ALTA Best Practices Certified

CB Title* is proud to announce that we are ALTA Best Practices Certified. CB Title has been issued its Certification by Atlanta CPA firm Habif Arogeti & Wynne LLP (“HA&W”). The CPA firm issued the certification to CB Title as a result of a very exhaustive audit of our adherence to the ALTA Best Practices.

Mortgage lenders are expected to have an effective process in place for reviewing and managing risks of their third-party service providers, including title agents. Mortgage lenders often put their trust in CPA firms to give them assurance that their service provider is meeting their risk management guidelines.

HA&W is the leading CPA firm in the nation to provide ALTA Best Practices compliance benchmarking, readiness and reporting through its ComplianceSuccess Program. The program provides independent third-party assurance using CPA professional standards on attestation reporting, trusted by banking and financial institutions.

Background: In 2012, a number of regulatory and market pressures brought scrutiny to the basic integrity of the title insurance industry. There were many stories of title agents involved in misappropriating closing funds or participating in real estate or mortgage fraud schemes. While it was only a small percentage of industry members, the publicity brought attention to industry members qualifications and practices.

One response was for the industry trade association, The American Land Title Association, to formulate Title Insurance and Settlement Company Best Practices, a set of minimum standards for industry members to comply with to improve the quality and integrity of our business. These Best Practices cover areas such as

1. Employee and Company Licensing
2. Escrow Trust Account Controls
3. Privacy and Information Security
4. Compliance with Federal and State Consumer Finance Laws
5. Written Procedures regarding title policy production, delivery, reporting and premium remittance
6. Maintenance of appropriate professional liability insurance and fidelity coverage
7. Procedures for resolving consumer complaints

In every instance, CB Title meets or exceeds the standards established by ALTA.