RESPA Lawyer BlogMarx 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).
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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 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.
Marx David Sterbcow speaking at the Michigan Land Title Association’ 2022 Annual Conference
Marx Sterbcow is speaking at the Michigan Land Title Association (“MLTA”) Annual Convention on July 11, 2022 at the Crystal Mountain Resort in Thompsonville, Michigan. The presentation “Regulatory Update — Joint Ventures & the CFPB” will provide an overview of how to properly set up an affiliated business arrangement, discuss the expectations regulators look for in Marketing Services Agreements, and give insight on where CFPB enforcement is and where it is headed in the future.
Marx Sterbcow speaking at The National Settlement Services Summit (“NS3”) on June 2, 2022 in Orlando, Florida.
Marx Sterbcow, the Managing Attorney at the Sterbcow Law Group, will be speaking at the National Settlement Services Summit in Orlando, Florida with Kris Kully, Partner at Mayer Brown, along with moderator Tracey Read, Editor of RESPA News. The session “RESPA Step by Step” will discuss the step-by-step process of how to properly structure affiliated business arrangements from start to finish. The presentation will talk about the important issues in the operating agreement to operation compliance concerns to what the CFPB and state regulators want and don’t want when they are looking at these types of arrangements. The presentation is from 11:20-12:10 AM in the International Ballroom. NS3 is considered the premier annual conference in the real estate settlement services industry. The conference is being held at the Omni Orlando Resort at Champions Gate.
Consumer Financial Protection Bureau issues Compliance Aid on RESPA Section 8: Marketing Service Agreements (MSAs)
Today, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) announced it has rescinded the highly controversial Compliance Bulletin 2015-05, “RESPA Compliance And Marketing Services Agreements” and issued new the Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act (RESPA) guidance on Section 8 on the topics of “Gifts and Promotional Activities” and “Marketing Services Agreements“. The rescission of Compliance Bulletin 2015-05 clears up the widespread confusion that former CFPB Director Richard Cordray created when he issued the MSA bulletin. The CFPB’s Brian Schneider wrote the “CFPB provides clearer rules of the road for RESPA marketing service agreements” on the Bureau’s blog “[I]n order to provide clearer rules of the road and promote a culture of compliance, the Bureau is publishing guidance in the form of Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) on the RESPA Section 8 topics. The FAQs provide an overview of certain provisions of RESPA Section 8 and respective Regulation X sections, and addresses the application of certain provisions to common scenarios described in Bureau inquiries involving gifts and promotional activities, and marketing services agreements (MSAs).”
Schneider wrote “the Bureau determined that Compliance Bulletin 2015-05, Compliance and Marketing Services Agreements, does not provide the regulatory clarity needed on how to comply with RESPA and Regulation X and therefore is rescinding it. The Bureau’s rescission of the Bulletin does not mean that MSAs are per se or presumptively legal. Whether a particular MSA violates RESPA Section 8 will depend on specific facts and circumstances, including the details of how the MSA is structured and implemented. MSAs remain subject to scrutiny, and we remain committed to vigorous enforcement of RESPA Section 8.”
One of the biggest takeaways in the MSA guidance is in the Bureau’s use of a real estate agent entering into a MSA agreement with a lender. In the past MSAs where lenders entered into MSAs with individual real estate agents or real estate teams was considered off limits due to the direct consumer interaction that real estate agents and real estate agent teams had so MSAs were largely limited to real estate brokerages since this was seen as a business to business arrangement due to the brokerages limited interaction with consumers.
Townstone Financial, Inc. Fact Sheet in Response to CFPB Lawsuit
Consumer Financial Protection Bureau Sues a Chicago Mortgage Company Alleging “Redlining” Violations Based on Political Speech and Social Commentary Broadcast on Conservative Radio Station
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (“CFPB”), the controversial brainchild of Senator Elizabeth Warren, filed suit in Chicago yesterday against Townstone Financial, a small mortgage company, charging “redlining” violations based on political speech and social commentary broadcast on a conservative radio station. The Complaint alleges that statements made about crime in Chicago and support for police discouraged African-Americans from applying to their company and that the fact that their weekly radio show was broadcast on a conservative talk radio station discriminated against African-Americans.
James Bopp, Jr. of The Bopp Law Firm of Terre Haute, Indiana and co-counsel for Townstone, said that “The CFPB is using this case to drive all banking and mortgage companies away from advertising on conservative talk radio and to punish mainstream conservative political speech and social commentary. The CFPB has long been controversial and just lost a case in the United States Supreme Court for being improperly structured. They have been waiting years to file a case on the eve of a Presidential election to damage conservative voices. This is another federal agency weaponized to attack conservatives that needs to be stopped.”
Compliance Conference: Marx Sterbcow to speak at the 2019 National Settlement Services Summit “NS3” conference in Phoenix, Arizona
Marx Sterbcow, Managing Attorney for the Sterbcow Law Group, and Sean Burke, Partner at Mattingly Burke Cohen & Biederman, have been selected to present at October Research Corporation’s 2019 National Settlement Services Summit conference “NS3” at the Waldorf Astoria’s Arizona Biltmore Resort in Phoenix, Arizona on Tuesday, June 18th from 3:10-4:00 PM. The presentation titled “Title Insurance Compliance Management Systems for Tomorrow” will focus on technological expectations the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau “CFPB” expects many settlement service providers to have in place in today’s environment. The presentation will discuss how regulators are not satisfied with manual processes for compliance monitoring anymore and why the use of automated compliance management overlay technology systems is a tool that regulators like from a compliance standpoint but also how this technology will benefit companies who use it as well.
Marx Sterbcow will also join Richard Horn, Partner with Garris Horn PLLC and Sean Burke, on Thursday, June 20, 2019 as part of NS3’s “Ask The Experts” round table where they will provide insight on the latest “Regulatory and Enforcement Issues” on the federal and state level in the title & mortgage industry. This presentation will take place in the Frank Lloyd Wright Ballroom. The NS3 Conference is widely considered one of the premier compliance conferences in the title, mortgage, and settlement services industry.
October Research Corporation has generously offered a Discount Code to attend NS3 for all friends and clients of the Sterbcow Law Group. To receive your Discount Code please contact the Sterbcow Law Group and we will send you the special discounted rate code to attend NS3.