PAGE 1
Insights
For Agents of Fidelity National Title Group
Vol. 6, Issue 2, April 2015
The Latest News and Articles for Our Agency Network
FORUM DISCUSSES GROWING AND CHANGING WITH THE CFPB
Presentations Educate Agency Staff on Resources, Strategies for Our Agents
IN THIS ISSUE >
PAGE 2
Important HA&W ComplianceSuccess® Program Survey for Agents
PAGE 3
Four Key Ways ALTA Works for You
PAGE 4
Agency Technology News: Software
Enhancements With Agents in Mind
PAGE 5
Model Title Company Collaborative:
A Closer Look at the Business
Metrics Module
PAGE 7
Tip of the Hat: Applauding Agents
Who Successfully Handle Claims
by Erika Meinhardt,
President,
National Agency
Operations, FNTG
T
he FNTG National Agency staff’s
annual forum took place in Jacksonville, Fla., joining together our
agency employees from across the country
for an opportunity to interact and learn
about new services and resources that
can benefit you, our valued agents. Our
agency representatives will be reaching
out to you over the coming weeks to share
what they’ve learned about these exciting
new offerings for you. Our agency team is
here for you, and our goal is to assist you
in preparing for the upcoming changes our
industry will face with the Aug. 1 implementation of the CFPB’s Integrated Mortgage
Disclosure rule.
Many of our agency forum presentations
focused on CFPB readiness and communication. Time was spent educating our staff
on the anticipated changes, what to expect,
how to prepare, and how to develop strategies for communicating with you and your
lenders, customers and real estate agents.
We have developed a wide variety of
information and materials to educate and
continued on page 2
PAGE 8
Recruiting for the Future: Our
Industry’s Critical Imperative
PAGE 9
Security Compliance Associates: Your
Resource for Attaining Data Security
Certification
PAGE 10
Agents Share Their Perspectives on
Security Compliance Associates and
Data Security Certification
PAGE 11
RealEC® Develops Closing Insight™
to Help Agents With New Mortgage
Closing Disclosure Rule
PAGE 12
Fraud Alert: Do Everything Right
www.nationalagency.fntg.com
© 2015 Fidelity National Financial
Shown from left at FNTG’s National Agency Forum: Kevin Gugenheim, EVP,
Corporate Operations and Strategy, FNTG; Randy Quirk, CEO, FNF and FNTG;
Michelle Korsmo, CEO, American Land Title Association; and Erika Meinhardt,
President, National Agency Operations, FNTG.
Send your submissions to John Obzud, EVP, National Agency Operations, at
877.947.5483 or [email protected].
AGENCY INSIGHTS I VOL. 6, ISSUE 2, APRIL 2015
PAGE 2
FORUM HIGHLIGHTS
continued from page 1
train your staff and customers.
Our National Agency website
(www.nationalagency.fntg.
com) offers two sections under
the Training tab that are dedicated to CFPB-related resources:
CFPB Updates — for FNTG
Agents (password-protected)
and CFPB Updates — Know
Before You Close.
Also under the National Agency website’s Training tab is our
Best Practices Portfolio Builder,
Model Title Company Collaborative (see page 5 to learn about
the Business Metrics Module)
and training presentations covering escrow accounts, settlement/closings and title-related
topics. Additionally, our Best
Practices web page provides a
useful explanation on each Best
Practice and indicates which
FNTG preferred service providers can assist you with each Best
Practice pillar: www.fntg.com/
bestpractices.
In addition to these webbased resources, your local
agency representative will be
sharing key CFPB communications with you on a regular
basis. If you have specific questions, please reach out, as I am
confident that they can guide
you to the appropriate resource
or answer your questions.
Discussions at our meeting also centered on industryrelated technology initiatives.
(To learn more about FNTG’s
agent-focused software enhancements, see page 4.)
Panel participants prepare to discuss the topic
“CFPB: We’re all in This Together.”
From left: Panel Moderator Kevin Gugenheim, EVP, Corporate Operations and Strategy, FNTG; with
participants Kelly Langdon, Bank of America, Strategy & Initiatives, Title Strategy & NTP; Gerardo
Caceras, RealEC, Client Delivery & Regulatory Strategy Executive; Patrick Hempen, SoftPro, VP of
Sales; and Carolyn Dodge, Ameris Bank, SVP, Compliance Officer.
We spent a good deal of time
learning about RealEC®’s Closing Insight™ software, a technology solution that will provide
integration with major title and
settlement production software
platforms. A number of lenders
have already made the decision to rely on this important
tool to ensure compliance with
current CFPB requirements.
RealEC has developed a process that will allow all settlement agents — regardless
of their platform — to be pre-
registered, trained and activated for use on Closing Insight in
advance of the Aug. 1 implementation date. (See page 11
to learn more.)
During the forum, employees had the opportunity to
attend a solutions provider
expo highlighting the many new
products and services available from FNTG’s preferred
service providers. If you haven’t
already, you’ll be hearing about
these soon from your agency
representative. (See pages 9 –
10 for our vendor spotlight on
Security Compliance Associates and for insight from two
agents who have used SCA’s
services.)
In an effort to learn as much
as we could about lender expectations of third-party providers, we held a panel discussion
about the CFPB changes moderated by Kevin Gugenheim,
EVP, Corporate Operations and
Strategy, FNTG; and featuring
Kelly Langdon, Bank of Ameri-
ca; Gerardo Caceras, RealEC;
Patrick Hempen, SoftPro; and
Carolyn Dodge, Ameris Bank.
Staff also heard from Michelle
Korsmo, CEO of ALTA, about
the many resources and opportunities available to ALTA members. (See page 3 for highlights
from her presentation.)
The forum was the perfect
opportunity to update and
educate our agency team so
that they in turn can do the
same for you. We’re excited to
share all that’s new and to help
you put to use the available
information and resources to
prepare yourself, your agency
and your customers for the
changes our industry will face
in the coming months. ~
HA&W COMPLIANCESUCCESS® PROGRAM SURVEY FOR AGENTS
Habif, Arogeti & Wynne, LLP (HA&W) is part of FNTG’s preferred The survey takes less than five minutes and can be found at:
www.research.net/r/GXX3MBH. Please complete this survey
service provider program. HA&W’s ComplianceSuccess®
by Wednesday, April 22.
Program is conducting its second annual national survey
to examine the attitudes and perceptions of title agents
Your answers will remain strictly confidential to the extent
and settlement firms around CFPB regulations, lender
provided by law. All results will be at the aggregate level.
requirements and ALTA Best Practice compliance. The
If you have questions about the survey, contact Kayla Payne,
survey looks to understand the methods these companies
marketing associate at HA&W, at kayla.
are using to become compliant, and where they are in the
[email protected] or 770.353.5345.
compliance process relative to their industry peers.
