NAMB Prez Blasts HUD's New RESPA Proposal

The president-elect of the National Association of Mortgage Brokers says the Department of Housing and Urban Development does "not care about true simplification" of the Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act, and he vowed to vehemently oppose HUD's latest RESPA proposal.The proposal, which had not yet been released officially, includes a four-page good-faith estimate instead of a one-page GFE favored by the NAMB, Marc Savitt told attendees at the Southeast Mortgage Brokers Conference (sponsored by the Georgia Association of Mortgage Brokers) in Savannah, Ga. Mr. Savitt charged that HUD had bowed to pressure from other industry participants, contending that the RESPA proposal is about market share, not simplification. He said the new rule is similar to one HUD proposed back in 2004 but with the packaging provisions removed. Mr. Savitt vowed that the NAMB would "hit them with everything we have." In response to the 2004 rule, a grassroots campaign resulted in 45,000 letters of protest. "That is nothing compared with this time," he predicted. He called on mortgage brokers to contact their customers and have them write letters to HUD. Mr. Savitt told the conferees that the NAMB has attorneys in place ready to file a lawsuit against HUD as soon as the rule is formally published. The association can be found on the Web at http://www.namb.org.