ALTA responds to two inaccurate articles about title insurance Managers Choice Jeremy YoheDirector of Communications at American Land Title Association The first is a column by Ken Harney that appeared in the Washington Post, titled “New refinancing options for lower title fees.” The second is from LA Times columnist David Lazarus titled “Title fees are hard to swallow when refinancing mortgage.” The LA Times article is more egregious, but both include inaccurate information and don’t adequately explain the process of producing a title policy and how the policy protects consumers. Heres the link to Harneys column in the Post: washingtonpost/realestate/new-refinancing-options-for-lower-title-fees/2011/09/13/gIQAQrPMXK_story.html Heres ALTAs response to Harneys column. Ill share our response to the LA Times article in a separate post to avoid exceeding the word limit per post. This article highlights important new developments in the way that the title insurance industry is working to be responsive to consumer needs. Title insurance is not an overpriced product. Consumers borrowed $1.5 trillion in mortgage loans last year. Consumers spent $9.4 billion on title insurance. That’s around one half of one percent of the purchase price. This money was spent making sure that homeowners actually own their home. This is a small price to pay for the sense of security and peace of mind that consumers expect. Too often, consumers do not understand how much work went into producing their title insurance policy. The industry, through its trade association, the American Land Title Association, continues to develop new tools to help consumers understand the closing process, the value of title insurance and how to shop for title insurance. The single best resource for consumers is ALTA’s comprehensive home closing website, homeclosing101.org. To understand where your dollar goes, consumers need to know that title insurance agents spend the majority of their time and resources preventing claims and protecting homeowners’ property rights. The majority of the one-time title insurance premium covers the cost to discover, identify and repair events that occurred in the past. Before a policy is issued, a title agent examines the history of a property contained in public records, where they find that in every transaction some corrective work must be done to ensure the clear transfer of title to the new homeowner and mortgage lender. In all, there are more than 150 processes involved in protecting a homeowner’s private property rights when they purchase a new home. Consumers have always had a right to shop for settlement services. But like any other service, price alone should not be only factor when selecting a company. Keep in mind that various closing costs are regulated at the state level, so the process and costs vary from state to state and even from county to county. ALTA is working to help educate consumers about title insurance so that they can better understand their choices and make informed decisions. To find title companies in your area, go to homeclosing101.org. ALTA encourages consumers to shop for title insurance.
Posted on: Sun, 17 Nov 2013 14:43:12 +0000