To learn more about HA&W’s
ComplianceSuccess Program, visit
For your participation, you will receive a complimentary
www.compliancesuccess.com.
analysis report of the survey findings.
AGENCY INSIGHTS I VOL. 6, ISSUE 2, APRIL 2015
PAGE 3
FOUR KEY WAYS ALTA WORKS FOR YOU
by Michelle Korsmo,
CEO, American Land Title
Association
A
s we look at 2015
and beyond, we can
divide what we know
and don’t know about the
future of our industry into
three basic categories:
• The known knowns —
The new Integrated Mortgage Disclosures will take
effect on Aug. 1, 2015, creating significant change to the
real estate financing business process that will affect
lenders, real estate agents,
settlement companies and
consumers.
• The known unknowns
— We also know that much
of the Mortgage Disclosure
rule is up for interpretation,
and that enforcement fear
is paralyzing for creditors.
It’s also likely that the Closing Disclosure forms will be
interpreted as being “wrong”
from a local practice and
customs perspective.
• The unknown unknowns — Probably the biggest question on everyone’s
mind is: “What will happen
to our industry?” What will
the market look like leading
up to Aug. 1, and how will
the market change then and
throughout the balance of
2015?
Based on what we know
and don’t know, the best advice I can offer each of you
is to be prepared. And while
there are many unknowns,
the good news is that ALTA
offers its members four valuable resources.
1. ADVOCACY
ALTA represents its members on a national and state
level by working closely with
members of Congress, state
legislatures and regulators on
issues that affect the title industry. Current top priorities for
ALTA include:
• Congressional oversight of
the CFPB’s Integrated
Mortgage Disclosures
• CFPB reform
• GSE reform
• Oversight of the Federal
Housing Administration
• Tax code reform
• Interaction with the National Association of Insurance
Commissioners (NAIC)
To learn how you can get
involved with ALTA’s Title
Insurance Political Action
Committee, Title Action Network and Policymaker Liaison
initiative, see the information
box below.
2. EDUCATION AND TRAINING
ALTA offers a variety of conferences, forums and online
training to its members. Highlights include:
• Federal Conference and
Lobby Day, May 18 – 20:
meetings.alta.org/federal/.
• RESPA/TILA Integration
Forum, April 16. The forum is
sold out, but click here for
livestream options.
• ALTA Annual Convention,
Oct. 7 – 10: meetings.alta.
org/annual/.
• RESPA/TILA Integrated
Disclosure DVD training
for owners, managers
and employees: www.alta.org/lti/tridtraining.
• ALTA’s Land Title Institute
provides expanded CE/CLE
offerings, the ability to learn
from home and Title 101 and
102 courses: www.alta.org/lti.
• We also offer the prestigious
National Title Professional
(NTP) designation, which
was created to recognize the
professionalism, knowledge
and dedication of its
designees. In 2014, 38
individuals were awarded
the NTP designation. To
learn more, visit www.alta/
org/ntp.
3. BEST PRACTICES
ALTA created its Title Insurance and Settlement Company
Best Practices to help members highlight policies and
procedures that the industry
created to protect lenders
and consumers, while ensuring a positive and compliant
real estate settlement experience. The Best Practices have
garnered support from lenders including Wells Fargo. To
learn more, visit www.alta.org/
bestpractices.
ALTA also offers Assessment Readiness Guides for
each Best Practice pillar and
a Policies and Procedures
Creation Guide that can assist your agency in drafting
documentation that fits your
company’s specific needs
and practices. Another valuable program is ALTA’s Elite
Provider program, which
is composed of premier
service providers committed
to offering comprehensive
benefits to the title insurance
and settlement services industry: www.alta.org/elite.
Other useful tools include:
• Universal ALTA ID:
www.alta.org/universalid.
This tool helps lenders and
vendors identify settlement
agents across industry
databases. We encourage agents to update their
company records and learn
their Universal IDs so that
their information will be
available and accessible
through this system.
• ALTA Policy Forms:
www.alta.org/forms. These
policy forms are considered
the “gold standard,” and the
license to use the forms is
provided free to ALTA members. Because coverage in the forms is standardized, the secondary market
readily accepts mortgages
that carry title insurance uscontinued on page 6
FOR MORE INFORMATION ABOUT ALTA >
• Membership: To take
advantage of ALTA’s many
resources and benefits, become a member. Click here
for membership information.
If you are already a
member, consider lending your expertise to these
ALTA committees and
networks:
• The Title Insurance
Political Action Committee is a voluntary, nonpartisan PAC of the American Land Title Association.
One-hundred percent of
your contribution to TIPAC
helps elect and re-elect
candidates who support our
industry and understand
our issues. The 2015 goal
is: $475,000. To learn more,
contact Jessica McEwen at
[email protected].
• The Title Action Network currently has nearly
10,700 members, and joining is quick and easy. TAN
is focused on ensuring state
and federal legislators who
understand the value of the
land title industry. Join at
www.titleactionnetwork.com,
and “Like” TAN on Facebook
AGENCY INSIGHTS I VOL. 6, ISSUE 2, APRIL 2015
at www.facebook.com/
titleactionnetwork.
• Congressional
liaisons are needed. If
you are a professional
whose goal is to educate
members of Congress
about the importance of
our industry, consider getting involved with ALTA’s
Policymaker Liaison
initiative. To learn more,
contact Awesta Sarkash
at [email protected].
PAGE 4
AGENCY TECHNOLOGY NEWS: SOFTWARE ENHANCEMENTS WITH AGENTS IN MIND
F
NTG is dedicated to
providing efficient and
effective technology
products exclusively for our network of agents. The products
are continually being enhanced
to meet your changing needs.
Read on to learn more about
these products, the latest
enhancements and upcoming
plans for the remainder of the
year from Tara Asquith, National Agency Project Manager.
AGENTTRAX
agentTRAX provides a
centralized location for FNTG
agents to issue closing protection letters and generate
good-standing letters (letterTRAX) and to create policy
jackets (jacketTRAX) and other
agency support documentation.
The Auto Reporting feature
reports premiums due for issued policies without having
to create separate remittance
reports, while E-Pay allows for
the electronic payment of the
reported premiums due. Activity reports are also available
to assist in tracking/reconciling
accounts receivable balances
for title premiums. The National
Agency technology team is in
the process of fully transitioning
off of the agentTRAX website
and onto the National Agency
website, which will simplify how
agents access information.
Look for more detail about this
in future issues of the newsletter. Here are updates on some
of the related products:
• jacketTRAX — Jacket inte-
grations have been expanded
beyond SoftPro, TitleExpress
and LandTech to also include
RamQuest, E-Closing and
ResWare. As a result, agents
can generate jackets directly
through these applications,
which eliminates rekeying
data and the need to go to the
agentTRAX website. Upcoming
initiatives include enhancing
the functionality of jacketTRAX.
