Industry News

A research analyst at Stephens Inc. recently was quoted on The Wall Street Transcript discussing how Stewart Information Services Corp. is positioned well in the market for when the decrease in refinance activity hits its full swing. Read on for his reasoning.

Throughout the National Settlement Services Summit, the buzzword was compliance. That word permeated through several regulatory-focused sessions, but also made its way into business development sessions. In one such session, speakers described ways to communicate value to customers in this new era of compliance. Read on to find out more.

The application process and ongoing audits and reviews are key pieces of building a quality title agent network for any underwriter, but the attention paid to these processes has increased. A panel of top executives at three regional underwriters took the stage at the National Settlement Services Summit to discuss these processes and how they contribute to their business models, and how they hopefully will help build a bridge to the lending and regulatory community. Local knowledge key in application On...

Work together and speak up about concerns you may have about how the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau will enforce its requirement that lenders oversee all of their vendors. These were two of the main takeaways from a session on lender liability at the National Settlement Services Summit on June 11. The group also discussed how agents could start working with lenders now, despite the lack of clarity from the CFPB at this point. “I think the stage is set, it’s time to take action even though the speci...

Title industry participants continue to speak out about the efforts of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) to combine the mortgage disclosures required under the Truth in Lending Act and the Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act. Attendees at the National Settlement Services Summit in Cleveland had the opportunity to share some of their biggest concerns with a top CFPB rule maker on June 11.

The National Settlement Services Summit isn’t just about title industry support and improvement; it’s also about community improvement. That’s no more evident than at the Make a Child Smile: Charity Bicycle Building Event sponsored by Winward Consulting | Software LLC. At this year's Summit, volunteers spent an afternoon with the October Research staff assembling bicycles that will be donated to a northeast Ohio organization named Guidestone.

Day one of the National Settlement Services Summit contained all sorts of practical, every day information for running a title business in 2013, in addition to some of the high-level talking points about industry change involving regulators and lenders. The standout nugget, for me, was this simple idea: “The market has never put anybody out of business.”

Positivity permeated the grand ballroom of Cleveland’s Marriott at Key Center hotel as Bill Cosgrove, vice chairman of the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) and the chief executive officer of Union Home Mortgage Corp, kicked off the 2013 National Settlement Services Summit. As the housing market continues to improve, it’s becoming a key component to pulling the country out of the recession. While housing numbers are encouraging, Cosgrove cautioned that we need to ensure we have the proper mortgage indus...

October Research LLC, publisher of The Title Report, The Legal Description, Valuation Review, RESPA News and Dodd Frank Update , today announced the winners in its annual awards program, launched to honor men and women in the mortgage and settlement services industries for exemplary accomplishment in the areas of leadership, innovation and philanthropy.

A.M. Best Co. has commented that the ratings of Fidelity National Financial Inc. and its core title insurance subsidiaries remain unchanged following the group’s recent announcement that it has agreed to acquire Lender Processing Services Inc., a provider of integrated technology, data and services to the mortgage lenders. Read on for what the company had to say.