interest of more than one percent in a provider of settlement
services and the loan originator
directly or indirectly refers business to the provider it is an affiliated
business arrangement.9 “Thus, both elements must be
satisfied to create an affiliated business arrangement. A mere affiliated business
relationship among two corporations absent the second prong whereby the loan
originator refers business to an affiliated settlement service provider does
not invoke the disclosure contemplated by 12 CFR 1024.15(b)(1).
The
term ‘‘affiliated business arrangement’’ (AfBA)
means an arrangement in which (A) a person who is in a position to refer
business incident to or a part of a real estate settlement service involving a
federally related mortgage loan, or an associate of such person, has either an
affiliate relationship with or a direct or beneficial ownership interest of
more than 1 percent in a provider of settlement services; and (B) either of
such persons directly or indirectly refers such business to that provider or
affirmatively influences the selection of that provider…”10 12 CFR 1024.15(c) further clarifies
that a “person
who is in a position to refer settlement service business means any real estate broker or agent, lender,
mortgage broker, builder or developer, attorney, title company, title agent, or
other person deriving a significant
portion of his or her gross income from providing settlement services.”11
Determining
whether an entity may derive a “significant portion” of gross income from
providing real estate settlement services would require financial analysis, as
an entity may also derive a significant portion of its gross income entirely unrelated to providing a “settlement
service” for the closing of a “federally related mortgage loan.”
It would be inappropriate to assume an attribution of significance absent
quantitative support.
In
clear contrast, many business lines clearly do not derive any gross income—let
alone a “significant portion” of gross income—from providing settlement
services. Given the products or services they offer, many entities could never
be real estate settlement service providers as understood by the industry and
by the regulators. As such, those lines of business and their employees would
never constitute a “person who is in a position to refer settlement service
business” pursuant to the regulation’s own definition.
The
U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) has further delineated
the requirement as follows:
An Affiliated Business
Arrangement (AfBA) Disclosure is required whenever a settlement service
provider involved in a RESPA covered transaction refers the consumer to a
provider with whom the referring party has an ownership or other beneficial
interest.12
Thus, a disclosure would not be
required when the referral is given by an organization or employee of an
organization that is not “a settlement service provider involved in a
RESPA covered transaction.” Even a referral made by an affiliated settlement
service provider where no “RESPA covered transaction” has occurred involving a
“federally related mortgage loan” would not by itself trigger the 12 CFR
1024.15(b)(1) disclosure. In other words, merely suggesting that a consumer
consider future use of a title insurance company in the absence of that
consumer actually inquiring about or applying for a mortgage loan would mean
that no settlement service provider is even required. The absence of a mortgage
loan application implies the absence of a prospective or actual settlement
process.
Appendix MS-1 to Part 102413 further explains that the loan
application triggers the RESPA obligation: “You are applying for a mortgage loan covered by the Real Estate Settlement
Procedures Act (RESPA).” Once the lender’s mortgage loan application process
has begun (or more conservatively, an inquiry has been made of the lender), a
RESPA covered transaction has commenced. The “Affiliated Business Arrangement
Disclosure Statement Format Notice” includes explicit language further
memorializing this intent:
·
“…as a condition for [settlement of
your loan on] [or] [purchase, sale, or refinance of] the subject property.”
·
“…we, as your lender, will require you to
use, as a condition of your loan on this property, to represent our interests
in the transaction.”14
Regulatory
Intent and CFPB Enforcement
The CFPB is noted for its aggressive
and expansive interpretation of its regulatory power. Against that backdrop, the
CFPB Examination Manual procedure for AfBA testing recognizes that the lending
institution’s loan origination is the trigger for AfBA compliance. According to
the CFPB RESPA Examination Manual, the CFPB’s examination of Affiliated Business Arrangements entails:
25.
Determine from the HUD-1 or HUD-1A
and from interviews with institution management, or through other appropriate
methods, if the institution referred a borrower to a settlement service provider with which
the institution was affiliated or in which the institution had a direct or
beneficial ownership interest of more than 1 percent (hereinafter, an
“affiliated business arrangement”).
26.
If the financial institution had an
affiliated business arrangement, determine whether the affiliated business
arrangement disclosure statement (Appendix D to Part 1024) was provided as
required by 12 CFR 1024.15(b)(1).
