I know paying a fee to a builder or giving them a break on future loans for a referral to our bank would be a violation of RESPA.

Would paying for most of an advertisement in a paper that included the builder and the bank be a violation? Even if they referred no business to us, the ad would still be paid by us.

Does the following part of RESPA allow us to do this?

(g) Fees, salaries, compensation, or other payments. (1) Section 8 of RESPA permits:
(vi) Normal promotional and educational activities that are not conditioned on the referral of business and that do not involve the defraying of expenses that otherwise would be incurred by persons in a position to refer settlement services or business incident thereto

If the builder is not paying their fair share of the advertising, then you are giving them a thing of value. I think you would be hard pressed to prove you had no expectations of the builder referring business to you.

Thank you Dan

If joint advertisement is a flyer that is left in the builder's office for customers as opposed to published in a paper or other magazine is this still a Section 8 violation?