Marx Sterbcow will be presenting on Thursday, December 7, 2023, at The 33rd Annual Robert C. Sneed Texas Land Title Insitute Conference in San Antonio, Texas at the Hyatt Regency Hill Country. The session at the Texas Land Title Association‘s annual event will discuss the Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act “RESPA” and affiliated business arrangements.
Marx Sterbcow presenting at the Real Estate Settlement Providers Council “RESPRO” 2023 Fall RISE Conference
The Sterbcow Law Group’s Marx Sterbcow will be speaking at RESPRO’s 2023 Fall Conference on September 12, 2023, in Bachelor Gulp, Colorado at the Ritz-Carlton Hotel. Marx will be presenting two different sessions. The first topic “State Attorney Generals Have Declared War Against Illegal Affiliated Business Arrangements” with RESPRO President & Executive Director Ken Trepeta will discuss what the state attorney generals are analyzing to see whether a title or mortgage affiliated business arrangement is properly structured and operating legally. They will discuss areas of compliance which some may overlook until they receive a subpoena from a government agency. The second session will be a “Fair Lending Update” with Richard Andreano, who is a Partner at Ballard Spahr, LLP in Washington D.C. This session will discuss the continued focus of regulators and elected officials on fair lending in the mortgage space, including redlining (both traditional and digital), appraisal bias, reconsiderations of value, and automated valuation models.”
FDIC Consumer Compliance Supervisory Highlights Identified RESPA Section 8(a) Violations in its March 2023 Newsletter
The FDIC examiners identified significant consumer compliance issues during its supervisory activities in 2022 according to its March 2023 issue. The Spring 2021 issue of the Consumer Compliance Supervisory Highlights discussed Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act “RESPA” Section 8(a) violations and the difference between paying for a lead (which is generally acceptable) and paying for a referral (which is prohibited). True leads permissible under RESPA are often lists of customer contacts that are not conditioned on the number of closed transactions resulting from the leads, or any other consideration, such as endorsement of the settlement service. While a service may be characterized as a lead generation service, the activity could actually be a referral arrangement depending on the facts and circumstances. If the payment for the lead is in exchange for activity directed to a person that has the effect of affirmatively influencing the consumer to select a particular lender, then it becomes a referral fee. Banks often contract with third parties to provide what are characterized as lead generation services, but in some cases, the FDIC has found that the banks are actually paying for referrals. While the FDIC Supervisory Highlights demonstrate what banking regulators are looking at, it provides a good roadmap for other settlement service providers who are engaging in these types of marketing efforts.
Findings
In 2022, the FDIC identified RESPA Section 8(a) violations where a bank contracted with third parties that took steps to identify and contact consumers in order to directly steer and affirmatively influence the consumer’s selection of the bank as the settlement service provider. In some cases, this process involved the third party calling identified consumers and directly connecting and introducing them to a specific mortgage representative on the phone. This process is often referred to as a “warm transfer.” In other cases, the process involved operation of a digital platform that purported to rank lender options based on neutral criteria but where the participating lenders merely rotated in the top spot. Although each case is fact specific, indicators of risk in these arrangements include a third party that does one or more of the following activities:
Marx Sterbcow Speaking at the Real Estate Settlement Providers Council’s 30th Annual Conference in Lake Tahoe
Marx Sterbcow, Managing Attorney of the Sterbcow Law Group, is speaking at RESPRO‘s 30th Annual Conference at the Ritz Carlton Resort in Lake Tahoe on May 23, 2023. The topic “The Evolving AfBA Model–Compliantly Transforming Fixed Costs Into Variable Expenses In An Uncertain Market” will discuss how this challenging real estate market is driving title insurance agents and business owners to adapt, and transforming fixed costs into variable costs, especially in a volatile environment, is at the top of almost every operator’s “to-do” list. This session will examine the evolution of the traditional JV and ABA business model in the face of the existing down cycle. Panelists will discuss how successful JV operators are not only transitioning their expenses into variable costs, but doing so compliantly. The panel will consider such things as offering back office support for JVs while staying on the right side of the “core services” consideration. Attendees will hear not only about compliance strategies for the evolving JV models, but practical, operational considerations as well. Mr. Sterbcow will be joined with Mike Larosa (Chief Operating Officer for the Florida Agency Network), Aaron Davis (CEO of ClosingSuite.com), and moderated by Chuck Cain (SVP of National Agency Division at FNF).
