Holly Spencer Bunting

Holly Spencer Bunting is a partner in Mayer Brown’s Washington DC office and a member of the Consumer Financial Services group. She practices in the areas of residential mortgage banking and consumer finance and concentrates on issues of federal and state regulatory compliance and enforcement.

Holly represents companies in the mortgage lending, title insurance and real estate industries on regulatory compliance matters and defends clients subject to government audits, investigations and enforcement proceedings.

She also provides counsel on federal and state consumer credit and protection laws and regulations, including the Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act (RESPA), and reviews and analyzes existing and proposed business arrangements for compliance with federal and state requirements.

Holly focuses particular attention on assisting companies in complying with the anti-kickback requirements of RESPA, including counseling clients on the creation and operation of affiliated business arrangements, reviewing proposed and existing business relationships and drafting disclosures under Section 8 of RESPA.

In addition, Holly counsels mortgage companies related to approval, origination and servicing requirements under government lending programs, including the Federal Housing Administration single-family loan program, and conducts regulatory due diligence related to compliance with government loan origination and servicing regulations and guidelines.

She also defends companies in government enforcement proceedings, including, among others, RESPA enforcement matters, FHA and VA audits and CFPB investigations. Holly has published articles related to RESPA and FHA issues in industry publications and is a regular speaker at webinars and mortgage and title insurance industry events.

Education :

• American University Washington College of Law, JD, cum laude
• University of North Carolina at Asheville, BA, summa cum laude

Admissions :

• District of Columbia
• North Carolina

Activities : North Carolina Bar Association

Experience :

• Counseled a loan origination system provider on compliance with the TILA-RESPA Integrated Disclosure regulations in the programming of Loan Estimate and Closing Disclosure forms.
• Assisted clients in connection with investigations under the False Claims Act related to origination and underwriting of Federal Housing Administration-insured loans.
• Counseled multiple mortgage broker, mortgage banker, title insurance and settlement agent clients on developing and implementing practices and procedures to comply with the TILA-RESPA Integrated Disclosure requirements and assessing potential liability related to the Loan Estimate and Closing Disclosure.
• Performed regulatory due diligence of mortgage company policies and procedures related to Federal Housing Administration, Veterans’ Administration, and US Department of Agriculture lending programs, as well as compliance with federal and state consumer protection requirements.
• Advised multiple clients on compliance with approval, recertification, origination and underwriting, quality control and servicing requirements for government lending programs, including Federal Housing Administration-insured loans, Veterans’ Administration-guaranteed loans and Rural Housing Service-guaranteed loans.
• Assisted national trade associations in the drafting of manuals and other materials regarding compliance with Section 8 of RESPA.
• Created comprehensive catalog of origination and servicing requirements applicable to FHA-insured loans for a national mortgage lender.