by Jerome Jelinek, CEO and President.

November, 17, 2021

While regional lenders have historically narrowed working relationships to a few AMCs and home equity title, valuation & flood vendors, the predominant model for title insurance and closing still authorizes loan officers in the field to work with the title vendors of their choice. This has resulted in regional lenders working with tens or even hundreds of different title vendors. This means hundreds of different standards of quality, methods of communication, points of contact, compliance headaches and tolerance violations.

CSS believes there’s a better way of operating when it comes to refinance title and closing. More and more regional lenders are approaching the title and closing aspects of their mortgage operations as they have the earlier steps in the process: narrowing vendors and centralizing processes. Lenders that have embraced these changes have been rewarded with reduced costs, increased efficiencies, and improved compliance.

For purchase transactions, regional lenders typically allow the loan officer to choose the title company, with good reason. However, on refinance transactions, lenders who limit the selection of title and closing providers to a select few vendors that have been fully vetted and approved can expect to experience these benefits:

Quality Control & Efficiency:

• Consistent high standards of quality. Valuable lender management time is wasted attempting to manage quality at hundreds of local title agencies.
• Standardized methods of communication and use of LOS integrations that few local title agencies offer.
• Standardized processes and fees.
• Simplified resolution of performance issues that do arise.
• Centralized ordering of title and closing services.

Compliance:

• Simplified management of Third Party Compliance required by regulators. Proper compliance is frequently unmanageable with hundreds of title vendors.
• Increased protection against cybersecurity risks including phishing and wire fraud. Smaller local title companies typically lack the IT certifications and cybersecurity insurance that larger centralized providers have to offer.

The Time to Act is Now:

CSS has helped regional lenders implement this Managed Refinance Title and Closing Process and reap the described benefits and more, including:

• Online access to title and closing fee calculator.
• Remote online notary closings.
• Real-time access to turn times on a file-by-file and summary basis.
• Proactive communication by our team on every file, start to finish.

We would value the opportunity to meet with your loan operations team to discuss how this Managed Refinance Title & Closing Process will improve your results and produce higher satisfaction for your customers.