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CFPB Thursday issued a bulletin providing guidance to the mortgage industry regarding marketing services agreements, including an overview of the federal prohibition on mortgage kickbacks and referral fees.

The bulletin also describes examples from the bureau's enforcement experience and the risks faced by lenders entering into these agreements. The bureau said it has noticed that marketing services agreements carries legal and regulatory risk for mortgage lenders.

CFPB is responsible for enforcing the Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act, which aims to eliminate kickbacks or referral fees that tend to increase the costs of settlement services. The bulletin says that any sort of agreement that exchanges something of value for referrals of settlement service business is likely a breach of RESPA, "regardless of whether a marketing services agreement is part of the transaction," CFPB explained.

CFPB's direct enforcement applies to credit unions with more than $10 billion in assets, but all credit unions are subject to RESPA and related prohibitions. NCUA supervises all insured credit unions for RESPA compliance.

CFPB noted that its own enforcement actions against companies and individuals for violations of RESPA have resulted in more than $75 million in fines to date.