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ALTA Action Alert	Take Action!
Please Contact Your Representative and Ask Them to Sign the Dear Colleague Letter to HUD If you are a title insurer or agent, lawyer, escrow officer, or provide closings, HUD's proposed RESPA rule could have dramatically negative effects on your business. Among many costly and burdensome provisions the rule would require the preparation and explanation of a closing script and loan comparison document at closing. This requirement would: Double your time spent on closings Require you to understand and explain loan terms to borrowers at closing Make you responsible for borrowers understanding the terms of their loans Subject you to charges of unauthorized practice of law and Increase your legal liability In addition, the rule would unfairly assist the biggest mortgage lenders in gaining more control over the real estate consumer. The largest lenders could negotiate volume discounts with their affiliated settlement service providers and push small providers out of the business. Now is not the time to make such sweeping market changes to the real estate industry. We need your help today to help defeat or significantly narrow the scope of the proposed rule. Congress is requesting that HUD withdraw this harmful rule and immediately begin crafting a better RESPA rule. Please take just a few minutes to use our system to write your Representative and ask them to sign the Dear Colleague letter being circulated by Rep. Hinojosa and Rep. Biggert to HUD Secretary Steve Preston urging him to withdraw the proposed rule and immediately begin a joint rulemaking process with the Federal Reserve Board to provide better disclosures to homebuyers. Read the Dear Colleague and letter to HUD here. Learn more at ALTA's RESPA Reform Resource Center. The following groups have joined ALTA in supporting this request: American Bankers Association (ABA), National Association of Realtors (Realtors), Credit Union National Association (CUNA), National Community Reinvestment Coalition (NCRC), National Association of Federal Credit Unions (NAFCU), American Financial Services Association (AFSA), Consumer Bankers Association (CBA), Consumer Mortgage Coalition (CMC), Housing Policy Council of the Financial Services Roundtable(FSR, Independent Community Bankers of America (ICBA), Real Estate Services Providers Council, Inc. (RESPRO), Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA), National Association of Hispanic Real Estate Professionals (NAHREP), National Association of Home Builders (NAHB), and Independent Bankers Association of Texas (IBAT).