Does paying a flat monthly fee for Voksha count as an illegal referral fee under RESPA?

For Mortgage Brokers

RESPA Section 8 prohibits paying for the referral of settlement service business, structuring compensation as a fee that varies based on the volume or value of business referred rather than as payment for actual services rendered. Voksha is a flat monthly software subscription (Starter at $14, Premium at $99, Enterprise from $990, plus a flat $1-per-call overage tied to call volume, not to loans closed or referred), the same compensation structure as your LOS license fee, your CRM subscription, or your VoIP phone bill. It is not priced per closed loan, per referral, or as a percentage of loan value, which is the specific structure RESPA Section 8 is designed to catch. This is meaningfully different from arrangements that have drawn RESPA scrutiny in the mortgage industry, like paying a real estate agent or builder a fee that scales with the number of borrowers referred, or a marketing services agreement that functions as disguised payment for referrals. Paying for phone answering software, the same category as paying for a physical phone system, a CRM, or a live answering service billed by the minute, is a bona fide payment for a service rendered (answering, qualifying, and scheduling calls) regardless of how many of those calls convert to closed loans. If your compliance officer wants documentation for a RESPA file review, the relevant point to note is that Voksha's pricing scales with call volume handled, not with loans originated, referred, or closed, which is the standard test used to distinguish a service fee from a disguised referral fee.