Considering Title Monitoring Services or Title Insurance? Bank customers might have recently seen commercials touting the ease at which criminals can forge documents to steal their homes and offering monitoring services or title insurance. For clients wondering whether investing in such protections is worth the cost, the following provides a brief overview of each: Title Monitoring Services Title Monitoring Services help alert their customers if there are signs they are experiencing title fraud. Depending on the service, this may include monitoring credit reports, monitoring property records for mentions of the client, setting up internet alerts on the client’s address to see if their property becomes listed for sale or rent, and other digital security protections. It also may include some sort of insurance should the client experience losses due to title fraud, but such protection is not common. As discussed previously, because individuals have the ability to check their title or property records, get credit reports and set up Google alerts, individuals can do a lot of what the title monitoring services offer on their own, and potentially with a much lower cost. Title Insurance Title Insurance is a policy that protects property owners from losses associated with defects in the title of their property. Most commonly, this is purchased by new property owners during real estate transactions as part of the closing process. At the time of purchase, the title insurance company will do a deep dive into the state of the property’s title for anything in the past that may cause trouble. Because the title company usually does not continue to run searches or monitoring services after the property has been sold or transferred, most policies will only cover title defects that arose before the purchase of the insurance. There are some title insurance companies that offer policies covering losses that may occur in the future,6 but this is not the norm. If individuals are considering or currently buying a home or other property, it is always recommend they purchase title insurance as part of the real estate transaction. If an individual has already purchased title insurance for their current property, however, purchasing title insurance again will likely not protect them from anything that happens in the future unless they purchase a policy specifically covering future title fraud losses. Overview While title fraud can be a devastating experience for property owners, the risk of it happening is lower than some individuals may think. Despite this, the legal turmoil surrounding Graceland serves as a reminder to have a Suspicious Mind and be aware of factors that make individuals more likely to be targeted, as well as the steps people can take to mitigate the risk of being a victim that Can’t Help Falling for title fraud. Emily S. Tosoni focuses her practice on tax and estate planning as well as estate and trust administration. Emily graduated from the University of Iowa College of Law in 2021, magna cum laude. While in law school, Emily became a member of the Order of the Coif, a distinction awarded to the top 10% of the Class of 2021. Emily received the Judge William Stuart Award for her graduating class, as well as the Dean’s Award for Academic Excellence for Property and Trusts & Estates and the Jurisprudence Award for Academic Excellence in Contract Drafting. Endnotes 1. Robyn A. Friedman, Scammers Tried to Sell Graceland. How to Prevent Your Home from Being Next, Wall Street Journal (June 3, 2024, 7:00 PM) https://www.wsj.com/real-estate/home-title-fraud-ffc7edb7. 2. Kiah Treece, Home Title Theft: How to Protect Yourself, Forbes, (Feb. 3, 2023, 9:35 AM), https://www.forbes.com/advisor/mortgages/real-estate/home-title-theft/. 3. Robyn A. Friedman, Scammers Tried to Sell Graceland. How to Prevent Your Home from Being Next, Wall Street Journal, (June 3, 2024, 7:00 PM) https://www.wsj.com/real-estate/home-title-fraud-ffc7edb7. 4. Federal Bureau of Investigation, Internet Crime Report 21 (2022), https://www.ic3.gov/Media/PDF/AnnualReport/2022_IC3Report.pdf; Federal Bureau of Investigation, Internet Crime Report 20 (2023), https://www.ic3.gov/Media/PDF/AnnualReport/2023_IC3Report.pdf. 5. Kiah Treece, Home Title Theft: How to Protect Yourself, Forbes (Feb. 3, 2023, 9:35 AM), https://www.forbes.com/advisor/mortgages/real-estate/home-title-theft/; Ashley Kilroy, Home Title Theft: What You Should Know and How To Prevent It, Rocket Mortgage (June 22, 2023), https://www.rocketmortgage.com/learn/home-title-theft. 6. American Land Title Association (ALTA) offers this kind of policy in some states. 24 NEBRASKA BANKER
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy MTg3NDExNQ==