RESPA and Co-Marketing Rules for Real Estate Teams and Brokerages
Quick answer: The Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act (RESPA) bars giving or taking anything of value for referring mortgage, title, escrow and other settlement business, and bars splitting fees for work not done. Co-marketing with lenders and title companies is legal when each partner pays its fair share, at market rates, for real marketing, and nobody pays for referrals. Referral fees between agents are allowed. State rules, especially for title companies, are often stricter than RESPA.
This is general information, not legal advice. RESPA questions turn on facts, and state rules vary widely. Check with your broker of record, your state real estate commission or an attorney before you sign a co-marketing agreement.
On this page: Why it matters · The core rule · Thing of value · What’s allowed · Lenders · Title · Platforms · Referral fees and gifts · Enforcement · Playbook
Why RESPA is a marketing leader’s job
Most RESPA problems start in marketing. A lender offers to pay for your postcards. A title rep offers free listing videos. A mortgage partner sponsors the team happy hour. Each one can be fine or can be an illegal kickback, and the difference is in how it is set up and paid for.
If you run marketing for a team or brokerage, you are the person most likely to sign off on these deals. Knowing the basics keeps a good partnership from turning into an enforcement case.
The core rule
RESPA Section 8 (12 U.S.C. 2607) has two parts:
- No referral payments. No one may give or accept a fee, kickback or “thing of value” under an agreement or understanding to refer settlement service business on a federally related mortgage loan.
- No unearned fee splits. No one may give or accept part of a settlement charge except for services performed.
Settlement services include mortgage lending, title, escrow and settlement, required inspections, certain insurance, and the services of real estate agents and brokers.
Penalties can include criminal fines up to $10,000 and up to 1 year in prison, and in a private lawsuit, 3 times the settlement charge involved, plus court costs and attorney’s fees. Private suits under Section 8 must be filed within 1 year of the violation.
What counts as a thing of value
Almost anything. Regulation X lists money, gifts, discounts, salaries, commissions, stock, dividends, partnership profits, special pricing, and paying someone else’s expenses. For a marketing team, that includes:
- Free or discounted ads, postcards, signs or social media content
- Tickets, meals, trips and parties
- Free software, CRM subscriptions or lead tools
- Paying for your open house food or event costs
The agreement does not have to be written or spoken. Regulators can infer one from a pattern: payments that rise and fall with the number or value of referrals are strong evidence of a referral deal.
What’s allowed
RESPA has exceptions that make normal business and co-marketing possible:
- Payment for real services at fair market value. A partner can pay for goods or services it receives, at a price that matches their value.
- Referral fees between real estate licensees. Cooperative brokerage and referral arrangements between agents and brokers are exempt. This does not cover payments between an agent and a lender or title company.
- Normal promotional and educational activities, as long as they are not tied to referrals and do not pay for costs the agent would otherwise cover, like license fees, CE or office supplies.
- Affiliated businesses. A brokerage can own part of a mortgage, title or escrow company if it gives the consumer the required written disclosure at or before the referral, does not require the consumer to use the affiliate, and receives only a return on its ownership, not payments tied to referrals.
Co-marketing with lenders
Joint advertising with a lender is legal. The common standard, from NAR and industry guidance built on RESPA’s fair market value exception, is pay your share:
- Split by space and prominence. If the lender gets one third of a postcard, the lender pays about one third of the cost. If the lender pays more than its share, the extra can be treated as a payment for referrals.
- Use market rates for design, printing, postage and ad spend.
- Label each party’s portion of the ad, and keep a copy.
- Document everything: a written agreement, invoices, rate sheets and how each split was calculated.
- Pay for leads, never for results. NAR’s guidance: a partner may pay for a lead, but not for what the lead turns into.
Desk rental. A lender can rent desk space or a conference room in your office, but only at fair market value, meaning what a tenant that is not a settlement provider would pay for similar space. Above-market rent is a red flag.
