________________________________________ July 21, 1997 ________________________________________ GSBCA 13692-RELO In the Matter of WILLIAM D. BELLER William D. Beller, Bend, OR, Claimant. Brenda Barker, Manager, Accounts Receivable & Travel Team, Bureau of Reclamation, Department of the Interior, Denver, CO, appearing for Department of the Interior. BORWICK, Board Judge. Claimant, William D. Beller, an employee of the Bureau of Reclamation of the Department of the Interior, was transferred from Durango, Colorado, to Bend, Oregon. Incident to his transfer, the agency authorized reimbursement for certain incurred expenses related to the sale of his house at the old duty station and the purchase of his house at the new duty station. For the sale of his house at the old duty station, the agency disallowed a United States Postal Service express mail charge of $25.25 to send documents to a relocation company. The agency disallowed the following costs related to the purchase of his house: Title company courier fee $25 Lender administrative fee 100 Lender processing/express mail fee 135 Lender wire fee 49 Tax registration fee 69 Title insurance drive-by inspection fee 50 Claimant appealed the disallowances to the General Accounting Office. We conclude that the $100 lender processing fee, $35 express mail fee, $25 courier fee, $49 lender wire fee, and $50 title insurance home inspection fee are reimbursable. The $100 lender administrative fee, the $69 tax registration fee, and the $25.25 express mail charge are not reimbursable. The Federal Travel Regulation (FTR) defines reimbursable miscellaneous expenses related to the sale or the purchase of a residence. Included are loan origination fees and similar charges such as loan assumption fees and loan transfer fees. A loan origination fee is a fee paid by the borrower to compensate the lender for administrative type expenses incurred in originating and processing a loan. 41 CFR 302-6.2(d)(1)(ii) (1994). An employee may be reimbursed for the loan origination fee in an amount not in excess of one percent of the loan amount without itemization of the lender's administrative charges. Reimbursement may exceed one percent only if the employee shows by clear and convincing evidence that (a) the higher rate does not include prepaid interest, points, or a mortgage discount; and (b) the higher rate is customarily charged in the locality where the residence is located. Id. Incidental charges made for required services in selling and purchasing residences may be reimbursable if customarily paid by the seller of a residence at the old official station or a purchaser of a residence at the new official station, provided they do not exceed amounts customarily charged at the locality of the residence. 41 CFR 302-6.2(f). Required services are those which are required by a lending institution or by state and local law and are imposed as a precondition to the purchase and sale of a residence. Leonard L. Garofolo, 67 Comp. Gen. 449 (1988); see Edward C. Brandt, GSBCA 13649-RELO (June 6, 1997) (applying same provision in Department of Defense Joint Civilian Personnel Travel Regulations). There is confusion here whether the broker or mortgage lender received the $100 lender administrative fee listed on claimant's settlement sheet for his purchase of his house at the new duty station. The mortgage broker denies receiving payment of the lender administrative fee. The mortgage lender states that the lender administrative fee was a broker charge. That fee, however, was listed in the settlement sheet as a lender charge paid by claimant at settlement. The record establishes that the $100 lender administrative fee was a charge by the mortgage company. The lender could not verify exactly what the this fee covered, although the lender said that such fees usually cover the costs of processing paperwork to complete the borrower loan application. There is no explanation here of how the costs covered by the lender administrative fee differ from the costs covered by the loan origination fee. Claimant maintains that the lender administrative fee represented only the administrative costs of processing the loan and was "not the cost for the hire of money." The record shows that the agency allowed claimant's loan origination fee of $612.50, which was 1.75 percent of the amount of claimant's mortgage. Claimant has not established that the higher rate is customarily charged in the locality where the residence is located, so as to entitle claimant to reimbursement of an amount greater than the $612.50 the agency had allowed for the loan origination fee. Tax service or registration fees are considered part of the finance charge and non-reimbursable. James A. Fairley, B-258932 (Sept. 19, 1995); Sue Wolohan, B-219546 (Jan. 30, 1989). The $100 lender processing fee was a flat-rate charge, required by the mortgage broker, to all loan applicants regardless of the extension of credit, and is therefore reimbursable under 41 CFR 302-6.2(d)(1)(ii). Constant B. Chevalier, 66 Comp. Gen. 627 (1987). Mr. Beller maintains that the $35 express mail fee, $25 courier fee, $49 lender wire fee, and $50 title insurance home inspection fee were for required or standard services in the purchase of his home. The agency has not refuted this, so we deem them to be required as a condition of the purchase. This distinguishes the case from Garofolo, which denied reimbursement of a home inspection fee because there was no requirement either express or implied in that case by the mortgage lender that home inspection be a condition of the purchase. The claimant has not established that the $25.25 charge of the relocation company for the United States Postal Service express mail was required in the sale of his residence. Claimant is entitled to reimbursement of the $100 lender processing fee, $35 express mail fee, $25 courier fee, $49 lender wire fee, and $50 title insurance home inspection fee. _________________________ ANTHONY S. BORWICK Board Judge