RESPA Reform Inevitable, Mortgage Banker Says

The political reality is that the Department of Housing and Urban Development will deliver a final RESPA reform rule, probably by this summer, according to Jack Konyk, vice president of National City Corp., Cleveland.Speaking at the Regional Conference of Mortgage Bankers Associations in Atlantic City, N.J., Mr. Konyk said the threat of lawsuits will not deter HUD Secretary Mel Martinez from publishing a final rule on reforming the Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act. He said the industry has a choice: it can sit back and whine about the proposal, or it can examine how to do business under the reform provisions. "This industry will not die," he said. "We will find ways to adjust." Mr. Konyk cautioned that he was expressing his own opinion, not that of his employer or any of the trade groups he is associated with.