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Treasury urges review of all third-party guidance
Posted Date: Wednesday, August 15, 2018
In a recent report targeted at nonbank financial companies and fintech, the Treasury Department offered recommendations on third-party vendor oversight.
Although the report brought up the issues given the prism of relationships between financial technology firms and nonbank financial firms, the Treasury Department recommendations rang well beyond that arena.
Its potentially biggest recommendation: For all prudential financial regulators to review current third-party guidance through notice-and-comment process.
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Legislation would expand GTO requirements nationwide
Posted Date: Wednesday, August 15, 2018
It’s been more than two years since the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network began requiring title agents and underwriters in certain areas to identify the natural persons behind shell companies used to pay all cash for high-end residential real estate. New legislation being introduced in the Senate looks to make those requirements permanent and nationwide. American Land Title Association (ALTA) Senior Counsel Steve Gottheim talked with The Legal Description about what the move could mean for agents and underwriters.
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ALTA wants your GTO stories
Posted Date: Wednesday, August 15, 2018
A University of Miami study on money laundering and real estate in the Miami market, published in December 2017, found that work by the title insurance industry was helping stem the tide of illegal money into the market without harming the broader real estate market. As the Senate considers legislation which would expand geographic targeting orders to the entire nation, the American Land Title Association is asking for agents’ and underwriters’ to share their stories and help make that potential process as least burdensome as possible.
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NY brief: DFS regs targeted industry ‘rife with abuses’
Posted Date: Wednesday, August 15, 2018
In its brief appealing a recent state supreme court decision, the New York State Attorney General’s office hammered home the Department of Financial Services’ (DFS) opinion that the title insurance industry is “rife with abuses.” Read on to take a deeper dive into the state’s arguments upon appeal.
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Report: More than half of world breaches to hit U.S. by 2023
Posted Date: Wednesday, August 15, 2018
A new report from Juniper Research finds that data breaches are expected to result in the theft of more than 146 billion records from 2018-2023 – with the United States a growing target for criminals. Read on for more details of the findings.
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Title agent owners indicted in Colorado
Posted Date: Wednesday, August 15, 2018
Owners of title agencies in Colorado were indicted recently by a state grand jury in Denver. The pair is accused of the theft of $733,000 of funds that should have been placed in trust for their policyholders. Read on for more details.
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Lean on partners to help after a cyberattack
Posted Date: Monday, August 13, 2018
It is important to have a plan and think out what you will need to do in the minutes, days and months after an attack occurs, but it is also critically important to know who to make aware of the situation and how you can help one another. During the National Settlement Services Summit, experts in the field shared how to best work with your partners after a cyberattack. Read on for more details.
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Kansas court reverses ruling for title company
Posted Date: Monday, August 13, 2018
A title company was awarded summary judgment in a case where the district court ruled claims against the title company were beyond the statute of limitations.
The court of appeals reversed the decision, however, and the Kansas Supreme Court upheld the appellate court’s reversal – but for different reasons than the appellate court used.
Read on for details of the state supreme court’s decision.
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Louisiana clarifies insurers employing felons
Posted Date: Monday, August 13, 2018
New legislation in Louisiana took effect Aug. 1 granting the state insurance commissioner the authority to allow an insurance producer to employ in his business or to associate with his business an individual previously convicted of a felony if the producer first obtains the written consent of or a waiver from the commissioner.
The Louisiana Department of Insurance issued an advisory letter to all insurance producers to detail terms of the statute and implementation.
Read on for details of the letter and how producers need to come into compliance with the new state law.
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Delaware buyer sues real estate attorneys for malpractice
Posted Date: Monday, August 13, 2018
A Delaware man who bought 27 investment properties sued his attorneys for malpractice after a problem with mistitling on 12 of the properties eventually caused the man to lose all of them to foreclosure.
The attorneys moved for judgment, saying the man was not the party who lost the properties in foreclosure, and that he personally suffered no injury.