Marx Sterbcow Speaking at the Southeast Land Title Association’s 55th Annual Mid-Year Conference
Marx Sterbcow, Managing Attorney of the Sterbcow Law Group, is speaking at the Southeast Land Title Association‘s Mid-Year Conference in Birmingham, Alabama on Monday, April 24th at the Ross Bridge Resort & Spa. Mr. Sterbcow will speak on CFPB and RESPA compliance matters including an in-depth discussion on how to properly set up and operate Affiliated Business Arrangements so you comply with federal and state RESPA regulations.
Marx Sterbcow to keynote DOMA Holdings’ 2023 Mid-South Agent Conference in Nashville
Marx Sterbcow, the managing attorney, for the Sterbcow Law Group, LLC will be the keynote speaker at Doma Title Insurance’s 2023 Mid-South Agent Conference on March 7, 2023 at the Sonesta Nashville, Airport in Nashville, Tennessee. Mr. Sterbcow’s presentation: “RESPA: A Primer for Title Agents” will focus on RESPA Compliance for affiliated business arrangements, marketing services agreements, and give an outlook on the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.
The Federal Housing Administration Revises Dual Employment Requirements and Clarifies Conflict of Interest Policies
The Federal Housing Administration “FHA” published Mortgage Letter (ML) 2022-22 on December 15, 2022, which provides new clarifications on its Conflicts of Interest Policy and Dual Employment Policy for most Title II Single Family FHA-Insured Mortgage Transactions.
The new Mortgage Letter revisions have taken a dramatic change in that FHA Policy now permits individuals who do not have a “direct impact on the mortgage approval decision” to have various compensated positions for services performed and allowed by the Department of Housing and Urban Development “HUD”, provided that the transaction complies with all applicable federal, state, and local laws, rules, and requirements.
The 2022-22 Mortgage Letter now consolidates various conflicts of interest and dual employment subsections in the Single-Family Housing Policy Handbook 4000.1 into one subsection and provides clarification on FHA policy regarding prohibited conflicts of interest by individuals that directly impact the mortgage approval decision and permitted dual employment for other individuals who perform services in a single FHA-insured transaction. FHA believes the policy consolidation and clarification will help facilitate an easier understanding of existing FHA requirements given feedback from the real estate industry and from confusion internally at FHA with how to apply the past Policy.
Marx Sterbcow speaking on RESPA News webinar series “CFPB unconstitutionally funded? What does it mean?”
October Research’s RESPA News has invited Marx Sterbcow, with the Sterbcow Law Group, and Francis ‘Trip’ Riley, with Saul Ewing, to speak on its next webinar series. The Webinar will be held on December 14, 2022 at 2:00 PM EST. The webinar will be moderated by RESPA News editor Elizabeth Childers. The webinar will discuss the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals ruling on the CFPB’s funding structure and will address questions the real estate industry has been asking such as: What does this mean? Are the CFPB actions still valid? How should I react? Trip Riley and I will answer those questions and more.
Register today and get clarification on what this ruling means for the industry.
Marx Sterbcow Speaking at the National REO Brokers Association in Orlando, Florida
Marx Sterbcow, Managing Attorney of the Sterbcow Law Group, will be presenting at The National REO Brokers Association‘s (“NRBA”) Business Development Seminar in Orlando, Florida on October, 7, 2022. The topic of the session will be “You are a CFPB target! Regulation, Liabilities & Politics” which will focus on the impact of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s lawsuit against Townstone Financial and how the CFPB’s regulation by political enforcement is now taking aim at the real estate brokerage and title insurance industries. The Seminar is at the Lowe’s Portofino Hotel at Universal Studios.
Sterbcow Law Group’s Marx Sterbcow speaking at the Collateral Risk Network (“CRN”) in Las Vegas
Marx Sterbcow, Managing Attorney of the Sterbcow Law Group, will be presenting at the Collateral Risk Network event during the Valuation Expo Conference at the Mirage Casino in Las Vegas on September 7, 2022. The presentation, “The CFPB’s New Equity Agenda” will discuss the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and US Department of Justice’s focus on fair lending and fair housing. The session will also focus on the CFPB’s Equal Time Advertising Rule (“EqTar”) and the Demographic Equality Employment Quota Rule (“DEEQR”) theories under the Fair Lending Act and how these concepts will reverberate across all regulated entities as these new expectations on businesses are being imposed by the federal government. EqTar is defined as the failure to advertise to a specific racial group and DEEQR is defined as job specific hiring practices.