Policy Statement on CLOs

Information by State  Print version

[Federal Register: October 4, 1996 (Volume 61, Number 194)]

[Rules and Regulations]

[Page 51782-51783]

From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]

DEPARTMENT OF HOUSING AND URBAN DEVELOPMENT

24 CFR Part 3500

[Docket No. FR-3638-N-07]

RIN 2502-AG26

Office of the Assistant Secretary for Housing--Federal Housing Commissioner; Amendments to Regulation X, the Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act: Withdrawal of Employer-Employee and Computer Loan Origination Systems (CLOs) Exemptions; Notice of Delay of Effectiveness of Rule

AGENCY: Office of the Assistant Secretary for Housing--Federal Housing Commissioner, HUD.

ACTION: Final rule; Notice of delay of effectiveness.

SUMMARY: Due to recent legislation, this document delays until further notice the effectiveness of a final rule revising Regulation X, which implements the Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act of 1974 (RESPA). This final rule was published on June 7, 1996 (61 FR 29238), and it was corrected and revised on August 12, 1996 (61 FR 41944). Within 30 days of the publication of this notice, the Department will provide further notice indicating its time schedule for making effective the various provisions of these rules.

DATES: The effective date of the final rule amending part 3500 published June 7, 1996 (61 FR 29238) and corrected August 12, 1996 (61 FR 41944), is delayed until further notice. See Supplementary Information.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: David Williamson, Director, Office of Consumer and Regulatory Affairs, Room 5241, telephone (202) 708-4560; or, for legal questions, Kenneth A. Markison, Assistant General Counsel for GSE/RESPA, Grant E. Mitchell, Senior Attorney for RESPA, or Richard S. Bennett, Attorney, Office of General Counsel, Room 9262, telephone (202) 708-1550. (The telephone numbers are not toll-free.) For hearing- and speech-impaired persons, these numbers may be accused via TTY (text telephone) by calling the Federal Information Relay Service at 1-800- 877-8339. The address for the above-listed persons is:

[[Page 51783]]

Department of Housing and Urban Development, 451 Seventh Street, SW, Washington, DC 20410.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: In the rule published on June 7, 1996 (61 FR 29238) entitled ``Amendments to Regulation X, the Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act: Withdrawal of Employer-Employee and Computer Loan Origination Systems (CLOs) Exemptions,'' the Department established an effective date of 120 days from publication: October 7, 1996. Subsequently, on August 12, 1996 (61 FR 41944), the Department revised a document associated with that rules--Appendix D, the Controlled Business Arrangement (CBA) Disclosure Statement Format--in order to make it clearer how the format is to be completed.

On September 30, 1996, as part of an Omnibus Consolidated Appropriations Act (section 2103 of the Departments of Commerce, Justice, and State, the Judiciary, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 1997 (Cong. Rec. H11,750-51 (daily ed. September 28, 1996))), the President signed legislation which delays the effectiveness of the amendment to Regulation X contained in the Department's June 7, 1996 final RESPA rule relating to payments to employees. Specifically, the Omnibus Consolidated Appropriations Act provides that the effectiveness of the amendment contained in the June 7, 1996 rule which would have eliminated the provision of the Department's rule providing that section 8 of RESPA permits ``An employer's payment to its own employees for any referral activities'' (24 CFR 3500.14(g)(1)(vii)), is delayed.

The Act also provides that the effectiveness of the following additional provisions is delayed: (1) the exemption for employer payments to managerial employees (Sec. 3500.14(g)(1)(viii) of the June 7 rule); (2) the exemption for employer payments to employees who do not perform settlement services in any transaction (Sec. 3500.14(g)(1)(ix) of the June 7 rule); and (3) the provision clarifying that ``A payment by an employer to its own bona fide employee for generating business for that employer'' is permissible (Sec. 3500.14(g)(1)(vii) of the June 7 rule).

Although not required by the legislation, the Department has determined to delay temporarily the effectiveness of the June 7 rule, as corrected and revised on August 12, in its entirety, and to continue the prior rule, as in effect on May 1, 1996 and as corrected on September 3, 1996 (61 FR 46510). This will provide the Department with an opportunity to analyze the legislation and develop an appropriate time schedule for making effective the various provisions of these rules. Within 30 days of publication of this notice, the Department will publish further information indicating this time schedule.

Affected persons are advised to comply with the guidance contained in the three Statements of Policy published simultaneously with the June 7, 1996 rule (61 FR 29255-29266), except to the extent that the guidance in them interprets rule provisions that are delayed from becoming effective. To ease any compliance burden on industry, the Department's position is that, until further notice, persons are free to use the revised CBA disclosure statement format published on August 12, 1996, if they so choose, or they may continue to use the format which was in effect on May 1, 1996.

Dated: October 2, 1996.

Stephanie A. Smith,

General Deputy.

[FR Doc. 96-25637 Filed 10-3-96; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 4210-27-M