Legal and Ethical Considerations Surrounding the Handling of Consumers’ Private Data by Mortgage Lenders

Never have there been so many legal and ethical considerations surrounding mortgage lender handling of consumer data. There are good reasons for this fact. Mortgage lenders have access to the most personal and private information owned and guarded by consumers. This includes their names, age and dates of birth, marital status, home addresses, work addresses […]

Successful Risk Management Requires Proper Top-Down Governance

Any organization seeking to adopt appropriate operational risk management policies and procedures must ensure that they have met the five step process to ensure success. This process focuses on proper governance. It is not enough to simply “check the box” and hope that wire fraud, mortgage fraud and closing fraud never reach the organization. The […]

When a Closing Attorney’s E&O Policy is not Actually Insurance and Why a Lender Should Care

If you are merely collecting a “Certificate of Coverage” on behalf of a closing attorney and passing them through your loan process as meeting your internal risk management protocols you may be in for an unpleasant surprise if a claim arises. At Secure Insight we do more than collect insurance certificates, we review policies and […]

New Attorney E & O Exclusion Exposes Lender Closing Table Risk in Massachusetts

We have noticed that in Massachusetts, insurance carriers providing attorney errors and omissions coverage have been quietly adding a new exclusion to their new and renewal policies. This exclusion is known as the “Disbursement of Funds” exclusion, and it creates enhanced risk for lenders in that state in the event an attorney fails to properly […]

NYSAR Reports Up Market for Sales in NY, with No CPL Lenders Face More Purchase Mortgage Closing Table Fraud Risk

Lending in New York? Purchase money business always carries closing fraud risk, however New York business tends to be riskier for many lenders. The state has high average loan amounts, features instrument recording procedures that delay evidence of mortgage and deed recordings for long periods of time following the closing, and there is no CPL […]

House Flipping Is Back to Pre-Crisis Levels according to NY Times

An article just published by the New York Times trumpets the news that house flipping is popular again. Those of us who have been in the mortgage industry for the past 10-15 years know that low interest rates and loose credit standards combined with property flipping fever drove much of the housing bubble in 2003-2008. […]

Conviction of Attorney and Title Agency CEO for $26 Million Fraud Crime Reinforces Need for Closing Agent Risk Management

According to an article published today in Mortgage Professional America, the former CEO of LandCastle Title, who also served as the managing partner of a real estate law firm, will spend 15 years in federal prison for orchestrating a scheme to bilk his firm out of millions of dollars. Nathan E. Hardwick IV, 53, operated […]

eClosings: Now that they are HERE, do You Know HOW to Conduct Them?

Back in October 2014 the industry had an opportunity to attend a public information session in Washington, D.C. organized by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB). The meeting was called to announce the results of a public commentary period regarding mortgage closing experiences as well as to announce details of the CFPB’s eClosing initiatives. The […]

US Treasury Department Supports the Expansion of e-Closings and e-Notarizations in Mortgage Industry

Industry publications are reporting that after a period of research and review the US Treasury Department is encouraging lenders and states to pursue e-closing and e-notarization technology to make residential mortgage transactions more convenient for consumers. The American Land Title Association (ALTA) also released a statement today indicating that its leadership recently met with Treasury […]

When Do Title and Settlement Services Constitute the Unauthorized Practice of Law? Rhode Island Gives Notice.

Sometimes the line between services provided by non-attorney title and settlement professionals and those by lawyers becomes blurred. This happens in states where it is common practice for a title agent representative to appear at a mortgage closing and in the course of managing the title and disbursement side of things, fill in on a […]