RESPA ENFORCEMENT DEFENSE ATTORNEY

September 9, 2023

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.”

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February 15, 2020

Marx Sterbcow speaking at the Minnesota Land Title Association Spring Seminar

by Marx Sterbcow

Marx Sterbcow will provide a “RESPA Compliance and CFPB Update“ at the Minnesota Land Title Association “MLTA” 2020 Spring Conference at the Marriott Minneapolis Northwest hotel on Monday, April 6, 2020 from 10:15 to 11:15 AM. The session will first focus on the “Do’s and Don’ts of the Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act (RESPA)” covering such topics as marketing services agreements, affiliated business arrangements, real estate lead generation program compliance, referrals and gifts. The second part of the presentation will discuss the latest in Consumer Financial Protection Bureau “CFPB” enforcement trends and outlook for the coming year.

December 14, 2019

FDIC RESPA Enforcement Action: HomeStreet Bank accused of violating Section 8

by Marx Sterbcow

The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation “FDIC” on November 30, 2019 entered into a Consent Order FDIC-18-0142k which ordered HomeStreet Bank, a Seattle, Washington based bank to pay a civil money penalty of $1.35 million dollars. The FDIC alleged that HomeStreet Bank’s now discontinued Home Loan Center-based mortgage banking business line violated Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act, 12 U.S.C. § 2607, and its implementing regulation, Regulation X, 12 C.F.R. Part 1024, by entering into certain co-marketing agreements using online platforms and desk rental agreements which resulted in the payment of fees to real estate brokers and home builders for their referrals of mortgage loan business. The FDIC also stated that all of HomeStreet Bank’s agreements with those real estate brokers and home builders have been terminated.

The FDIC’s Consent Order stated that HomeStreet Bank entered into the settlement without admitting or denying any charges of unsafe or unsound banking practices or violations of law or regulation.

Unfortunately though, the FDIC’s Consent Order did not provide any industry guidance on what it found objectionable in the co-marketing agreements using online platforms or the desk rental agreements. The Sterbcow Law Group hopes the FDIC will in the future provide more detail in its enforcement actions in order to help provide more clarity to the real estate and mortgage industry.

March 22, 2019

RESPA Seminar: Marx Sterbcow to discuss “Whither the Bureau: State UDAAP, Regulatory and Private Sector Compliance Issues, Activities and Requirements” at the 26th Annual RESPRO Conference in New Orleans on March 27, 2019

by Marx Sterbcow

Marx Sterbcow with the Sterbcow Law Group’s RESPA Law Resource Center has been invited to speak at the Real Estate Settlement Providers Organization’s “RESPRO” 26th Annual Conference in New Orleans, Louisiana on March 27, 2019 at 8:45 AM at the Ritz Carlton Hotel’s Carrollton Ballroom. The presentation “Whither the CFPB: State Unfair Deceptive Abusive Acts Practices, Regulatory and Private Sector Compliance Issues, Activities and Requirements” will review the most recent federal and state mortgage, title insurance, and real estate brokerage regulatory actions.” The session will discuss how the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and various state mortgage and title insurance regulatory agencies are interpreting UDAAP/RESPA. The session will also discuss what compliance expectations the CFPB’s Enforcement division will have when a company is under investigation and the general outlook of what is going on or not going on at the CFPB. The presentation will hit on issues involving private sector mortgage lending compliance involving Affiliated Business Arrangements and those how those expectations extend to class action mitigation risks.

Charles “Chuck” Cain from Cincinnati, Ohio (Executive Vice President Agency at WFG and Of Counsel to the Sterbcow Law Group) and Francis “Trip” Riley from Princeton, New Jersey (Partner with Saul Ewing Arnstein & Lehr, LLP) will co-present with Mr. Sterbcow in this session.

January 12, 2019

Marx Sterbcow to speak at the American Land Title Association’s Large Agent Conference

by Marx Sterbcow

Marx Sterbcow of the Sterbcow Law Group has been invited to speak at the American Land Title Association’s “ALTA Large Agent Conference at the Boca Raton Resort & Club in Boca Raton, Florida on Tuesday, January 15, 2019. ALTA’s Large Agent Conference is January 13-15, 2019.

The presentation “RESPA UPDATES” will discuss a variety of topics from the latest on RESPA Enforcement by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau “CFPB” to how the new political landscape in Washington, D.C. may put the CFPB’s current enforcement ideology in the spotlight. The presentation will also provide the latest RESPA Best Practices tips involving: advertising services agreements & marketing agreements, co-branded website advertising, advertising & marketing practices, title agency affiliated business arrangements, title joint ventures, office leases, and the challenges involved with many lead generation programs. Craig Haskins, the Chief Operating Officer, of Knight Barry Title, Inc. headquartered in Wisconsin will moderate the RESPA UPDATES session.