Agents will learn more about
this in the coming months.
• letterTRAX — letterTRAX
offers a friendly and intuitive
environment to create letters.
Features include the ability
to organize documents by file
number, generate multiple letters, edit, void, view document
history and share documents
among those with matching
access. Most recently, the CPL
functionality of letterTRAX has
been integrated with these
third-party software applications: SoftPro, RamQuest,
LandTech, ResWare and
TitleWave.
• reportTRAX — Released
in March, reportTRAX has
a new user
interface that
provides agents
with information for all
activity within
jacketTRAX
and letterTRAX.
The interface
provides descriptions of
each report and
an easy-to-use
design. reportTRAX is intuitive and flexible
for the changing
needs of our agents. The new
interface has been enhanced to
consolidate the previously existing multiple reports by offering more sort and filter options.
• E-Pay — E-Pay is an exciting new product released last
month that enables agents
to transmit electronic payments for policy premiums. The
simple, clean design expedites
the agent’s payment process
and provides the history at a
“We’re very excited to share
our latest enhancements with
agents, and we will continue
to move forward with technology initiatives that can help
our agents work more efficiently and effectively.”
glance. There are just three
steps with E-Pay: 1) select
one or many accounts to pay;
2) enter the desired payment
amounts; and 3) submit the
transaction. Upon submission,
agents will receive an email
confirmation of the payment
containing their confirmation
number. No more checks to cut!
A separate account enabled
for Automated Clearing House
payments is required.
• For more information:
To learn more about agentTRAX and related products and
services, contact your agency
representative or visit
www.agenttrax.com/Menu/
Main/Login.aspx.
TITLEWAVE
FNTG’s TitleWaveTM software
was created to facilitate the
production of title searches for
our agents. The software enables agents to order, track and
receive title search products;
create commitments and policies online; transfer data into
third-party software packages;
and monitor order progress.
TitleWave is available 24/7 via
the Internet.
• Availability: The software
is currently offered in the following states: CT, DE, FL, GA,
IN, KY, MD, MI, MN, MS, NJ,
NY (downstate), OH, PA, RI,
TN, TX, VA, WV and WI. Additionally, data can be transferred
between TitleWave and these
software applications: AccuTitle, Closers’ Choice, DisplaySoft, DoubleTime, LandTech,
QuickTitle, RamQuest, ResWare, SoftPro (all versions),
AGENCY INSIGHTS I VOL. 6, ISSUE 2, APRIL 2015
— Randy
Tara Asquith
—
Quirk
Streamline, TitleExpress, TitleSoft, TurboTitle and WinTitle.
• Latest enhancements:
Complete integration is now
available between TitleWave
and SoftPro, enabling full
automation between the two
products. And just last month,
TitleWave became available in
the state of Georgia.
• For more information:
If you have questions about
TitleWave, contact your agency
rep, or connect with TitleWave
Support via email at [email protected] or
by calling 866.472.4845. FOCUS FOR THE
REMAINDER OF THE YEAR
According to Tara, the focus
for the remainder of this year
is on enhancing the jacketTRAX functionality and fully
transitioning off of the agentTRAX website and onto the
National Agency website. “This
last change with the jackets
generation functionality will
allow us to completely decommission our legacy systems
and provide a better platform
to deliver enhancements and
new functionality more quickly
to meet changes in the market,”
said Tara. “We’re very excited
to share our latest enhancements with agents, and we will
continue to move forward with
technology initiatives that can
help our agents work more efficiently and effectively.” ~
PAGE 5
MODEL TITLE COMPANY COLLABORATIVE: A CLOSER LOOK AT THE BUSINESS METRICS MODULE
by Ethan Powsner, Esq.,
VP and Director of
Compliance, Technology &
Market Development, FNTG
Midwest Agency Department
T
he Model Title Company Collaborative is a
comprehensive set of
business tools for your agency.
The modules discuss business metrics, escrow account
controls, operational controls,
title production controls, and
sales and business development. The MTCC was developed by FNTG VP and Division
5 Regional Manager Robert
Wineman over several years
and is revised annually.
What makes these materials unique is that they were
compiled based on an analysis
of both independent agent and
national underwriter operations
and procedures, as well as
financial measurements.
In this article, we will focus
on how the Business Metrics,
Financial Reports and Management Process Module can
help you. For a real-world example, we interviewed Robert
Wuerfel, President of Lighthouse Title Inc., a Michigan
title agency with more than 30
offices.
The Business Metrics Module arose out of the need for
title agents to have access to
industry-specific information
relating to financial performance, productivity, sales and
customer-oriented efforts, and
operational controls. Other
unique features include the
module’s practical spreadsheet
tools and the ability to consult
with someone who is not one
of your competitors.
Underpinning the content
of the module itself, these
bedrock principles are equally
important:
1.the ability to generate and
communicate relevant
measurements of goods
(such as title policies) and
services (such as closings)
produced by an agency;
2.having a well-established
monthly management
reporting process; and
3.the existence of an agency/
employer/employee culture
that is congruent with the
goals of the agency.
How do these principles
work in the marketplace? Below are excerpts of an interview with Bob Wuerfel, President of Lighthouse Title.
EP: Bob, how long you been
in the title business?
BW: My title career began
in 1988 when I joined The Title
Office Inc.’s management training program in Michigan. After
a few years, I went to work
for Metropolitan Title, another
large multi-office Michigan
agency. In 2001, I formed a title
agency with a local Property
and Casualty (P&C) insurance
agency. One of the concepts
was that the two businesses
could share the overhead
costs of offices and generate
some cross-selling business
opportunities.
EP: How did you become
acquainted with and start
Bob Wuerfel serves as President of Lighthouse Title Inc. He has been
in the land title industry for 27 years
and served as the 2013 – 2014
President of the Michigan Land Title
Association (MLTA); earned the
MLTA Robert Jay award for outstanding industry leadership; and is a past recipient of the West Michigan Business Direct Weekly (BDW) 40 Under 40 award.
using the Business Metrics
Module?
BW: In 2007 and 2008,
business was slowing down
considerably. While I was
familiar with P&C business
metrics from working with my
partners, I didn’t really have
a clear idea of title industry
metrics other than what I
had learned from working at
the two prior agencies. Rob
Wineman offered our agency
the opportunity to see how
the Business Metrics Module
could assist us in financially
weathering what looked to be
a bad storm.
EP: What were the first
steps you took, and how did
it go?
BW: We started by creating a monthly scorecard
and dashboards so that our
branch managers could see
how they were doing each
month. Initially, we had them
typing data into a spreadsheet, and then we would
meet each month to discuss
their office results.