Marketing services agreements (MSAs). These are contracts where a lender pays an agent or brokerage for marketing. The CFPB’s 2020 RESPA FAQs say an MSA is lawful when it pays for real marketing at a price that reflects its value, and that a marketing service is aimed at a wide audience, while a referral is aimed at a specific person. MSAs have been at the center of many enforcement cases, so have counsel review any MSA before you sign.
A cautionary example. In 2023, the CFPB found that Freedom Mortgage gave a New York brokerage’s agents a subscription service, cash and catered parties in exchange for referrals. The lender paid $1.75 million and the brokerage paid $200,000.
Title and escrow partners: where states get stricter
Title insurance is regulated by state insurance departments, and many states ban title companies from giving agents almost anything. A few examples:
| State | Title rule (examples) |
|---|---|
| Texas | Title companies may not pay any part of an agent’s costs for signs, property ads, open houses or parties that promote the agent (TDI Rule P-53) |
| California | Any consideration given as an inducement for title business is banned, even if no referral follows. In March 2025, California Best Title paid $150,000 after a rep gave agents free listing photos and drone videos |
| Washington | Title inducements are capped at $25 per person per year, with new rules on educational programs from January 2026 |
| Colorado | Ratio rules for business meals and events, and promotional items must be available to the public |
The practical rule: do not accept free marketing, content, events or tools from a title or escrow company without checking your state’s title rules first. For more state-level detail on advertising, see Fair Housing and Real Estate Advertising Rules by State.
Lead platforms, portals and referral networks
Online platforms have become a RESPA focus:
- Comparison-shopping platforms. A 2023 CFPB advisory opinion says a platform that steers consumers toward lenders or providers based on who pays more, and takes payment for it, can violate Section 8. The opinion was not withdrawn in 2025.
- Steering lawsuits. Recent class actions allege that portals, lenders and partner agents steered buyers to affiliated lenders, including suits involving Zillow’s Flex program and Zillow Home Loans, Rocket, and Veterans United’s preferred agent program. These are allegations, and several have been narrowed or dismissed, but they show how referral programs get tested in court.
- The Zillow co-marketing review. The CFPB closed its review of Zillow’s lender co-marketing program in 2018 with no action.
If a platform or network pays you, or you pay it, based on loans or title business that follows, get a legal review.
Agent referral fees, client gifts and rebates
- Agent to agent: referral fees between licensees are allowed under RESPA. Pay broker to broker, under a written agreement, and follow both states’ license laws.
- Unlicensed people: most states bar paying referral fees to unlicensed people, including past clients, friends and influencers. Texas and Florida are clear examples. California has narrow exceptions that call for legal advice.
- Small thank-you gifts: some states allow them. Texas allows a non-cash gift card worth $50 or less for a referral from an unlicensed person. Check your state.
- Buyer rebates: most states allow agents to rebate part of their commission to buyers, but roughly 8 to 10 states ban or limit rebates, and the list has changed over time. Check your state commission.
A gift to a past client is mainly a state license law question. It becomes a RESPA question when the gift is tied to referring mortgage, title or other settlement business.
Do’s and don’ts for common situations
| Situation | Do | Don’t |
|---|---|---|
| Co-branded listing flyer with a lender | Split the cost by space and prominence at market rates, and keep the invoice | Let the lender pay the full cost while you get most of the space |
| Lender-sponsored open house | Have the lender attend and pay its share of shared costs | Let the lender cover your food, signs or ads as thanks for referrals |
| Splitting a Facebook ad | Match the budget split to each party’s share of the ad, and keep screenshots | Have an understanding that the lender pays in exchange for your buyers |
| Lender pays for your CRM or lead tools | Pay for your own tools | Accept a free or discounted subscription from a lender you refer to |
| Free content from a title company | Buy content at market rates from a vendor you do not refer to | Accept free videos, drone footage or posts from title reps |
| Referral fee to another agent | Pay broker to broker under a written referral agreement | Pay a lender, a title rep or an unlicensed influencer |
| Gift card to a past client for a referral | Follow your state’s limit, if it allows one | Pay cash or a percentage of the commission |
Where enforcement stands in 2026
The federal picture has shifted, but the law has not:
- The CFPB has pulled back. It dropped its RESPA lawsuit against Rocket and a Texas real estate team in February 2025, and its funding and future are in dispute. In May 2025 it withdrew 67 guidance documents, but none were the Section 8 co-marketing FAQs.
