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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

Protecting Borrower Data in An Age of Hacking and Phishing Schemes

“Data privacy” and “data security” are terms most lenders are hearing over and over again these days. The reasons for this are numerous but include federal and state regulator focus on the issue, increased publicity over wire fraud and data storage breaches in business and industry, and heightened concern by consumers about how their sensitive […]

If The Table Starts Rockin’, Who’s Gonna Come Knockin’?

One of the biggest concerns that mortgage lenders have had for years is that they send their mortgage funds and collateral security documents to complete strangers who gather together and manage a process where there is no seat for them at the table. Even though the closing of a mortgage loan involves significant sums of […]

CFPB: No More Regulation by Enforcement? An Analysis

According to Mortgage Professional America, the acting director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, Mick Mulvaney, recently told industry leaders that the CFPB will no longer practice “regulation by enforcement.” “The regulation by enforcement answer is really simple – we aren’t doing it anymore,” Mulvaney said. “It’s a fairness issue. If you’ve done something for […]

Data Breaches from Email Phishing Scams Still Rocking Mortgage Industry: WEI Mortgage latest victim.

Just today the industry learned that WEI Mortgage has discovered a data breach from an email phishing scam last Fall that appears to have exposed loan file information and borrower personal identifying data such as Social Security numbers to outside parties. Back in October 2016 I wrote that Wells Fargo Bank and the Federal Bureau […]