EP: What did you learn from
this process?
BW: We learned a number
of things. Initially, there was a
fair amount of resistance, but
soon after, about 80 percent
of the managers accepted the
concept while 20 percent did
not. Implementing a process
like this weeds out employees
who may be better at closing
or title work than at managing.
Over time, a friendly competition developed. In particular,
no one wanted to be at the
bottom, and all the metrics
started improving. The second
thing we discovered was that
the system allowed us to
remove a lot of emotion from
the process of trying to fix an
continued on page 6
FOR MORE INFORMATION >
To learn more, visit FNTG’s National Agency website at www.nationalagency.fntg.com.
Click on the Training tab from the top menu bar and select Model Title Company
Collaborative. To link to materials pertaining to the Business Metrics Module discussed in
this article, select Business, Financial Reports and Management Process. If you have
additional questions, please contact your agency representative.
Much of the National Agency website content is password-protected and available only
to our FNTG agents and staff. If you haven’t registered to use the site, please take a
minute to do so by visiting www.nationalagency.fntg.com and
selecting the Login tab at the top
right. Then select Registration and
follow the easy steps to complete the
process.
AGENCY INSIGHTS I VOL. 6, ISSUE 2, APRIL 2015
PAGE 6
FOUR KEY WAYS ALTA
WORKS FOR YOU
continued from page 3
ing them.
• Title Insurance Education Kit: www.alta.org/ekit.
This content is exclusive to
members and assists them in
their efforts to educate consumers, real estate agents,
lenders, the media and others about the value of title
insurance.
4. NEWS AND INFORMATION
ALTA also provides a variety of printed and online communication tools:
• TitleNews: monthly print
magazine, also available in
digital format.
• TitleNews Online: emailed
every Tuesday and
Thursday.
• Daily morning email:
compilation of top
headlines from around the
country.
• ALTA blog: visit blog.alta.org to subscribe.
MODEL TITLE
COMPANY
COLLABORATIVE
continued from page 5
underperforming office.
The numbers clearly
showed whether or not
business was picking
up or decreasing, and it
became hard for managers to rely on statements such as, “I don’t
know, Bob, we’re really
busy. Look how hard we
are working.” While the
emotional issues were
not eliminated — particularly if underperforming staff members had
to be dealt with or staff
reductions were necessary — we eventually
got to the point where
our discussions about
the offices were based
on facts.
• Title Topics: free monthly
hour-long webinars on
industry topics.
• Social media: twitter.com/
altaonline; facebook.com/
altaonline; linkedin.com
(search for the group
American Land Title
Association); pinterest.com/
altaonline; and youtube.
com/altavideos.
• Industry financial data:
alta.org/industry/financial.cfm.
We also encourage
agents to create an effective
message research campaign that can educate consumers about title insurance
and the work performed.
Key messages include
phrases such as: “protects
your financial investment
for as long as you own your
home” and “one-time fee.”
Here is a list of the things
you SHOULD include in
your message:
• DO provide more information to professionals
(lenders, real estate agents
and attorneys).
EP: How have things
evolved over time?
BW: Within our first year,
we had increased profits
by more than $70,000 vs.
the prior year, because
we could better determine
where we needed to make
corrections. We now have
our accounting department
prepare all of the reports for
the managers to review and
discuss. This saved a lot of
time on the managers’ part,
freeing up time to work with
customers. We also have
decided that since we are
not publicly traded, we can
let our labor expense ratios
rise during the slow months.
We do not have large metropolitan populations to recruit
staff from, so we prefer to
keep experienced staff on
board, with some temporary
pay reductions as necessary. With our use of the
Business Metrics Module,
• DO help people understand that title insurance
protects from defects that
could come up (cite examples: fraud, missing heirs,
unfiled liens, etc.).
• DO educate about how
extensive the search is and
that there’s much more to it
than unearthing what can be
found online.
• DO provide examples
of how title insurance has
protected consumers.
• DO use plain language
about protection, peace of
mind and confidence for
homeowners.
A LOOK TOWARD 2016:
ELECTION YEAR
With an election year
approaching, we also should
consider how the political outcome will affect our
industry. Here are three
interesting numbers to ponder: 242, 102 and 105. • In five of the last five
elections, 19 states with a
total of 242 electoral votes
have gone Democratic. • Thirteen states with 102
electoral votes have gone
Republican. • There are only nine
states with 105 electoral
votes that have swung at
least once in the last five
elections between the
parties.
• The 2016 Democratic
nominee, with near certainty, will start the election with
242 of the 270 electoral
votes necessary to win the
White House. ~
“You need to be a leader or owner who
is flexible enough to know that you don’t
have all the answers. There is no reason
not to collaborate with an underwriter that
can give you great tools. ... With these
materials, you will clearly be able to make
more enlightened decisions.”
this decision is made consciously by us.
EP: What would you recommend to an agent considering using the Business
Metrics Module?
BW: You need to be a leader
or owner who is flexible enough
to know that you don’t have
all the answers. There is no
reason not to collaborate with
an underwriter that can give
you great tools. Our industry is
as fluid as ever — with all the
AGENCY INSIGHTS I VOL. 6, ISSUE 2, APRIL 2015
changes to forms, vetting
and best practices — and
it is a dicey proposition to
think that you have it all
figured out. After becoming
familiar with these materials, you can set your own
benchmarks and decide
what works with your own
operation and management goals. With these
materials, you will clearly
be able to make more enlightened decisions. ~
PAGE 7
TIP OF THE HAT: APPLAUDING AGENTS WHO SUCCESSFULLY HANDLE CLAIMS
WE TIP OUR HATS TO ...
Laurel Buckman and
Millard Rubenstein,
Resource Real Estate
Services, LLC.
by Daryl Gottlieb, AVP and
Claims Counsel, FNF
“well-oiled machine”
refers to a project or
company operating
smoothly, in accord with its
proper design and intended
functionality. Part of being a
well-oiled machine, however,
is how the machine selfcorrects when something
occurs that is outside of
normal operation. Perhaps a
better working analogy for a
title agency would be that of
a sailing vessel. While most
ships steer true when the
winds are smooth and the
sea easily navigable, a ship
and its crew are more accurately defined by how they
withstand a long voyage and
how they respond to choppy
seas and storms, rather than
how they operate under optimal conditions.
In this issue of Agency
Insights, we spotlight
Resource Real Estate Services, LLC (RRES), which,
although a large company
and an FNTG national agent,
is still concerned enough
about the seaworthiness of
its ship to tend to cracked
fittings. Headquartered in
Maryland, but serving all 50
states, RRES offers title and
closing services, along with
other lines of business including flood certifications, home
inspections and surveys.
