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The Title Report Print Edition
June 2, 2014
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Handling customer NPI: Are you a Target for a massive data breach? Part II
Posted Date: Friday, May 23, 2014
The Title Report spoke to Mary Schuster, RamQuest’s newly minted chief product officer and an industry compliance advisor. She said, “The unfortunate lesson of the Target customer data breach — and others like it — brought sharply into focus that responsibility for NPI is something that can never be taken too seriously. That anyone who handles NPI can be a target of cyber thieves. That attacks can lie dormant for long periods of time, gathering data below the surface.”
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Chief title officer reviews surveys at AEA Conference
Posted Date: Wednesday, May 21, 2014
Dean Ruybal, chief title officer at Heritage Title Co. offered insights and advice during his presentation “Survey This and Survey That” at the American Escrow Association’s 2014 Conference May 16 in Denver, Colo. October Research, LLC attended his presentation and learned the benefits of surveys and endorsements.
Ruybal said back in the 1800s when the pioneers were coming over and purchasing property from the government, ranchers wanted to fence in their property to protect their cattle and livestock. To do this, they would tie a handkerchief to a wagon wheel and the settler would count how many times the cloth touched the ground. Obviously, this isn't the most accurate way to assess property boundaries and led to property disputes.
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Managing Millennials and Generation X
Posted Date: Wednesday, May 21, 2014
The American Escrow Association’s 2014 Conference in Denver featured the presentation, “Understanding and Communicating Effectively with Generation X and Millennials – How to Develop and Retain the Next Generation Escrow Employee.” October Research, LLC attended the session and listened to First American Title Insurance Co.’s Maria Valentin, vice president of strategic markets and Jennifer Castejon, director of strategic markets, talk about the differences between the generations in today’s workforce.
Valentin said these are valid generalizations. Though not everyone may fit the profile, the majority are going to share the same characteristics. She did make one exception for culture.
“We wanted to know what the industry looks like,” Valentin said.
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Cloudy with a chance of quiet title
Posted Date: Friday, May 23, 2014
Discovering a “cloud” on title while researching property ownership may not be a common occurrence, but it does pose significant problems that must be remedied. Bridget Lauer, director of property research for CW Solutions, a real estate services firm serving the utilities, wireless and telecommunications industries, spoke with The Title Report about various types of title defects and what action should be taken to “quiet title.”
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Industry reacts to CFPB transparency and accountability
Posted Date: Thursday, May 22, 2014
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) will open its Consumer Advisory Board and Councils meetings to the public in an effort to provide more transparency to stakeholders and the public. Since these groups were established in 2012, these groups have provided the CFPB with information about emerging trends and practices, allowed it to hear directly from small financial institutions, and the Academic Research Council has provided technical and scientific advice to its Office of Research. Since its inception, the bureau has made membership information, meeting summaries and notices of meetings available.
“Some stakeholders have requested even more openness, however – and we’ve taken those requests to heart,” the CFPB stated.
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Industry reacts to Johnson-Crapo progress
Posted Date: Monday, May 19, 2014
The American Land Title Association (ALTA) and the National Community Reinvestment Coalition (NCRC) have released statements regarding the Housing Finance Reform and Taxpayer Protection Act of 2013 otherwise known as the Johnson-Crapo Bill. On May 15, it passed out of the Senate Banking Committee with a 13-9 vote and is heading to the Senate floor.
"The deeply divided committee vote is a clear signal that this bill is dead in the water, and with good reason,” NCRC said in its statement.
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Mortgage Choice Act passes House
Posted Date: Monday, May 19, 2014
The bill would modify the criteria for exclusion from the computation of points and fees of certain reasonable charges elsewhere exempted from the computation of the finance charge in exclusions of credit secured by an interest in real property. It would exclude from points and fees any such reasonable charges even though a creditor receives compensation, but only in so far as the creditor or its affiliates retains the compensation as a result of their participation in an affiliated business arrangement.
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Ron Peltier discusses HomeServices’ acquisition of Intero
Posted Date: Friday, May 16, 2014
HomeServices of America acquired Intero Real Estate Services, one of Silicon Valley’s largest and fastest growing residential real estate brokerage firms, and Intero Franchise Services, its affiliated franchise network.
“I’ve known the principals of Intero in excess of 20-25 years,” Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of HomeServices Ron Peltier told The Title Report.
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SoftPro integrates with Data Trace Information Services
Posted Date: Wednesday, May 21, 2014
SoftPro, a supplier of title, closing and escrow software, announced the integration of its SoftPro 360 business exchange tool with Data Trace Information Services’ specialty tax service for Texas.
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Old Republic develops new professional liability product
Posted Date: Thursday, May 22, 2014
Old Republic Title Insurance Group announced a joint initiative with its affiliated Old Republic property and casualty insurance group to provide a newly developed professional liability product to ORTIG’s independent agency force.
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NATIC integrates with Adeptive for jackets and CPL products
Posted Date: Wednesday, May 21, 2014
Adeptive, the privately-owned developer of ResWare, is now integrated with North American Title Insurance Co.'s (NATIC) Policy Jackets and Closing Protection Letter (CPL) service. This integration enables the company’s agents to generate policies inclusive of their jackets. Agents are now able to produce closing protection letters without ever having to leave their ResWare title software and process flow management system.
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NS3 preview: Miller to reveal the three most powerful growth strategies
Posted Date: Monday, May 19, 2014
Dan Miller, chief executive officer at RightNow Consulting, will be giving title agents insights on how to meet the needs of their best customers at the 2014 National Settlement Services Summit (NS3) in New Orleans, June 9-11.
“I have had the good fortune of gaining experience running and advising large scale real estate agencies and mortgage banks over the last seven years,” Miller said. “I am looking forward to sharing these experiences and insights with title agents who want to use the current business and regulatory climate to dramatically expand their profits.
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Foreclosure activity decreases and repossessions rise
Posted Date: Monday, May 19, 2014
U.S. foreclosure activity decreased slightly as bank repossessions rose, according to RealtyTrac’s Foreclosure Market Report for April 2014. Vice President Daren Blomquist said the rise in repossessions is a sign that markets are working through the final remnants of foreclosures left over from the housing crisis. Keep reading to learn more.
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Handling customer NPI: Are you a Target for a massive data breach?
Posted Date: Monday, May 19, 2014
Late last year, Target Corp. announced that millions of customers who eagerly handed over their credit and debit cards to pay for Black Friday and holiday purchases had their personal data stolen. With more than 40 million customers impacted, the debacle was one of the largest data breaches in our nation’s history. In the last few months, as Target struggled to get its sales and public image back on track, several other retailers like Neiman Marcus and Michaels have announced similar breaches of sensitive customer information — leaving companies in many commercial and financial service industries to wonder what went wrong and how such incidents can be prevented in the future.
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