What Does the Statute Say?
Section 8(b) of RESPA, 12 U.S.C. 2607(b) (1995), provides that: No person shall give and no person shall accept any portion, split, or percentage of any charge made or received for the rendering of a real estate settlement service in connection with a transaction involving a federally related mortgage loan other than for services actually rendered. Because of the broad reference to “no person,” this language can be read to mean that settlement service providers (“persons”) who render little or no services in return for a fee charged to the consumer are “accept[ing]” a “portion” of a “fee” “other than for services actually rendered.” On the other hand, by imposing obligations and liabilities on both the person paying the unearned fee and the person receiving the unearned fee, the statutory language appears to be focusing on the splitting of fees between persons involved in the settlement process, rather than on the payment of fees by the consumer. Otherwise, the consumer might be viewed