RRES’ self-proclaimed mission is to “provide its clients
with the widest array of highquality services in the industry,” and it is precisely this
dedication to high quality that
caused Attorney Charissa
McIntosh, an officer serving
with the Claims Department’s
Mid-Atlantic Region, to bring
A
Laurel Buckman
RRES to my attention.
In January of 2014, a
claim was submitted by an
insured lender arising out of
a reverse mortgage transaction wherein the insured
lender’s mortgage contained
a legal description error. Specifically, the mortgage
mistakenly encumbered a
lot formerly owned by the
borrowers, rather than the
intended property, which was
the subject of the insured
transaction. Laurel Buckman,
Director of Licensing and
Compliance with RRES and a
24-year title veteran, worked
to obtain the modification
documents from the insured
lender; obtained the necessary approval for the modification from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban
Development; contacted the
surviving borrower; scheduled a mobile notary appointment for the borrower; and
recorded the curative documents. Because of Laurel’s
efforts, FNF incurred neither
loss nor expense arising
from this claim. In fact, within
one month of the date when
Laurel was first notified of
the claim, she had obtained
all of the necessary curative
documents and had transmitted them for recording in the
public records.
RRES was founded in
1998 by its current president,
Millard Rubenstein, who has
Millard Rubenstein
been in the title industry long
ees at RRES, we tip our hats
enough to fondly recall the
to you! The claims process is
use of typewriters, carbon
an unfortunate reality of the
paper and four-document
business, and you respondsettlement transactions. ed superbly. For any agent
Millard formerly served as
reading this, if you’ve not yet
an assistant attorney genreceived notice of a claim
eral and has been a frequent
arising out of a policy issued
lecturer to attorneys and title
by your office, congratulaindustry professionals on
tions, but the probability is
real estate and compliance
that you will at some point in
issues. When I informed him
your career. After all, without
of Laurel’s efforts on this
the possibility of a claim, why
particular claim, he respondwould title insurance exist?
ed, “This was soooo typical
Rely on Laurel’s example,
of how she handles claims.”
and be proactive when a
It’s employees such as Lauclaim is filed. Respond dilirel and agents like RRES,
gently to the assigned claims
which contribute to the conattorney or administrator;
tinued vitality of both FNF
ask how you can help move
and the greater real estate
along the process; and proindustry. There are plenty of
vide any and all information
organizations which grow
and documents you can relaso large that they neglect
tive to the transaction. And,
the “small” matters chipping
who knows, we may spotlight
away at their hull that have
you in the company’s next
the potential to ultimately
Tip of the Hat! ~
corrode and decay
the core of the
institution. The
work of Laurel and
SUBMISSIONS WELCOME>
Millard should be
Has your agency successfully
applauded. Instead
handled a challenging claims
of relegating the
situation? If so, please let us
claims process to
the bottom of their
know about it. Contact Daryl
priority list, Laurel
Gottlieb, AVP and Claims Counsel,
personally oversaw
FNF, at [email protected]
the curative work
or 904.854.8765. You might be
necessary to right
featured in an upcoming issue of
the ship.
the newsletter.
To Millard, Laurel
and all the employ-
AGENCY INSIGHTS I VOL. 6, ISSUE 2, APRIL 2015
PAGE 8
RECRUITING FOR THE FUTURE: OUR INDUSTRY’S CRITICAL IMPERATIVE
Create your plan, define
your goals and determine your strategy.
Being clear on the skills
and traits you want will help
you from being blinded by a
savvy candidate. Recruit with
your company’s values at the
forefront, and don’t budge for
a revenue play. Examples of
strategy could be focusing on
retention, growth with millennials, promising assistants who
are stunted where they are,
etc. Defining a strategy helps
you focus on one or two things,
and prevents you from diluting
your efforts.
1
by Dr. Cynthia McGovern,
Orange Leaf Consulting
S
it in any room, at
any of our established clients, and
go around the table asking
each person how long they
have been in the industry.
It’s impressive. This kind of
tenure is awesome, but what
is going to happen when
we all retire? We aren’t the
only industry facing an aging
workforce, but ask yourself this, “What am I or my
organization doing to attract,
train, develop and retain
tomorrow’s super stars?”
How will we sustain our
industry when the baby
boomers retire? What are
we doing to attract the
younger generations to our
industry? How will we mentor and develop the future
leaders of tomorrow who
already work for us, and how
do we compete for talent
when our industry is a wellkept secret, and often seen
as stodgy to many outsiders? And why do we wine
and dine a recruit while neglecting to do the same with
our valuable employees we
couldn’t bear to lose?
Here are several recruiting fundamentals to consider
if developing and recruiting
the next generation of leaders isn’t at the forefront of
your organization’s strategy.
And if it is, read on to validate your efforts and make
sure you’re not missing
anything.
At its core, recruiting is
sales, so look no further
than a solid sales process
to create the foundation for
a successful recruiting strategy. Here is a quick outline:
Develop a target list
based on your goals
and the strategy you’ve committed to.
Create and work from a
target list. Write down names
and keep track of contacts
made, notes written, meetings
conducted, etc. This is impor-
2
We’ve all
done it, gotten
a candidate to
the table and
then spent the
whole meeting trying
to convince
them why
working for
us is so great.
They don’t
care … yet.
You first have
to ask a lot
of questions,
and try to find a weakness
that you can exploit. If you
are talking more than 20
percent of the time during
the first meeting, you are
talking too much.
Don’t assume a “no”
is forever. Keep at it
and don’t take rejection
personally.
They didn’t just “use you”
5
“Sit in any room, at any of our established
clients, and go around the table asking each
person how long they have been in the industry. It’s impressive. This kind of tenure is awesome, but what is going to happen when we
all retire?”
tant because securing some of
the candidates you’re recruiting
will be like running a marathon,
while others will be like a sprint.
Be relentlessly persistent in your attempts to
develop relationships with
those you want to work with.
Recruiting is an all-season
sport, as we say. It is not a
“nice to do if you have time”
activity; it must be a “make time
no matter what” activity on your
radar every single week.
3
Interview/meet for
need, find the unmet
need and then tie everything
to meeting it.
4
to get a raise. Can we all
agree to try and be objective when a candidate turns
us down? It’s important to
focus on what you want, and
you wanted them. If they say
no, it just wasn’t the right
time. Make sure you’re the
first person they call when
it is the right time by taking
the high road and keeping
at it.
Do everything you
would do with a
recruit with your top performers and leaders who
are already integral to
your company. Don’t let a
resignation be your wakeup call.
We’re often stunned when
a valued employee submits
a resignation, but if we’re
honest, we may admit that
we dropped the ball. Recruit
to retain just as hard as you
do to gain and you’ll stay
abreast of your employees’
unmet needs and deepen
your relationships. Don’t
leave them open to courtship by ignoring them.
