CFPB ends probe into Zillow's potential RESPA violations

The consumer watchdog will not take enforcement action on the company

By Francis Monfort

27 Jun 2018

Online real estate database company Zillow has disclosed that it is no longer under investigation by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau in relation to potential violations of the Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act as well as the Consumer Financial Protection Act.

In February 2017, the consumer watchdog notified Zillow that its Office of Enforcement was looking into whether to recommend legal action against the company. The investigation focused on Zillow’s co-marketing program, which allowed real estate agents and mortgage lenders to advertise together on Zillow websites. The CFPB believed that this kind of co-marketing may have been a RESPA violation.

Zillow soon responded to the notice and thereafter engaged in discussions with the bureau.

The company revealed in an earnings call in August that the CFPB was pressuring it to come to a settlement agreement over the potential violations. The company then maintained that it was not in violation.

Now, Zillow has received a letter from the CFPB stating that it had completed its investigation, that it did not intend to take enforcement action, and that the company was relieved from the document-retention obligations required by the investigation.

“We continue to believe that our acts and practices are lawful and that our co-marketing program allows lenders and agents to comply with RESPA, and we will vigorously defend any allegations to the contrary,” Zillow had said in a previous statement.