NAMB Vows to Block RESPA Rule

The National Association of Mortgage Brokers has vowed to pull out all the stops in an effort to kill the final rule implementing changes in the Real Estate Settlement and Procedures Act. "We are not going to stand for this," President Marc Savitt said at the NAMB West regional conference in Las Vegas. The West Virginia broker wouldn't reveal the group's exact strategy but said "nothing is off the table," including legal action against the Department of Housing and Urban Development. "We have several ideas up our sleeves but we'll wait for the new administration to take over before we do anything," Mr. Savitt said. NAMB has numerous issues with the new RESPA regulations, but its main complaint is the method HUD has chosen to disclose yield spread premiums - first as a borrower paid item and then as a broker credit back to the borrower. "We thought that dog was dead but it came back to life," Mr. Savitt said, referring to the fact that the disclosure plan first surfaced in 2002. The final RESPA rule takes effect Jan. 1, 2010.