Title agents have a significant role to play in a mortgage transaction. They are the ones who certify that the property is defect-free in terms of title ownership and they also inform the lender about valid liens and judgments related to the property.
The tasks of a title agent can get quite complex, right from identification and fixing of missing heirs, checking for errors in public records, checking for forgeries, boundary disputes to illegal deeds, etc. Moreover, they also need to adhere to the compliances at every checkpoint. Even while they perform title verification, there is a long list of verifications that they need to perform.
Managing Unplanned Work Volumes and Ramping up on Niche Skills
While the task of a title agent is inherently complex, there are challenges related to unplanned volumes that are also quite common. This happens because of the undefined cyclicality of orders. Work volume fluctuations make it immensely difficult for the title agents to plan for team expansions to cater to peak work volumes.
The other challenge that they often face is whether ‘to accept’ or ‘not to accept’ a cross-state verification request. Not accepting reflects poorly on the Title agent and accepting the niche verification task can become really daunting, as each state would have its own set of local abstractors, who specialize in specific counties. It is not possible for a Title agent to possibly have existing relationships in several states and counties, and they have to rely on third parties.
Partnership and Outsourcing – How does that work as an option?
The flexibility of ramping up or ramping down a team during peak and low workloads can work wonders for a title agent, and hence outsourcing to a 3rd party service provider is a popular approach taken by several title agents. The multi-state presence and existing partnerships with 3rd party vendors that these service provider firms have, enables the title agent to leverage on their cross-state federal knowledge and connections.
However, a major concern in partnering with a 3rd party is about non-adherence to compliances. The Fed guidelines clearly state that the liability does not shift ownership and for any non-adherence, the title agent will eventually be held responsible by the lender. It is important to identify a partner who understands the nuances and has the processes and skills necessary to ensure compliance at all costs.
Drive Growth while Reducing Costs with the Right Outsourcing Partner
Fugo Services has been serving the title industry for close to 10 years now. With its strong domain knowledge in the title domain and innovative technology-led approaches, Fugo can offer unmatched value to title agents.
Connect with Fugo today and understand how you can efficiently outsource several elements of your title operations. Fugo has been consistently delivering improvements in turn time and accuracy across title operations.
