Chapter 436 Recommendations: First the trust, then...
Why did you agree to that?
That's the question I have been getting to the Chapter 436 Working Group recommendations regarding i) the deposit of all purchaser payments to trust, and ii) some form of periodic statement to the consumer. One answer would be that we see too many news reports like this one.
The primary objective for these two recommendations is the establishment of an audit trail. Require all payments to go through the fiduciary's hands, and require the fiduciary to give the consumer some form of notice. If the regulator does not have the resources to monitor the transaction, give the consumer the opportunity to do so. The recommendation does not deny the seller the right to recover sales expenses.
Yes, the procedure is burdensome, will add cost to the transaction, and will require change. What are the alternatives?
