In 2014, the CFPB fined Fidelity Mortgage Corporation and its president, Mark Figert, “for alleged violations of federal law related to a referral arrangement.” CFPB found that Fidelity “violated the anti-kickback provisions of Section 8 of the Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act (RESPA)” through a rental arrangement with a local bank that was tied to mortgage referrals. The CFPB ordered Fidelity and Figert to pay a total of $81,076 due to the violation.

• In January 2014, the CFPB “fined Fidelity Mortgage Corp. for alleged violations of federal law related to a referral arrangement with a bank.” The CFPB issued consent order requiring “Fidelity, a non-depository mortgage lender based in the St. Louis area, and its president, Mark Figert, to pay $27,076 as a disgorgement for mortgage origination fees it received in 2012 from 20 loans and a civil penalty of $54,000.” Fidelity is “a subsidiary of the Bank of Sullivan.”

According to the consent order, “Fidelity leased office space in St. Louis County from a local bank and paid rent tied to the amount of mortgage loans that the bank referred to Fidelity,” and paid “an average of $1,350 in monthly rent, much higher than the monthly rent of comparable office space in the area.” The rental agreement “violated the anti-kickback provisions of Section 8 of the Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act (RESPA) involving federally-related mortgages.” [Lisa Brown, “Fidelity Mortgage is fined over referral arrangement,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, 01/17/14]