Read on for details about the court’s decision.
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DFS reminds cyber compliance date near
Posted Date: Monday, August 13, 2018
The New York Department of Financial Services issued a reminder to covered entities that the third transitional period in the agency’s cybersecurity regulation will end Sept. 4. At that time, regulated entities are required to comply with various aspects of the rule, including encryption for nonpublic information.
“Sept. 4 marks another important milestone in further protecting the financial services industry and the consumers they serve,” Superintendent Maria Vullo said in a press release.
Read on for more on what companies will be required to comply with beginning in September.
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Ohio adopts cyber safe harbor, Blockchain recordations
Posted Date: Wednesday, August 8, 2018
Ohio Gov. John Kasich on Aug. 3 signed Substitute Senate Bill 220 into law, providing a legal safe harbor to covered entities that implement a specified cybersecurity program, and allowing transactions recorded by Blockchain technology under the Uniform Electronic Transactions Act. Read on for details of the cybersecurity programs which qualify for the safe harbor protection.
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The less-talked about threats to escrow
Posted Date: Wednesday, August 8, 2018
Although cybertheft and wire fraud have been in the news a lot in the last few years, it’s important to remember that there are numerous other types of fraud that can be perpetrated against escrow and settlement providers. During the National Settlement Services Summit, Juliana Tu, president, Viva Escrow! Inc. and president-elect of the California Escrow Association, and Art Davis, Washington representative, American Escrow Association, talked about what other frauds to be aware of, how it could impact you if you go to trial and best practices to avoid being a victim. Read on for more details.
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New York appeals title ruling, fall hearing expected
Posted Date: Wednesday, August 8, 2018
The New York State Attorney General’s office has filed an appeal on behalf of the Department of Financial Services (DFS) in its case with the New York State Land Title Association (NSYLTA). The appeal was filed Aug. 6 and is expected to be heard in the fall, potentially in October, according to a NYSLTA blog posting. Read on for details of the state’s arguments.
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HouseCanary seeks TRO against Quicken over trade secrets
Posted Date: Wednesday, August 8, 2018
In a case similar to that it won in state court against Amrock, HouseCanary Inc. filed suit against QuickenLoans Inc., One Reverse Mortgage LLC and In-House Realty LLC. The case was filed in May in U.S. District court in San Antonio. It recently sought a TRO to prohibit the companies from using its proprietary information. Read on for more on the case.
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Committee vote on Kraninger nomination postponed
Posted Date: Wednesday, August 8, 2018
The Senate Banking Committee recently announced that it would postpone its vote whether to advance President Donald Trump’s nominee to become the next director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) to the full Senate for consideration.
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MISMO looks to stock third-party risk management groups
Posted Date: Wednesday, August 8, 2018
MISMO announced that it will create two new groups designed to help improve risk management of third parties, and is looking for industry experts to participate in each. “A collaborative effort to develop best practices and standards that includes lenders, service providers, investors and regulators, offers the opportunity to foster more efficient and productive third party risk management strategies that will benefit lenders, service providers and others,” MISMO Executive Vice President Rick Hill said.
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Washington state adopts rating and advisory organization rule
Posted Date: Thursday, August 2, 2018
The Washington State Office of the Insurance Commissioner recently adopted Rule 2017-06, regarding title insurance rating and advisory organizations. The regulation was established to implement a law that passed last year allowing for the use of rating and advisory organizations. Read on for more details.
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Working with state regulators to make everyone’s life easier
Posted Date: Thursday, August 2, 2018
The spotlight on state regulators is brighter than in the past with the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) electing to focus more energy on functions other than enforcement under Mick Mulvaney’s leadership.
Richard Horn, principal attorney at Garris Horn PLLC and former senior attorney at the CFPB and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp., shared the spotlight at the 2018 National Settlement Services Summit with two state regulators – John Lartz from Illinois and Chuck Myers from Virginia – as well as Michelle Korsmo, CEO of the American Land Title Association, to examine their approaches to the new regulatory environment, and taking an active role in shaping it.
