First American Title Insurance Co., a provider of title insurance and settlement services and the largest subsidiary of First American Financial Corp., launched the Competitive Advantage Platform. This web-based tool is designed to help title agents create and document policies and procedures needed to implement the American Land Title Association’s (ALTA) Title Insurance and Settlement Company Best Practices framework.
Designed to mirror the seven pillars of ALTA Best Practices, the Competitive Advantage Platform demonstrates First American’s commitment to the industry, the success of title agents and the consumer.
“We developed Competitive Advantage Platform because encouraging the adoption of ALTA Best Practices is important for the industry and provides consumers with a more consistent and higher quality closing,” said John Hollenbeck, executive vice president, First American Title Insurance Co. “Yet, for many agents, documenting and implementing them in preparation for certification requires a significant investment of time and resources, which puts a strain on their business. The Competitive Advantage Platform provides title agents with a pathway for efficiently completing the documentation phase of ALTA Best Practice compliance, allowing title agents to focus on the next critical step – consistent implementation of the documented policies.”
The Competitive Advantage Platform’s easy-to-use web interface walks title agents through a step-by-step process. The tool captures ALTA Best Practice-compliant policies the agents may already have in place and helps identify gaps where compliant policies are needed. The platform also packages the policies in a format from which a comprehensive Best Practice binder can be quickly produced, designed to be useful with lenders and a requirement of the Best Practice audit.
Several First American Title agents have already accessed the Competitive Advantage Platform and commented on their experience.
“This is the best tool I have seen to get agents ready for certification…within 30 minutes of using the Competitive Advantage Platform, I found several areas where we could improve on the work we have already done,” said Rick Neff, principal, Pennsylvania Land Titles, which has undertaken a comprehensive effort to document its compliance with ALTA Best Practices since the program was released last July.
“We used First American’s Competitive Advantage Platform to complete our policy and procedures manual as required to be compliant with ALTA Best Practices. The Competitive Advantage Platform was extremely easy to use,” said Kimberly Holt, owner, escrow officer and title officer, Gateway Title Insurance.
The Competitive Advantage Platform is only available to First American Title agents.