6
We don’t profess to have
all the answers, but if we
got you thinking — if we got
you to discuss this article
with just one person you
work with or to forward it to
someone — then we consider that a success! Like
we say here at Orange Leaf
Consulting: GROW BIG OR
GO HOME! ~
FOR MORE INFORMATION >
Orange Leaf Consulting specializes in helping title
agencies to grow their businesses. For more information
on how we can help you GROW BIG, please contact us
at www.orangeleafconsulting.com or 415.277.5901.
AGENCY INSIGHTS I VOL. 6, ISSUE 2, APRIL 2015
PAGE 9
SECURITY COMPLIANCE ASSOCIATES: YOUR RESOURCE FOR ATTAINING DATA
SECURITY CERTIFICATION
Matthew Froning, CIO,
Security Compliance
Associates
W
ith technology changing at an incredible
pace, any business
can be a victim of a data
breach or identity theft. The
most effective way to avoid
security issues is to adopt a
strict information security policy.
ALTA Best Practice Pillar No. 3
further emphasizes the importance of this from a regulatory
perspective, stating that title
agents and third-party service
providers should adopt and
maintain a written privacy and
information security program
to protect non-public personal
information (NPPI) as required
by local, state and federal law.
Agency Insights (AI) had the
opportunity to speak with Matthew Froning, CIO of Security
Compliance Associates (SCA).
SCA is an FNTG preferred
service provider that can assist your agency in becoming
compliant and certified with
Best Practice No. 3 and all
other regulatory requirements
regarding NPPI security. SCA’s
easy-to-implement certification
package provides agents with
all of the necessary tools and
resources so that you can meet
the unique compliance mandates of your regulators, lender
clients and trade associations.
Below is a Q&A that highlights
the conversation.
AI: What’s the most important advice that you can offer
agents regarding data security certification?
Matt: Whether a title agency
uses our services or someone
else’s, the best advice I can offer agents is to get the assess-
ment done and move forward
with any remediation so that
they are certified. At SCA,
we view our relationship with
clients as a partnership. We
want to see agents succeed,
and we want to help agents
become compliant so that they
can show they’ve done their
due diligence and are protecting sensitive information to the
best of their abilities.
AI: Are there any steps
agents should take ahead
of time to prepare for the
assessment?
Matt: Yes. Prior to the
assessment, we recommend
that agents review their policies and procedures; have IT
support staff review network/
system management settings;
and review the agency’s physical security posture to ensure
that sensitive information can’t
be accessed by unauthorized
personnel.
AI: What does the assessment process involve?
Matt: The on-site process
includes:
• an external physical
assessment of the site;
• an internal physical
assessment;
• an internal network
vulnerability scan;
• interviews with management
and IT staff;
• a review of in-place policies
and procedures;
• workstation reviews; and
• server configuration reviews.
AI: How long does the data
security certification process
typically take?
Matt: The certification
process varies based on an
agency’s size and particular
security issues. But here’s how
the process typically works:
• Once we begin working
with a client, it takes about 30
days to complete the security
assessment. At that time, we’ll
provide a post-assessment
report highlighting any vulnerabilities and related remedia-
tion that need to be completed
by the agent.
• The next step requires
agents to remediate any open
security issues documented in
the report. These issues need
to be resolved within four to six
months in order for certification
to occur. If the process takes
longer, a new assessment will
be required, as it’s likely that
the agency’s environment has
changed in some ways since the
initial assessment took place.
• Once any open secur-
ity issues are remediated, the
agent will receive certification. We’ve worked with many
agents, and those who take the
process seriously and move forward with remediation are able
to receive certification quickly.
(See the Agency Perspectives
article on page 10 to learn more
about the process.)
AI: Do your services work for
both large and small agents?
Matt: Absolutely. We look at
each client’s specific needs and
develop our recommendations
based on their unique environment and business structure.
For example, a two-person
agency has very different needs
than a large agency. There’s no
need to recommend spending $10,000 on a server or
firewall for a small agency, as
its environment doesn’t warrant
that. Instead, we can recommend lower-priced solutions for
smaller environments that staff
just a few individuals. We offer
a broad range of solutions and
will recommend the solution that
best meets an agency’s need —
whether it’s a one-person office
or an agency doing business in
multiple states.
AI: What sets SCA apart from
its competitors?
Matt: While the concept
of performing an information
security risk assessment may
be new to agents, SCA has
successfully assisted lenders
with this process for the past
15 years, as lenders require
certification on a yearly basis
due to GLBA (Gramm-LeachBliley Act) requirements. Based
on our experience with lenders,
our team is well equipped to
help agents become certified.
AI: After an agent has
become certified, how do
you recommend an agent
remains in compliance?
Matt: We recommend doing
a maintenance assessment
about every 12 – 24 months.
The reason for the wide range
is that some environments are
more complex or there are
changes to infrastructure or
processes that require more
frequent reviews, as security
issues are continually evolving
and changing. In some ways,
it’s like the maintenance you
perform on your car. You bring it
into the shop on a regular basis
to make sure the overall safety
and maintenance is current.
From a monetary and time perspective, regular maintenance
will help reduce the possibility of a major problem going
unnoticed, leading to an even
greater cost in the long run. We
recommend the same for an
agency’s information security
program. ~
FOR MORE INFORMATION >
To learn more about Security Compliance Associates and
its data security certification services, contact David Martin
at 877.993.4472 ext. 7008 or 727.269.5212, or email him at
[email protected]. Or visit
SCA’s web page for FNTG agents at
www.scasecurity.com/fntg.
AGENCY INSIGHTS I VOL. 6, ISSUE 2, APRIL 2015
PAGE 10
AGENTS SHARE THEIR PERSPECTIVES ON SECURITY COMPLIANCE ASSOCIATES AND DATA SECURITY
CERTIFICATION
VINCENT CASSIDY
Vincent Cassidy serves as President of Majesty Title Services, LLC. In business since
2006, Majesty Title operates three offices: two
in Florida and one in New York. Majesty Title
worked with Security Compliance Associates (SCA) and received Best Practice Pillar
No. 3 certification in March. SCA was recommended to Vince by Chris Gulotta, President
of Real Estate Data Shield, an FNTG preferred service provider
that focuses on training, policies and procedures and consulting
related to information security. Following are Vince’s thoughts and
tips to agents considering data security certification:
AARON M. DAVIS
Aaron M. Davis serves as CEO and President of the Florida Agency Network (FAN), an
independent title agency alliance that presently
offers 11 title brands and 30 offices across
the state of Florida, including FNTG agents
Hillsborough Title and Trident Title. Aaron first
learned about SCA from his role as an FNTG
agent and also became acquainted with SCA
through his involvement with the Florida Land Title Association.