- RESPA and Regulation X are unchanged, and the 2020 FAQs and 2023 platform opinion still stand.
- States are filling the gap. In January 2025, the Pennsylvania Attorney General sued six mortgage brokerages, alleging tickets, dinners and joint venture payments to agents for referrals. In January 2026, the Maryland Attorney General settled with a title company over joint ventures with agents and brokers for $1.05 million, and the joint ventures had to be dissolved.
- Private lawsuits are rising, with consumers suing over alleged steering and referral deals.
Plan for RESPA risk to come from state regulators and private lawsuits as much as from Washington.
A simple playbook for teams and brokerages
- Name one approver for any partner marketing, co-branded ad, event sponsorship or MSA.
- Use written agreements that describe the services, the split and how it was calculated.
- Keep a rate sheet and invoices for shared costs, and copies of every co-branded ad.
- Never tie anything to referrals, in writing, in conversation or in practice.
- Check your state’s title rules before accepting anything from a title or escrow company.
- Review partner arrangements yearly with counsel, and whenever a partner changes how it pays.
Who does the work depends on the team. A social media manager or marketing generalist can keep the files and screenshots. A marketing leader, full-time or fractional, owns the approvals and the yearly review with counsel.
Key takeaways
- RESPA bars paying or receiving anything of value for referring settlement business.
- Co-marketing is legal when each partner pays its fair share at market rates for real marketing.
- Referral fees between agents are allowed. Payments to lenders, title reps or unlicensed people for referrals are not.
- Title company rules are often much stricter at the state level.
- Enforcement has shifted toward the states and private lawsuits, and the law itself has not changed.
- Put it in writing, keep the records, and have one person approve partner deals.
Sources
Show all 14 sources
- Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act, 12 U.S.C. 2607 and 12 U.S.C. 2614
- Regulation X, 12 CFR 1024.14 and 12 CFR 1024.15
- Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, RESPA FAQs
- Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, Advisory opinion on digital mortgage comparison-shopping platforms (2023)
- Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, Withdrawn guidance
- Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, Freedom Mortgage and Realty Connect enforcement (2023)
- National Association of Realtors, RESPA resources and Window to the Law: Overview of RESPA
- Texas Department of Insurance, Title rule P-53
- California Department of Insurance, Bulletin 2022-8 on title inducements and HousingWire, California Best Title settlement
- Washington Office of the Insurance Commissioner, Title inducement and referral rules
- Texas Real Estate Commission, Gift cards for referrals
- National Mortgage News, RESPA cases rise as states fill the CFPB gap and Orrick, Maryland title settlement (2026)
- HousingWire, Pennsylvania Attorney General RESPA suit (2025)
- Inman, CFPB ends Zillow co-marketing review (2018)
Frequently asked questions
Can a lender pay for half of our Facebook ad?
Yes, if the lender gets about half of the ad's space and prominence and the cost reflects fair market value. If the lender pays more than its share, the extra can look like a payment for referrals. Keep the invoice and a screenshot of the ad.
Did the CFPB drop its RESPA co-marketing rules in 2025?
No. RESPA and Regulation X are unchanged. The CFPB replaced its 2015 marketing services bulletin with FAQs in 2020, and the guidance it withdrew in May 2025 did not include those FAQs. State attorneys general and private plaintiffs are also bringing RESPA cases.
Can I pay a referral fee to an agent in another state?
Generally yes. RESPA allows referral fees between real estate agents and brokers. Pay broker to broker under a written referral agreement, and follow both states' license laws.
Can I thank a past client for a referral?
It depends on your state. Most states bar paying referral fees to unlicensed people, and some allow a small gift. Texas, for example, allows a non-cash gift card worth $50 or less. Check your state commission's rules before you set up any client thank-you program.