Find out what matters the speakers explored in-depth during the session.
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Drilling down on the New York Effect
Posted Date: Thursday, August 2, 2018
You may have heard people talk about New York a lot in the last few years, and with good reason. During the National Settlement Services Summit, Christopher Gulotta, partner, Gulotta Grabiner Law Group PLLC and principal of Real Estate Data Shield, Inc. and Jean Partridge, chief counsel and managing member, Benchmark Title Agency LLC, delved into these new regulations and explained why it’s important for you to understand, even if you don’t live in New York.
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Title agency case against bank time-barred
Posted Date: Thursday, August 2, 2018
The Court of Appeals of Utah recently ruled that a title and escrow agency’s case against the bank that held its trust account was time-barred. The agency had gotten into trouble after default judgments were filed against it in two cases and the bank was issued two writs of garnishment, which it took from the trust account, leaving insufficient funds in the account. Read on for more details.
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Latest Defect Index shows millennial accommodation reduces risk
Posted Date: Thursday, August 2, 2018
In its Loan Application Defect Index for June 2018, First American Financial Corp. found that shifting to accommodate millennial home buying preferences reduces the loan application risk and helped make the manufacture and underwriting of mortgage loans less risky. Read on for more details.
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Where we are, where we are going with eClosing
Posted Date: Monday, July 30, 2018
Jaime Kosofsky, founding partner, Brady & Kosofsky PA, began a session on eClosings at the National Settlement Services Summit by stating that although eClosings are talked about as something of the future, they’ve been going on since the early 2000s. This began an in-depth conversation with panelists from a government-sponsored enterprise (GSE), major lender and national title agent about where eClosings stand and how to move forward. Read on for more from their conversation.
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10th Circuit rules case not time-barred
Posted Date: Monday, July 30, 2018
The 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals reversed a district court’s decision dismissing a suit an insured brought against its underwriter for breach of contract as time-barred. Read on for more details.
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Inside Meridian’s response to the CFPB’s investigation
Posted Date: Monday, July 30, 2018
During the 2018 National Settlement Services Summit (NS3) in Detroit, Meridian Title CEO Mark Myers discussed the company’s response from the time it officially received an investigative notice from the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB).
What documents did the CFPB require and how much time and effort was needed to respond?
Read on to learn more about Meridian’s response to the CFPB’s investigation and subsequent consent order.
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Illinois considers title insurance agent-attorney restriction
Posted Date: Monday, July 30, 2018
The Illinois General Assembly is considering a bill that would allow the Secretary of Financial and Professional Regulation to refuse to grant and suspend or revoke a certificate of authority, registration or license or impose a fine if he or she determines that the holder or applicant is both a holder of a registration as a title insurance agent and an attorney and has acted as the attorney for any party to a real property transaction in which the person has acted as a registered title insurance agent. Read on for more details.
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Title, mortgage company owner sentenced for $13 million fraud
Posted Date: Monday, July 30, 2018
A Pennsylvania owner of mortgage and title companies was sentenced to time in prison and ordered to pay more than $12 million in restitution for defrauding lenders of almost $13 million. Read on for more details.
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N.J. attorney arraigned for mortgage theft
Posted Date: Monday, July 30, 2018
An attorney whose New Jersey law license is under administrative suspension was arraigned on a number of fraud and theft charges stemming from real estate closings. Read on for more details.
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New evidence in Amrock filing leads to withdrawn HouseCanary motion
Posted Date: Wednesday, July 25, 2018
Shortly after HouseCanary won a $706 million verdict, Amrock received an anonymous whistleblower email alleging that HouseCanary committed fraud and collusion and that the startup never had a working product of its own. When Amrock began investigating, HouseCanary filed a motion for a temporary restraining order. Amrock filed a response, outlining the whistleblower information it had received, which led to HouseCanary withdrawing its motion to stop Amrock’s investigation. Read on for more details.