Aaron shares his perspective on working with SCA and the value
of data security certification:
• Growing the business — FAN grew out of the need to have a
title servicing company that could handle all back-office functions,
IT and ALTA Best Practice certification for agencies that are part
of the network. I engaged SCA to handle Best Practice Pillar No. 3
certification for our group. While it was quite a task for SCA due to
our size and scope, the process went smoothly.
“ “
”
• Prepare ahead of time — In order to get the most value out
of an SCA audit, being prepared is the key. We spent up to nine
months making sure our infrastructure was current and secure
before we brought in SCA. Had we not invested that effort, our
remediation time following the first stage of the audit would have
been significantly longer.
• Benefits of certification — The most beneficial outcome is that
we can have meaningful discussions with lenders on the importance of certification, such that we make this a competitive advantage. We encourage our lenders to require ALTA certifications from
all of their title providers.
• Advice to agents considering the certification process — My advice is to look at your structure and your clients. If you think
your clients don’t care whether or not you are certified, then move
forward with your current model. If you think certification will be
important to your clients, then I would make sure you are positioned to retain your clients by either getting certified or consider
consolidating your operation with an agency that has attained
certification.
• General thoughts on the future of our industry — I have
always believed that Best Practices will be a game changer. It’s
just like reading the weather map. We can see the storm coming, and those who prepare will weather it. Those who ignore the
storm, well, who knows what their outcome will be. I do believe
that every agent has the ability to address this change. Many will,
and some will not.
“I have always believed that Best Practices
will be a game changer. It’s just like reading the weather map. We can see the storm
coming, and those who prepare will weather
it. Those who ignore the storm, well, who
knows what their outcome will be. I do believe
that every agent has the ability to address this
change. Many will, and some will not. ”
— Vince Cassidy
See page 9 to learn more about Security Compliance Associates.
• Project scope — The assessment, remediation and certification process took us about four-and-a-half months due to the
sheer number of offices involved. SCA was great to work with.
During the assessment phase, they tested us in ways we hadn’t
even previously considered. This included having SCA staff dress
up as copier repair workers to see if the front desk would check
credentials before sending them back to begin working. I was also
thankful for SCA’s network penetration tests, which resulted in us
replacing firewalls and routers due to substandard functionality.
Another huge component of the process was developing policy
and procedure manuals that are in-depth and meaningful. We
came to realize that the manuals had to be specific to our com-
pany and our business to be effective. We spent a great deal
of time documenting what we do on a day-to-day basis, and an
important outgrowth of this was the development of useful training
manuals for our staff.
• A new mentality toward data — Through the security data certification process, we began to think differently about what we do for a
living. Now, we think more like a doctor’s office or a bank. We hold
valuable information (drivers’ licenses, social security numbers and
access to millions of dollars), and we need to take this seriously. In
fact, I take it so seriously that I now have five IT staff members.
• Benefits of certification — The benefits of this process were
numerous. It was an eye-opening experience, and while we considered ourselves a pretty technologically savvy company, we still
found flaws in our network and security. For example, the password on a copy machine should be changed every 30 days. This
is one of those little tidbits that can make a big impact on how
secure the work environment is.
• Next steps — Having a strong data security plan is essential
for any agency, and it’s a good feeling to know that we have the
necessary structure and plans in place. We have made policy,
procedure and training manuals a central part of our business,
and we are making plans to move forward with other certification efforts including Service Organization Control (SOC) I and
SOC II certification. Additionally, our staff has been properly
trained to help any new offices that join our network become
compliant.
AGENCY INSIGHTS I VOL. 6, ISSUE 2, APRIL 2015
PAGE 11
REALEC® TECHNOLOGIES DEVELOPS CLOSING INSIGHT™ TO HELP AGENTS WITH NEW MORTGAGE CLOSING
DISCLOSURE RULE
R
ealEC® Technologies,
a division of Black
Knight Financial Services, has developed Closing Insight™, a comprehensive technology solution that
provides robust integrations
with major title and settlement
production software platforms.
Additionally, RealEC is proud
to announce its Partner Network and the process that will
allow all settlement agents,
regardless of their platform, to
be preregistered, trained and
activated for use on Closing
Insight in advance of the Aug.
1, 2015, implementation of the
CFPB’s Integrated Mortgage
Disclosure rule.
CLOSING INSIGHT
SOFTWARE PARTNER
NETWORK
The companies listed below
are working with RealEC to
develop robust integrations
with Closing Insight to support
the creation of the new Closing
Disclosure. Settlement agents
using these software systems
should expect a seamless
experience, allowing their users to stay within their software
platform while providing realtime workflow status and Closing Disclosure information to
lenders. The software partners
will provide their settlement
agents the training and support
needed for a successful deployment of Closing Insight.
• SoftPro Standard, SoftPro
Enterprise, SoftPro Select
and IMPACT (SoftPro Corp.)
• FAST, StreamLine and TitleExpress (First American
and SMS)
•RamQuest
• AIM+/SureClose (Stewart)
• ResWare (Adeptive)
• SnapClose (Cornerstone
Management Solutions)
• Landtech (Landtech Data Corp.)
• RBJ-Edge (RBJ Software Inc.)
REGISTRATION
On April 15, 2015, RealEC
initiated the process of registering settlement agents with
Closing Insight. RealEC will
work with the Closing Insight
Partner Network and various
other communication channels to invite all agents to
register. During registration,
settlement agents will be
asked to provide the necessary information to activate
the integration with the Closing Insight Software Partner
Network. Settlement agents
using proprietary software or
commercial software outside
of RealEC’s Partner Network
will be given access to Closing Insight through RealEC’s
service provider web portal.
Below are key dates for the
settlement agent. This will
enable RealEC to create the
company account information, which is needed to
configure the interconnectivity between RealEC and the
settlement agent’s software
platform.
TRAINING AND SUPPORT
Closing Insight software
partners will communicate
directly with their clients
with respect to the training and support process
for deployment of Closing
Insight. Settlement agents
that registered for RealEC’s
RealEC is proud to announce its Partner
Network and the process that will allow all
settlement agents, regardless of their platform, to be preregistered, trained and activated for use on Closing Insight in advance
of the Aug. 1, 2015, implementation of the
CFPB’s Integrated Mortgage Disclosure rule.
registration process:
• Settlement agents
received invitations to preregister for Closing Insight on
April 15, 2015.
• Settlement agents will be
expected to register all of their
office locations and users.
• Settlement agents will be
requested to complete the
online registration by May 31,
2015.
• The online registration
will include basic information
about the company and the
software platform used by the
service provider web portal
will receive training materials to help them get up to
speed on using the portal.
