Washington Administrative Code › Title 208 - Financial Institutions, Department of (See also Titles 50, 419, and 460) › Chapter 208-680 - Escrow Agent Registration Act › RECORDS AND RESPONSIBILITIES › Section 208-680-590 - What conduct violates the act?

Current through Register Vol. 24-14, July 15, 2024
It is a violation of the act for you, any controlling
							person, principal officer, designated escrow officer, independent contractor,
							employee or other person subject to this chapter to:
(1) Directly or indirectly employ any scheme,
						device, or artifice to defraud or mislead borrowers or lenders or to defraud
						any person;
(2) Directly or
						indirectly engage in any unfair or deceptive practice toward any
						person;
(3) Directly or indirectly
						obtain property by fraud or misrepresentation;
(4) Knowingly make, publish, or disseminate
						any false, deceptive, or misleading information in the conduct of the business
						of escrow, or relative to the business of escrow or relative to any person
						engaged therein;
(5) Knowingly
						receive or take possession for personal use of any property of any escrow
						business, other than in payment authorized by this chapter, and with intent to
						defraud, omit to make, or cause or direct to be made, a full and true entry
						thereof in the books and accounts of the business;
(6) Make or concur in making any false entry,
						or omit or concur in omitting to make any material entry, in its books or
						accounts;
(7) Knowingly make or
						publish, or concur in making or publishing, any written report, exhibit, or
						statement of its affairs or pecuniary condition containing any material
						statement which is false, or omit or concur in omitting any statement required
						by law to be contained therein;
(8)
						Willfully fail to make any proper entry in the books of the escrow business
						required by law;
(9) Fail to
						disclose in a timely manner to the other officers, directors, controlling
						persons, designated escrow officer, or other licensed escrow officers the
						receipt of service of a notice of an application for an injunction or other
						legal process affecting the property or business of an escrow agent, including
						in the case of a licensed escrow agent an order to cease and desist or other
						order of the director;
(10) Fail to
						make any report or statement lawfully required by the director or other public
						official;
(11) Fail to comply with
						any requirement of any applicable federal or state act as described in
						RCW
						   18.44.301;
(12) Collect a fee for tracking unclaimed
						funds that is not a bona fide out-of-pocket expense;
(13) Convert unclaimed funds for personal
						use; or
(14) Receive compensation
						or any value from any party for assisting in "real estate flopping." "Real
						estate flopping" is a short sale transaction where the value of a property is
						misrepresented to the lender, who then authorizes sale of the property for less
						than market value. The property is resold to another person at market value or
						closer to market value, creating a profit. The failure to disclose the nature
						of the transactions or the true value of the property to the lender constitutes
						fraud on the lender, the original property owner, or the second buyer, and is a
						violation of this chapter.
Statutory Authority:
								RCW
								   43.320.040 and chapter 18.44 RCW (as amended
								by   2010 c  34). 10-20-124, §
											208-680-590, filed 10/5/10,
								effective 11/5/10.