September 2022
Oregon real estate brokers and principal brokers cannot instruct escrow to pay a portion of their commissions directly to companies that provide commission advances or loans. Doing so is a violation of Oregon Revised Statute (ORS) 696.290.
(1)(a) Except as provided in paragraph (b) of this subsection, a real estate licensee may not offer, promise, allow, give, pay or rebate, directly or indirectly, any part or share of the licensee's compensation arising or accruing from any real estate transaction or pay a finder's fee to any person who is not a real estate licensee licensed under ORS 696.022, including a nonlicensed individual described in ORS 696.030.
(b) A principal real estate broker may pay a finder's fee or a share of the real estate licensee's compensation on a cooperative sale when the payment is made to a licensed real estate broker in another state or country, provided that:
(A) The state or country in which the nonresident real estate broker is licensed has a law permitting real estate brokers to cooperate with principal real estate brokers in this state; and
(B) The nonresident real estate broker does not conduct in this state any acts constituting professional real estate activity and for which compensation is paid. If a country does not license real estate brokers, the payee must be a citizen or resident of the country and represent that the payee is in the business of real estate brokerage in the other country.
Escrow companies that process such instructions are in violation of ORS 696.582(3).
(3) An escrow agent in a transaction described in subsection (1) of this section may only disburse the moneys or other property to:
(a) The principal real estate broker and principal, based upon a written agreement between those parties and directed to the escrow agent as disbursement instructions;
(b) Any persons, as directed by order of a court of competent jurisdiction; or
(c) The court, upon filing by the escrow agent of an interpleader action for the moneys or property.
You can review all of ORS 696 here.
There may be nuance in the fine print of some signed commission advance agreements that could alter the Oregon Real Estate Agency's assumptions about such arrangements. But, in most cases, licensees need to pay back advances or loans themselves to avoid sharing commission with an unlicensed individual.