Excerpt from Impact of Regulations Under the Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act on Small Business: Hearing Before the Committee on Small Business, House of Representatives, One Hundred Third Congress, First Session, Washington, DC, July 1, 1993 The committee met, pursuant to notice, at 9:30 a.m., in room 2359-A, Rayburn House Office Building, Hon. John J. LaFalce (chairman of the committee) presiding. Chairman LaFalce. The Small Business Committee will come to order. This morning's hearing concerns regulations issued by the Department of Housing and Urban Development just prior to the November 1992 election affecting various aspects of the real estate industry under RESPA, the Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act. The regulations permitted certain activities including the pooling of computerized information about mortgage availability and, in some circumstances, remuneration for referrals to providers of settlement services. RESPA was first enacted by Congress in 1974 to protect consumers from unnecessarily high real estate settlement charges due to abusive practices. Among other things, RESPA prohibited kickbacks or other fees relating simply to the referral of business to providers of settlement services. Congress addressed RESPA again in 1973, adopting certain amendments seeking to clarify the statute and how it should be interpreted. Over the years, HUD has issued various informal opinions on aspects of RESPA. In addition, HUD published proposed regulations in May 1988. By December of that year, HUD had developed proposals for a final rule on referral fees under RESPA. But the final rule was not promulgated. Then, last November, days before the election. HUD published regulations concerning controlled business arrangements and computerized loan origination systems to become effective in 30 days. Proponents of the new regulations believe they promote efficiency and enable consumers to gain access to better, faster service. They say the regulations merely reflect the changing nature of the real estate marketplace. Opponents, on the other hand, say the regulations unfairly discriminate against small businesses which are independent providers of settlement services. They maintain that competition will be weakened and consumers will suffer if the regulations are permitted to remain in effect. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.