12 CFR §1024.15 — Affiliated business arrangements
Regulation X §1024.15 sets the conditions under which an affiliated business arrangement is not a §1024.14/RESPA section 8 violation: Appendix D ABA Disclosure Statement on separate paper at or before referral, no required use of a particular provider, and only return on ownership/franchise interest as non-§1024.14(g) value.
Verbatim regulatory text
Verbatim provisions from 12 CFR §1024.15 — Affiliated business arrangements — each quote is a verified substring of the regulator-published source snapshot, not retyped. Quoted for reference; this is not legal advice. The operational layer (P&P updates, prompts) lives in the regulation update kits.
12 CFR §1024.15(b) — Affiliated business arrangement exemption requires all three conditions
(b) Violation and exemption. An affiliated business arrangement is not a violation of section 8 of RESPA ( 12 U.S.C. 2607 ) and of § 1024.14 if the conditions set forth in this section are satisfied. Paragraph (b)(1) of this section shall not apply to the extent it is inconsistent with section 8(c)(4)(A) of RESPA ( 12 U.S.C. 2607(c)(4)(A) ).
12 CFR §1024.15(b)(1) — ABA Disclosure Statement: format, content, and timing
(1) The person making each referral has provided to each person whose business is referred a written disclosure, in the format of the Affiliated Business Arrangement Disclosure Statement set forth in appendix D of this part, of the nature of the relationship (explaining the ownership and financial interest) between the provider of settlement services (or business incident thereto) and the person making the referral and of an estimated charge or range of charges generally made by such provider (which describes the charge using the same terminology, as far as practical, as section L of the HUD -1 settlement statement). The disclosures must be provided on a separate piece of paper no later than the time of each referral or, if the lender requires use of a particular provider, the time of loan application , except that:
12 CFR §1024.15(b)(2) — No person making a referral may require use of a particular provider
(2) No person making a referral has required (as defined in § 1024.2 , “required use”) any person to use any particular provider of settlement services or business incident thereto, except if such person is a lender , for requiring a buyer, borrower or seller to pay for the services of an attorney, credit reporting agency , or real estate appraiser chosen by the lender to represent the lender 's interest in a real estate transaction, or except if such person is an attorney or law firm for arranging for issuance of a title insurance policy for a client, directly as agent or through a separate corporate title insurance agency that may be operated as an adjunct to the law practice of the attorney or law firm, as part of representation of that client in a real estate transaction.
12 CFR §1024.15(d) — ABA recordkeeping (5-year retention)
(d) Recordkeeping. Any documents provided pursuant to this section shall be retained for 5 years after the date of execution.
12 CFR §1024.15(b)(1) — ABA Disclosure Statement: format, content, and timing — enumerated items (chapeau recall fix)
(i) Where a lender makes the referral to a borrower, the condition contained in paragraph (b)(1) of this section may be satisfied at the time that the good faith estimate or a statement under § 1024.7(d) is provided; and (ii) Whenever an attorney or law firm requires a client to use a particular title insurance agent, the attorney or law firm shall provide the disclosures no later than the time the attorney or law firm is engaged by the client. (iii) Failure to comply with the disclosure requirements of this section may be overcome if the person making a referral can prove by a preponderance of the evidence that procedures reasonably adopted to result in compliance with these conditions have been maintained and that any failure to comply with these conditions was unintentional and the result of a bona fide error. An error of legal judgment with respect to a person 's obligations under RESPA is not a bona fide error. Administrative and judicial interpretations of section 130(c) of the Truth in Lending Act shall not be binding interpretations of the preceding sentence or section 8(d)(3) of RESPA ( 12 U.S.C. 2607(d)(3) ).