27.
Other than an attorney, credit
reporting agency, or appraiser representing the lender, if the financial institution referred a borrower to a settlement service provider, determine
whether the institution required the use of the provider (12 CFR
1024.15(b)(2)).
28.
Determine if compensation
received by the lender in connection with an affiliated business
arrangement is limited to a return on an ownership interest or other amounts
permissible under RESPA (12 CFR 1024.15(b)(3)).15
Appropriately
Triggered Affiliated Business Arrangement Disclosures
The aforementioned review of the
CFPB regulation, forms, and examination procedures indicates that unless an
affiliated entity or employee of that entity is involved in the RESPA-covered
transaction prior to the referral,
then the AfBA would not apply. Thus, making a referral before any
RESPA-covered lending transaction has begun would not trigger RESPA
applicability.
It would of course follow that if a
RESPA-covered transaction has been conceived by a consumer mortgage loan
inquiry or application, and the prospective borrower has then been referred to
or has chosen an affiliated settlement service provider, then the mortgage
lender must provide the required AfBA Disclosure.
Additionally, in this scenario the
affiliated entity receiving the referral has now become a settlement service
provider involved in this RESPA-covered transaction vis-Ã -vis the federally
related mortgage loan. At that point any
subsequent referral by the affiliate involved in this RESPA-covered
transaction also would entail the AfBA Disclosure obligation. An example of
this obligation would arise if a hazard insurance affiliate involved in a federally
related mortgage loan then referred the borrower to a title insurer for the
RESPA-covered transaction.
Conclusion
RESPA
focuses upon providing consumers with information transparency and protection
from unscrupulous providers in all phases of the real estate settlement service
process. Mortgage lenders and all other settlement service providers must
always seek to comply fully with the law and regulations that support CFPB
oversight. Organizations must also be careful not to assume REPSA obligations
prior to when those obligations are actually invoked. In alignment with defined
risk appetites, affiliated entities must comply in a manner that appropriately
balances the regulatory requirements for settlement service providers with the
business imperatives to avoid unnecessarily increasing financial costs,
manufacturing operational complexity, and reducing sales opportunities. A
tailored AfBA process will provide this compliant solution.
Endnotes
1 Final Rule; Official Interpretations, 12 CFR Part 1024, Docket No.
CFPB-2012-0034, RIN 3170-AA14, Mortgage Servicing Rules under the Real Estate
Settlement Procedures Act (Regulation X), Bureau of Consumer Financial
Protection, p. 23, January 17, 2013, effective January 10, 2014.
2 12
CFR 1024, “REAL ESTATE SETTLEMENT PROCEDURES ACT (REGULATION X).”
3 12
CFR 1024.5 “Coverage of RESPA.”
4 Definitions;
other terms, “Federally Related Mortgage Loan”, 12 CFR 1024.2(b).
5 Definitions;
other terms, “Settlement”, 12 CFR
1024.2(b).
6 Definitions;
other terms, “Settlement Service”, 12 CFR 1024.2(b).
7 Prohibition
against kickbacks and unearned fees, “No referral fees.” 12 CFR 1024.14(b)
8 12 CFR 1024.15, “Affiliated
Business Arrangements.”
9 “Affiliated Business Arrangements
– 12 CFR 1024.15,” Examination Procedures, Regulation X Real Estate Settlement
Procedures Act, CFPB Consumer Laws and Regulations, p. 17, November 2013.
10 12 USC 2602(7), “Definitions.”
11 12
CFR 1024.15(c), “Definitions.”
12 “Disclosures before
settlement/closing occurs”, “An Affiliated Business Arrangement (AfBA)
Disclosure”, More Information About RESPA, Department of Housing and Urban
Development.
13 “Appendix MS-1 to Part 1024,” 12 CFR
1024.
14 “Appendix D to Part 1024—Affiliated
Business Arrangement Disclosure Statement Format Notice,” 12 CFR 1024.
15 “Affiliated Business Arrangements –
12 CFR 1024.15,” Examination Procedures, Regulation X Real Estate Settlement
Procedures Act, CFPB Consumer Laws and Regulations, pp. 56-57, November 2013.