RESPA Highest Compliance Concern Among Lenders

April 22, 2010

Recently enacted fee tolerance changes to the Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act (RESPA) continue to pose the greatest mortgage compliance concern in 2010 among lenders, according to QuestSoft’s annual survey.

This marks the second year that RESPA has held the top spot among the lenders surveyed. “Lenders are also closely watching predatory lending laws and new regulations at the state and local levels.”

The poll rated the level of concern among 464 lenders for 12 regulatory changes affecting the mortgage industry this year. Eighty percent of respondents cited the adjustments to fee tolerance rules set forth in RESPA as a major concern for lending practices. Rounding out the top three concerns were Truth-in-Lending Act (TILA) changes (74 percent cited major concern) and other RESPA issues (66 percent cited major concern).

“Even though RESPA’s new rules have been active for a few months, lenders are still concerned with how to comply with the fee tolerance rules and properly disclose loan terms to consumers,” said Leonard Ryan, president of QuestSoft. “Lenders are also closely watching predatory lending laws and new regulations at the state and local levels.”

Changes to federal, state and local lending laws remained the fourth highest concern, with 37 percent of lenders citing these potential changes as a major concern in 2010. Increased Fair Lending Exam scrutiny rounded out the top five with 31 percent of lenders claiming it as a major concern.


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