Comment Submitted by Nancy Hollingsworth, A. O. Thompson Abstract Co., Inc

A. O. Thompson Abstract Co., Inc P. O. Box 73, 242 E. 3rd Street Hereford, Texas 79045 806-364-6641 Fax 806-364-1928 May 12, 2008 The Office of General Counsel Regulations Division Department of Housing and Urban Development 451 7th Street, SW Room 10276 Washington, DC 20001 Re: Docket No. FR-5180 P-01 Comments on RESPA: Proposed Rule to Simplify & Improve Process Dear Sirs: I am writing to express my opposition to the proposed rule regarding the Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act (RESPA) that was published in the Federal Register on March 14, 2008. I have been active in real estate transactions for well over thirty years. I was office manager for a real estate office and have held a real estate license through the State of Texas, have been employed by a savings and loan association and have taken loan applications, processed mortgage loans, prepared and issued closing instructions for closing and packaged secondary market loans. I am currently and for over twenty-five years have been a senior escrow officer for an independent title agent. I believe the rules changes will be very harmful to the title business. The closing script is of very serious concern and presents numerous problems for the title industry. This will put other escrow officers, our company and me in a position of explaining loans terms to which we are not a party. We are not lenders and are not qualified to explain loan documents. Settlement agents could find themselves engaged in the unauthorized practice of law. This will be an additional liability to escrow officers. Requirements of explaining documents are the responsibility of the lender, prior to the closing. Once you get to the closing table the lenders fees, truth-in-lending, note, deed of trust and all other loan documents should have been furnished to the borrower and/ or explained to them by the lender. Our responsibility as settlement agents is to compile the figures for the lender, obtain proper signatures, notary services disburse the loan funds and record documents and other duties, which do not include explanation of loan documents. Lenders have put the burden of preparing a preliminary HUD-1, which is to be in a timely manner, however, the lender or broker will schedule a closing and at the designated closing time, their customer is waiting in our offices, as the lender is still changing amounts or has not sent the closing package. They will make a commitment to the settlement agent that they will have a package to close at a certain time and we and their consumer is waiting to receive the package. In my experience over the years I have seen lenders and especially brokers, being less unknowledgeable. Usually the loan officer and/or broker are anxious to close, as they are usually paid by what is closed. Regardless of when the settlement agent happens to receive loan documents or has had a chance to review, much less read twenty-four pages, more or less, of their closing instructions prior to closing. HUD is requiring that the HUD-1 be ready 24 hours before settlement, but there is not a corresponding requirement that the settlement agent receive he necessary documents prior to this time period to properly prepare the closing script. When the settlement agent does finally get a closing package, generally the recording fees that have been estimated to the lender are not correct, resulting in a cost to the settlement agent that they can not recoup as they gave the lender an amount of fees “that cannot be changed”, leaving the settlement agent to pay the county recorder for those documents. Thank you for your consideration of these comments. Yours very truly, A. O. Thompson Abstract Co., Inc. By: (Mrs.) Nancy Hollingsworth /nh Enc.