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Title defect spurs dispute over trust funds
Posted Date: Wednesday, July 25, 2018
A real estate developer who was the trustee of a real estate trust did not elect to purchase title insurance on a real estate project. A defect in title was discovered within a year after work on the property began, and took two years to resolve. In that time, the minority partner in the project left and came back and discovered the trustee had kept sloppy books and commingled funds, and thus sued for an accounting of the trust’s funds. A trial court ruled in favor of the minority partner and the trustee timely appealed. Read on for details of the ruling.
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Parties sue over defamation per se
Posted Date: Wednesday, July 25, 2018
In a dispute over a potentially fraudulent real estate scheme, a real estate company and servicer sued for defamation under Texas state law following a letter exchanged between parties. The trial court in favor of the companies, but the Court of Appeals of Texas, Fort Worth, reversed upon appeal, finding that the question of ownership of the funds was subject to a legal dispute, and therefore the gist of the letter was not defamatory as a matter of law. Read on for details of the decision.
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What determines ‘certificate of title’ in Hawaii?
Posted Date: Wednesday, July 25, 2018
That issue was at the forefront of a recent unreleased opinion by the Supreme Court of Hawaii in a non-judicial foreclosure case in which an apartment owners association sold a property bought for more than $300,000 for $15,000 to recover maintenance fees.
The court looked at whether a recorded quitclaim deed registered title to the property owner. Read on for the decision.
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Maryland Insurance Administration continues fight against insurance fraud
Posted Date: Wednesday, July 25, 2018
The Maryland Insurance Administration (MIA) continues to investigate and prosecute individuals and businesses for committing insurance fraud. Insurance fraud, one of the most costly crimes in the country, costs Maryland consumers money in the form of higher premiums. Read on for more details.
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Industry leaders thank Korsmo for accomplishments
Posted Date: Monday, July 23, 2018
After it was announced that Michelle Korsmo was resigning her post as chief executive officer of the American Land Title Association, industry leaders shared their gratefulness for Korsmo’s accomplishments during often uncertain economic and political times. Read on for more.
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Kraninger appearance not without its bumps
Posted Date: Monday, July 23, 2018
President Trump’s nominee to lead the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, Kathy Kraninger, went before the Senate Banking Committee to give her first official statements on how she would run the bureau. She outlined some things and answered questions, as would be expected. The hearing was not without its bumps, however, especially at the beginning when the chairman and ranking member got into a heated exchange over information committee democrats had requested from Kraninger regarding her current position at the Office of Management and Budget. Read on for more details.
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Maryland court: Iglesias ruling not ‘bright-line rule’
Posted Date: Monday, July 23, 2018
After a trial court in Baltimore ruled that a title company and the son of a property owner were jointly and severally responsible for money spent on a fraudulently obtained property, the title company timely appealed the ruling. The Court of Special Appeals of Maryland upheld the trial court’s decisions in an unreported opinion, specifically delving into its 2012 decision in Iglesias v. Pentagon Title & Escrow, LLC, to determine the title company’s liability for negligence in the case. Read on for more details.
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Former New York Senate Majority Leader, son, convicted for fraud
Posted Date: Monday, July 23, 2018
Former New York Senate Majority Leader Dean Skelos and his son Adam Skelos were convicted by a jury on bribery, extortion and honest services fraud counts for using his influence to obtain bribes and extortion payments, including dealings in the real estate industry. Read on for more details.
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Dallas County Community Action Committee Inc. director sentenced for fraud
Posted Date: Monday, July 23, 2018
The vice president and director of the Dallas County Community Action Committee Inc. was sentenced to time in federal prison and ordered to pay restitution for his role in a scheme to defraud numerous homeowners, banks and the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. Read on for more details.
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