First, all of us here at the Rounsavall Title Group wanted to thank all of you that have been providing us with so much feedback regarding our weekly blog. It has been a lot of fun to do, and we look forward to providing you with many more summaries of current issues in real estate well into the future! Obviously, our hope is that information such as this might encourage you to use our company for any future real estate closing business you might have. The most common way for this to occur is to request that your lender, whether it be a bank or a mortgage broker, use the Rounsavall Title Group to do the closing. But what happens if your lender tells you that they need to use another closing company of their choice?

The Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act, or RESPA, was a piece of federal legislation that was passed in 1974, and its primary purpose was to help the average consumer become a better shopper for home loans and settlement services. However, there are several provisions throughout RESPA that give various rights to borrowers throughout the lending process. According to RESPA, a bank or lender cannot require a consumer to close a loan through a specific title company. The reason why so many people are not familiar with this concept is due to the fact that RESPA does not require a lender to provide this information to the consumer. Therefore, when you ask your lender for us to help you, keep in mind that it is your right under federal law to use any closing company you want, regardless of the nature of your particular financing.