One of the Bank's MLO's came across a MLS listing where the seller/realtor was offering $250 seller paid closing costs if the loan is provided by John Smith with ABC Bank. Would this be considered a RESPA Section 8 violation? The credit is going to the buyer/borrower and not to the referring party (seller/relator) or the referral recipient (ABC Bank).

Any benefit totally attributable to the borrower is not a Section 8 issue.

However, who knows what else might be going on in a situation like this.