Byars

This case, an appeal from a grant of summary judgment, involves the validity of a yield spread premium (YSP) (a rebate paid to a mortgage broker by a lender) on a Federal Housing Administration (FHA) insured loan that has a cap of 1 percent on the loan origination fees that may be directly charged to the borrower. We conclude payment of a YSP does not violate the applicable regulations and therefore did not violate a provision in Byars’s deeds of trust requiring compliance with United States Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) regulations. We further conclude that summary judgment was properly granted on Byars’s Business and Professions Code section 17200 claim alleging the lender engaged in deceptive business practices by not directly disclosing to him that his loans were at an above-par rate of interest. Finally, we reject Byars’s contention that the court erred in excluding the deposition testimony of an expert witness deposed in another case.

Factual and Procedural Background

In February 1997, Douglas S. Byars used a mortgage broker, Spectrum Financial Group (Spectrum), to obtain an FHA loan to purchase a home. Byars did not investigate interest rates,…