Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act

Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act
Great Seal of the United States
Long title Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act of 1974
Acronyms (colloquial) RESPA
Enacted by the 93rd United States Congress
Effective Dec. 22, 1974
Citations
Public law P.L. 93-533
Statutes at Large 88 Stat. 1724
Codification
Titles amended 12
U.S.C. sections created 2601-2617
Legislative history
  • Passed the Senate on July 24, 1974 (unanimous consent)
  • Passed the House of Representatives on August 14, 1974 (unanimous consent)
  • Reported by the joint conference committee on Dec. 9, 1974; agreed to by the Senate on Dec. 9, 1974 (unanimous consent) and by the House of Representatives on Dec. 11, 1974 (unanimous consent)
  • Signed into law by President Gerald Ford on Dec. 22, 1974
Major amendments
P.L. 94-205, 89 Stat. 1157 (1976)

The Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act (RESPA), was an act passed by the United States Congress in 1974. It is codified at Title 12, Chapter 27 of the United States Code, 12 U.S.C. §§ 2601–2617.

Purpose

It was created because various companies associated with the buying and selling of real estate, such as lenders, real estate agents, construction companies and title insurance companies were often engaging in providing undisclosed kickbacks to each other, inflating the costs of real estate transactions and obscuring price competition by facilitating bait-and-switch tactics.

For example, a lender advertising a home loan might have advertised the loan with a 5% interest rate, but then when one applies for the loan one is told that one must use the lender's affiliated title insurance company and pay $5,000 for the service, whereas the normal rate is $1,000. The title company would then have paid $4,000 to the lender. This was made illegal, in order to make prices for the services clear so as to allow price competition by consumer demand and to thereby drive down prices.

On July 21, 2011, administration and enforcement of the Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act (RESPA) was transferred from the Department of Housing and Urban Development to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB).

Restrictions

The Act prohibits kickbacks between lenders and third-party settlement service agents in the real estate settlement process (Section 8 of RESPA). Even reciprocal referrals among these types of professions could be construed as a violation of RESPA. It requires lenders to provide a good faith estimate (GFE) for all the approximate costs of a particular loan and finally a HUD-1 (for purchase real estate loans) or a HUD-1A (for refinances of real estate loans) at the closing of the real estate loan. The final HUD-1 or HUD-1A allows the borrower to know specifically the costs of the loan and to whom the fees are being allotted. Beginning January 1, 2010, amendments to RESPA restrict the amount that fees can increase between the GFE and HUD-1 or HUD-1A. Origination charges are not allowed to increase, while certain third party service providers' fees can increase by no more than 10%.

<span id="Account Inquiries — "Qualified written request"">Account Inquiries — "Qualified written request"

If the borrower believes there is an error in the mortgage account, he or she can make a "qualified written request" to the loan servicer. The request must be in writing, identify the borrower by name and account, and include a statement of reasons why the borrower believes the account is in error. The request should include the words "qualified written request". It cannot be written on the payment coupon, but must be on a separate piece of paper. The Department of Housing and Urban Development provides a sample letter.[1]

Upon receipt of a qualified written request, a mortgage servicer is required to take certain steps, each of which is subject to certain deadlines. [2] The servicer must acknowledge receipt of the request within 5 business days. The servicer then has 30 business days (from the request) to take action on the request. The servicer has to either provide a written notification that the error has been corrected, or provide a written explanation as to why the servicer believes the account is correct. Either way, the servicer has to provide the name and telephone number of a person with whom the borrower can discuss the matter. The servicer cannot provide information to any credit agency regarding any overdue payment during the 60 day period.

If the servicer fails to comply with the "qualified written request", the borrower is entitled to actual damages, up to $2,000 of additional damages if there is a pattern of noncompliance, costs and attorneys fees.[3]

Criticisms

However, critics say that kickbacks still occur. For example, lenders often provide captive insurance to the title insurance companies they work with, which critics say is essentially a kickback mechanism. Others counter that economically the transaction is a zero sum game, where if the kickback were forbidden, a lender would simply charge higher prices. One of the core elements of the debate is the fact that customers overwhelmingly go with the default service providers associated with a lender or a real estate agent, even though they sign documents explicitly stating that they can choose to use any service provider.

There have been various proposals to modify the Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act. One proposal is to change the "open architecture" system currently in place, where a customer can choose to use any service provider for each service, to one where the services are bundled, but where the real estate agent or lender must pay directly for all other costs. Under this system, lenders, who have more buying power, would more aggressively seek the lowest price for real estate settlement services.

While both the HUD-1 and HUD-1A serve to disclose all fees, costs and charges to both the buyer and seller involved in a real estate transaction, it is not uncommon to find mistakes on the HUD. Both buyer and seller should know how to properly read a HUD before closing a transaction and at settlement is not the ideal time to discover unnecessary charges and/or exorbitant fees as the transaction is about to be closed. Buyers or sellers can hire an experienced professional such as a real estate agent or an attorney to protect their interests at closing.

Sources

  1. ↑ "HUD RESPA Sample Written Complaint to Lender". Retrieved 2010-06-28.
  2. ↑ "Recent Changes to the Law Governing Qualified Written Requests". Retrieved 2016-04-13.
  3. ↑ 12 USC 2605(f)

External links

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