Fidelity National Financial Inc., one of the country's largest providers of title insurance, has agreed to pay $4.5 million to resolve charges that it paid kickbacks to real estate brokers.
The Department of Housing and Urban Development claimed Fidelity National was illegally paying brokers for the referral of real estate settlement business, including home warranties and title insurance, a violation of the Real Estate Settlement and Procedures Act.
"Kickbacks are not for actual services rendered," says Brian Sullivan, a HUD spokesman, "The law has always treated that as harmful, and the law assumes that it will get passed along to the consumer."
Fidelity National denied HUD's allegations, but agreed to pay the $4.5 million settlement and also to cease the practice of paying brokers for title insurance or services using the TransactionPoint platform, an automated web-based platform for real estate transactions.
