12 U.S.C. § 2601
Section 2601 · Congressional findings and purpose
Amended 1 time on record
Applied in 692 court decisions — leading case United Housing Foundation, Inc. v. Forman (1975)
Most recently applied in PNC Bank Natl. Assn. v. Whitaker (March 2025)
Applied most in the First Circuit Circuit (33 decisions)
Cases citing this section usually also cite 15 U.S.C. § 1601 · 12 U.S.C. § 2605 · 12 U.S.C. § 2607
How often courts cite this section
Court decisions citing this, by year.Markers show enactment, consequential amendments, and circuit splits over this section — watch for a citation surge after a change or a disagreement. The dip in the last several years is a data-coverage gap, not a real trend — our corpus holds fewer opinions from the most recent years, so recent citations are undercounted.
(a) The Congress finds that significant reforms in the real estate settlement process are needed to insure that consumers throughout the Nation are provided with greater and more timely information on the nature and costs of the settlement process and are protected from unnecessarily high settlement charges caused by certain abusive practices that have developed in some areas of the country. The Congress also finds that it has been over two years since the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development and the Administrator of Veterans’ Affairs submitted their joint report to the Congress on “Mortgage Settlement Costs” and that the time has come for the recommendations for Federal legislative action made in that report to be implemented.
(b) It is the purpose of this chapter to effect certain changes in the settlement process for residential real estate that will result—
(1) in more effective advance disclosure to home buyers and sellers of settlement costs;
(2) in the elimination of kickbacks or referral fees that tend to increase unnecessarily the costs of certain settlement services;
(3) in a reduction in the amounts home buyers are required to place in escrow accounts established to insure the payment of real estate taxes and insurance; and
(4) in significant reform and modernization of local recordkeeping of land title information.
Editorial notes U.S. Code · Office of the Law Revision Counsel
References in Text
This chapter, referred to in subsec. (b), was in the original “this Act”, meaning Pub. L. 93–533, Dec. 22, 1974, 88 Stat. 1724, as amended, known as the Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act of 1974, which is classified principally to this chapter (§2601 et seq.). For complete classification of this Act to the Code, see Short Title note below and Tables.
Change of Name
Reference to Administrator of Veterans’ Affairs deemed to refer to Secretary of Veterans Affairs pursuant to section 10 of Pub. L. 100–527, set out as a Department of Veterans Affairs Act note under section 301 of Title 38, Veterans’ Benefits.
Effective Date
Section 20, formerly 19, of Pub. L. 93–533, as renumbered by Pub. L. 94–205, §10, Jan. 2, 1976, 89 Stat. 1159, provided that: “The provisions of this Act, and the amendments made thereby [see Short Title note below], shall become effective one hundred and eighty days after the date of the enactment of this Act [Dec. 22, 1974].”
Short Title of 1976 Amendment
Section 1 of Pub. L. 94–205, Jan. 2, 1976, 89 Stat. 1157, provided: “That this Act [enacting section 2617 of this title, amending sections 2602, 2603, 2604, 2607, 2609 and 2616 of this title and section 1631 of Title 15, Commerce and Trade, repealing sections 2605 and 2606 of this title, enacting provisions set out as a note under section 2602 of this title and amending provisions set out as a note under this section] may be cited as the ‘Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act Amendments of 1975’.”
Short Title
Section 1 of Pub. L. 93–533 provided that: “This Act [enacting this chapter and sections 1730f and 1831b of this title and provisions set out as notes under this section and section 1730f of this title] may be cited as the ‘Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act of 1974’.”