Yes, with conditions that most mortgage companies cannot meet. Connecticut lets a real-estate licensee take a fee for arranging the buyer’s first mortgage on the same purchase only when the fee is disclosed in advance, is not for the referral, and is paid directly by the buyer rather than by the lender or out of the loan.
What Connecticut requires
- Disclose the mortgage fee in writing before the buyer agrees to it, as Conn. Gen. Stat. 20-325c(a) requires.
- The fee may not be imposed for referring the buyer to the lender.
- The buyer pays the fee directly to the licensee. A lender-paid origination plan does not fit this shape, which is why the dual role is unworkable in Connecticut for a loan originator paid by a mortgage company.
What the rule says
(2) not be imposed for the referral of the buyer to the mortgage lender by such real estate licensee, and (3) be paid directly to such real estate licensee by the buyer rather than from the mortgage loan proceeds at the time of closing.
may receive a fee, commission or other valuable consideration for negotiating, soliciting, arranging, placing or finding a first mortgage loan for the buyer in connection with the same sale unless disclosure is made in accordance with the provisions of subsection (b) of this section.
What applies in every state
- Both licenses must be active. The mortgage side is an individual MLO license, sponsored by a licensed mortgage company, with the SAFE test, 20 hours of education and a background check behind it.
- Federal law sits above the state rule. RESPA Section 8 bars pay for a referral, and Regulation Z sets what a loan originator may be paid for. Compensation on the mortgage side is for origination work performed. The RESPA and referral-fee explainer walks through it.
- The lender on the loan has its own rule. FHA permits the dual role since 2022. Conventional lenders decide file by file in writing.
- The buyer keeps the right to choose any lender, and the disclosure says so.