[Code of Federal Regulations] [Title 24, Volume 5] [Revised as of April 1, 2009] From the U.S. Government Printing Office via GPO Access [CITE: 24CFR3500.14] [Page 348] TITLE 24--HOUSING AND URBAN DEVELOPMENT CHAPTER XX--OFFICE OF ASSISTANT SECRETARY FOR HOUSING--FEDERAL HOUSING COMMISSIONER, DEPARTMENT OF HOUSING AND URBAN DEVELOPMENT PART 3500_REAL ESTATE SETTLEMENT PROCEDURES ACT--Table of Contents Sec. 3500.14 Prohibition against kickbacks and unearned fees. * * * * * (b) * * * A business entity (whether or not in an affiliate relationship) may not pay any other business entity or the employees of any other business entity for the referral of settlement service business. * * * * * (g) Exemptions for fees, salaries, compensation, or other payments. (1) The following are permissible: (i) A payment to an attorney at law for services actually rendered; (ii) A payment by a title company to its duly appointed agent for services actually performed in the issuance of a policy of title insurance; (iii) A payment by a lender to its duly appointed agent or contractor for services actually performed in the origination, processing, or funding of a loan; (iv) A payment to any person of a bona fide salary or compensation or other payment for goods or facilities actually furnished or for services actually performed; (v) A payment pursuant to cooperative brokerage and referral arrangements or agreements between real estate agents and real estate brokers. (The statutory exemption restated in this paragraph refers only to fee divisions within real estate brokerage arrangements when all parties are acting in a real estate brokerage capacity, and has no applicability to any fee arrangements between real estate brokers and mortgage brokers or between mortgage brokers.) (vi) Normal promotional and educational activities that are not conditioned on the referral of business and do not involve the defraying of expenses that otherwise would be incurred by persons in a position to refer settlement services or business incident thereto; (vii) A payment by an employer to its own bona fide employee for generating business for that employer; (viii) In a controlled business arrangement, a payment by an employer of a bonus to a managerial employee based on criteria relating to performance (such as profitability, capture rate, or other thresholds) of a business entity in the controlled business arrangement. However, the amount of such bonus may not be calculated as a multiple of the number or value of referrals of settlement service business to a business entity in a controlled business arrangement; and (ix)(A) A payment by an employer to its bona fide employee for the referral of settlement service business to a settlement service provider that has an affiliate relationship with the employer or in which the employer has a direct or beneficial ownership interest of more than 1 percent, if the following conditions are met: (1) The employee does not perform settlement services in any transaction; and (2) Before the referral, the employee provides to the person being referred a written disclosure in the format of the Controlled Business Arrangement Disclosure Statement, set forth in appendix D to this part. (B) For purposes of this paragraph (g)(1)(ix), the marketing of a settlement service or product of an affiliated entity, including the collection and conveyance of information or the taking of an application or order for an affiliated entity, does not constitute the performance of a settlement service. Under this paragraph (g)(1)(ix), marketing of a settlement service or product may include incidental communications with the consumer after the application or order, such as providing the consumer with information about the status of an application or order; marketing shall not include serving as the ongoing point of contact for coordinating the delivery and provision of settlement services. * * * * * [[Page 349]]