The Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act (RESPA) and its implementing Regulation X require servicers to respond to borrower requests for information (RFIs). This procedure results from the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act’s expansion of the scope of RESPA’s complaint handling requirements beyond the previously existing qualified written request (QWR) requirements.
The RFI requirements apply to any written request from a borrower (or an agent for a borrower) to a servicer for information if the request includes three elements:
(1) the name of the borrower;
(2) information that enables the servicer to identify the borrower’s mortgage loan account; and
(3) a statement of the information the borrower is requesting.
Let’s take a look at the procedural components.
Regulation X sets up a 2-step process for responding to RFIs, as follows:
- First, within five days (excluding legal public holidays, Saturdays, and Sundays) after receiving an RFI, a servicer must provide a written acknowledgment of receipt; and
- Second, a servicer generally must respond to the RFI not later than 10 days after receiving an RFI for the identity of, and address or other relevant contact information for, the owner or assignee of a mortgage loan, and not later than 30 days after receiving any other RFI.