Blog with MAE Capital

The holidays are a time to give back, but in our business we are limited by a little know set of rules and regulations called the Real Estate Settlement and Procedure Act (RESPA).  This little set of rules severely limit what a lender can do for a client before after and during the transaction with respect to gifts and promotion.  It basically says the we as lenders (not banks they have a bigger lobby so their rules are different) can not give gifts of material value to anyone in exchange for any real estate settlement activity.  What this means is that if we want to give any person a gift if they refer business to us we would be in violation of this Act.  Big banks are exempt from this as you can walk into a branch of Bank of America, CitiBank, Wells Fargo, ect. they can hand you a gift for doing business with them.  This time of year you will see the banks giving their customers, bags for groceries, squishy balls, glass, ect.. We as Mortgage Bankers are prohibited from doing such things for our clients (yes the banks would like to see our industry go away so they can rule the world).  However we have been traditionally lower in interest rates than the banks as we carry much less overhead, so we do have a very valid place in the market.  I digress.

All this talk is great for the occupy folks, but we are keeping it positive for the season.  What we can provide is education and information regarding the process, and whatever we see fit to offer.  We have added a little twist by offering a weekly recipe, yes food can always put a smile on your face.  We figure that other than loan information, of which our site is loaded with, we would give you a continuing reason to visit our site and hopefully you refer people to our site not only for this but as our service is second to none in the loan business.  give it a try at www.maecapital.com/recipe . Have happy holidays and a great new year.