The training process will kick
off in late spring/early summer 2015 and will continue
through August 2015.
BENEFITS OF
PREREGISTRATION AND
CLOSING INSIGHT
• Lenders who are implementing Closing Insight have
agreed to common process, technology and data
FOR MORE INFORMATION >
To learn more about RealEC’s Closing Insight, visit
www.ClosingInsight.com, call 800.893.3241 or email
[email protected].
AGENCY INSIGHTS I VOL. 6, ISSUE 2, APRIL 2015
requirements.
• Once a settlement
agent is registered and
trained on Closing Insight,
the agent can transact with
the Closing Insight lenders
in a consistent manner.
• Settlement agents using
these software platforms
should expect a seamless
experience. Order status,
messages, documents and
closing disclosure data will
all be exchanged with an
integrated user experience.
RealEC will continue to
grow its Closing Insight
Software Partner Network,
with more details to be
shared during the summer
of 2015. For additional information, please visit www.ClosingInsight.com,
where Frequently Asked
Questions will be posted
regarding registration, training and the Closing Insight
Software Partner Network,
along with other key information about products and
services.
CLOSING INSIGHT
Closing Insight is designed to streamline the
closing process and support
the RESPA/TILA Integrated
Mortgage Disclosure rule.
Closing Insight was built in
conjunction with RealEC’s
Exchange™ platform, a
web-based technology that
delivers the largest fully
interconnected network of
lenders and service providers in the United States. ~
PAGE 12
FRAUD ALERT: DO EVERYTHING RIGHT
Reprinted with permission
from FNF’s Fraud Insights
(Volume 10, Issue 1).
Debbie Donaldson, Branch
Manager and Senior Escrow
Officer with Chicago Title
Company in Kingman, Arizona, had a sale in escrow.
The seller was located out of
state. The seller did not have a
fax machine or email address,
so she set up an account at a
nearby mail store to receive
emails and documents.
Debbie was prepared and
set everything up in advance
in order to accommodate the
seller’s needs. On Oct. 3, 2014,
a company-approved mobile
signing company met with the
seller to notarize her signature
on the deed.
The seller signed all of her
closing documents and even
sent back written instructions to
overnight her proceeds check
to her home. The file was not
scheduled to close until Oct.
10, 2014.
On Oct. 7, 2014, the seller’s
real estate agent, Sam, began
an email exchange with Donna
Honberger, Debbie’s assistant:
Sam:
Hello Donna,
The Seller wants to know if it is
not a problem to have her proceeds paid into an alternative
bank account, as she does not
want the proceeds to go into
her bank account. Let me know
if this is a go. She is really
wanting it that way.
Donna:
Good morning Sam … we can
have the funds wired into an
account as long as her name is
on the account. If she wants us
to wire the funds, she will want
to verify with her bank the wiring instructions to send wires
to her account. Let me know if I
need to call her or if she will be
calling us with the information.
Sam:
The alternative account does
not have her name on it. She
says if it has to have her name
then she will have to use her
account outside of the United
States. So which of the information should she provide: the bank details with a different
name or her offshore account?
Donna:
Let me check with accounting. I
am working on it … her original
instructions were for us to overnight the closing package and
proceeds check to her. If she
wants it to go into the account
that does not have her name
on it, she may have to stick to
her original instructions.
Sam insists:
I am aware of that, but I think
she has some other financial
commitment complications.
That is why she wants the
funds in another account or her
offshore account.
Donna:
I have not forgotten about this
… I need her to fill out wiring
instructions. When I receive the
buyer’s loan documents, I will
email any requirements from
the lender and wiring instructions to her at the email address
provided. I will call her first to let
her know I am sending it.
Sam emailed the seller to
notify her of his efforts. She instructed Sam to email her at an
outlook.com account. Sam
forwarded her new email
address to Donna.
Donna emailed the
seller, “The buyer’s lender
has not yet sent us the documents they want you to sign,
do you want me to email them
to this address upon receipt?
Attached is the Outgoing Wire
Instructions you need to complete, sign and return with the
loan documents.”
The seller responded, “I will
be looking for the documents.
Yes, please have them sent to
this email address.”
The loan documents were sent
the next day. Debbie was careful
to encrypt the email so the seller
could reply to the encrypted message since she would be returning her bank account information.
She also called the seller to let
her know the documents were on
the way.
Fifteen minutes later, the seller called Debbie looking for the
loan documents. She explained
she had emailed them to her
new email account. The seller
told Debbie she did not have
a new email address. Debbie
knew something was wrong.
Debbie asked the seller if
she would verbally provide her
with her wiring instructions. The
seller was confused. She told
Debbie she wanted a check
overnighted to her home, just
as she indicated in the written
instructions sent back on Oct.
3, 2014.
The next day, the person who
set up the @outlook.com
email replied to Debbie:
Morning all,
I found the loan docs in the
junk folder of my email after
I found it on the upsstore
COMPANY REWARDS AGENTS FOR PREVENTING FRAUD >
FNF’s fraud prevention
reward program is featured in
Fraud Insights, the company’s internal newsletter that
provides important information on how to detect and
prevent fraud and forgery.
FNF rewards agents for
preventing fraud. To let us know
how you or your colleagues
have prevented fraud, simply
send an email with the details
to [email protected]. If your
story is used, the hero in the
story will receive $1,000!
Fraud Insights is available to agents through your
agency rep. If you’re not
receiving the newsletter and
would like to, please contact
your agency rep.
AGENCY INSIGHTS I VOL. 6, ISSUE 2, APRIL 2015
account. Sorry
about that. Attached
here is the signed copy of
the outgoing wire authorization.
I had to wait till today because
of the time difference. Let
me know if there is anything
else needed, but my banker
assured me that is all that is
needed for the funds to hit my
account.
The signed wire instructions did match the seller’s
signature, but the instructions
were not dated the same. The
date was written in the manner a foreigner typically writes
it with the day–month–year.
That is not how the seller dated
any of her other documents.
The account information was
for a bank account in Poland
and the account name did not
match the seller’s name.
Debbie reported the incident.
She confirmed with her IT department her account had not
been hacked. She immediately
contacted the real estate agent
and seller to let them know one
of their accounts might have
been hacked, and she would
need to communicate with them
by phone from now on.
Debbie verbally verified her
disbursement instructions with
her seller, closed her file and
disbursed without any incident
or harm to her customers.
Thank goodness!
MORAL OF THE STORY
Debbie and Donna did an
excellent job of communicating with their customers. They
also paid attention to the red
flags in their communication
with them. They were careful
to protect the customer’s nonpublic information by encrypting emails. In the end, their
attention to detail resulted in
another successful sale. For
their efforts they are splitting a
$1,000 reward. ~