NTC Will Discuss How To Spot Document Fraud

Steve Dibert, MFI-Miami

National Title Clearing, the home of celebrity robo-signers, Bryan Bly, Crystal Moore and Dhurata Doko has announced they will be sending representatives to the annual Mortgage Brokers Association conference to discuss how to spot fraudulent mortgage documents and signature fraud.   Yes, you read that correctly, the company responsible for nearly 50% of the fraudulent documents filed with County Register of Deeds and Clerks across the U.S. is giving a presentation on how to spot fraudulent documents.  I wonder if their presentation includes their own documents?

Below is the Press Release they put out promoting their appearance:

It’s a crucial time for the mortgage industry – the announcement of an agreement between state, federal officials and five large residential mortgage servicers represents an important opportunity to bring more certainty and confidence to the housing market.  To stay in the forefront of industry best-practices, NTC will attend MBA’s National Fraud Issues Conference, April 22 – 25, 2012, in Phoenix, AZ. 

(Palm Harbor, Fla. February 29, 2012) With a constantly changing landscape, mortgage servicers are called to meet new and evolving challenges nearly every day.  Nationwide Title Clearing (NTC) continues to meet that challenge.  As the nation’s leading post-closing services provider for the residential mortgage industry, NTC has united with top mortgage lenders, servicers, investors, GSE’s and federal government agencies to reinvent and standardize the assignment process in order to provide clear and accurate land records. As ongoing continuing education and participation to maintain and stay in the forefront of industry best-practices, NTC will attend MBA’s National Fraud Issues Conference, April 22 – 25, 2012, in Phoenix, AZ.

While NTC has worked closely for years with its clients, who include eight of the top 10 residential mortgage servicers in the country as well as several federal government agencies, to standardize the mortgage assignment document process, NTC executives have been educating the public on what indicators too look for that may point to fraudulent mortage documents.

According to NTC, the top 3 points that indicate potential fraud on recent documents⁽¹⁾ are:

1. The preparer is unable to provide proof of signing authority either by corporate resolution or power of attorney.  A Corporate Resolution is the documentation of a corporate action, usually in the form of a legal document that has been voted on or ratified at a meeting of a corporation’s board of directors. These documents grant very specific rights, including the ability to sign for the client on specified document types, such as assignments and lien releases. They often contain provisions that ensure the person being granted signing authority may only sign documents on a mortgage or loan that has been specifically requested by the client.  A power of attorney is a legal document giving one person (called an “agent” or “attorney-in-fact”) the power to act for another person (the principal). The power of attorney is frequently used in the event of a principal’s illness or disability, or when the principal can’t be present to sign necessary legal documents for financial transactions.
2. The company or person that prepared and submitted the document(s) cannot be located nor is accessible to provide proof.
3. he corporate officer and notary are the same individual or same signatures on a single document.  The notary should never be one and the same as the corporate officer signing per authorized corporate resolutions.

Knowing potential fraud is only one side of the coin, NTC says.  For comparable data, NTC also educates their clients on the top 4 points that indicate it’s probably not mortgage fraud⁽²⁾, which are:

1. The notary is/was in good standing and has/had a valid commission covering the date signed.  This is as simple as contacting the State Department handling Notary appointments in the state the notary was commissioned.  
2. Signers are able to provide proof of signing authority and are able to confirm that they signed the document.
3. The document conforms to all state document guidelines and was officially recorded in one of the 3600 county recording districts.  With nearly 3,600 county recording offices nationwide, each one having its own codes, filing systems and regulations on how land records must be prepared and recorded, mortgage servicers must be able to meet the exacting requirements of every one of these offices, something NTC has down to a science.
4. Preparer is a fully audited, secure and reputable company, evidence by standard outside and extensive audits performed every year. Extensive audits such as the SSAE-16 or the SAS-70.  SAS is an acronym for the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA) Statement on Auditing Standard (SAS) No. 70, is standard in the mortgage servicing industry which defines the professional standards used by a service auditor to assess the internal controls of a service organization, thereby offering a checks and balances system within the industry. This is one of the many audits service providers, such as NTC, must undergo annually.

Mortgage applications have continued to increase, according to data from the Mortgage Bankers Association’s (MBA) Weekly Mortgage Applications Survey for the week ending February 3, 2012.⁽³⁾   To accommodate the growing number of homeowners and buyers seeking refinancing or new loans, many lenders, servicers and investors have come to rely on NTC’s extensive experience in property reports, lien releases and assignment verification.  “It’s important to NTC to ensure that there are established, accurate and thorough processes to improve the validity of all assignments in our industry,” says Hillman.  “Educational platforms such as MBA’s National Fraud Issues Conference are vital for us to attend given today’s climate.”

Hillman also stated that having accurate true data is the pervasive influence that will help to correct document problems that plague the industry today and protect the property rights of homeowners into the future.  Through NTC’s PerfectChain^(SM) Assignment Verification Process, NTC has confirmed with its clients that its processes and practices pass the criteria required by the recent OCC, OTS and Federal Reserve consent orders.⁽⁴⁾ 

 

About Nationwide Title Clearing, Inc.
Headquartered in Palm Harbor, Fla., Nationwide Title Clearing (NTC) was founded in 1991 and incorporated in 1992; and has since grown to become the nation’s leading post-closing services provider for the residential mortgage industry. In addition to supporting lenders, servicers and investors – including eight of the top 10 residential mortgage servicers in the country – NTC also contracts directly with several federal government agencies. The company’s land records and document experts are able to track and fulfill county document requirements for more than 3,600 recording jurisdictions nationwide, and have considerable experience with state notary laws and valid execution practices. NTC specializes in processing lien releases, assignments, Mortgage Electronic Registration System (MERS^®) services, final documents, document retrieval, title searches, title policy retrieval, title policy replacement, capital markets/hedge fund bundled services, imaging and other custom business solutions. For more information about Nationwide Title Clearing, visit the company’s website athttp://www.nwtc.com.

 

For more information regarding MBA’s National Fraud Issues Conference visit www.mortgagebankers.org and click on Upcoming Signature Conferences.

⁽¹⁾         http://www.nwtc.com/about/FAQ_8.html

⁽²⁾         http://www.nwtc.com/about/FAQ_8.html

⁽³⁾            http://www.mortgagebankers.org/NewsandMedia/PressCenter/79667.htm

⁽⁴⁾         http://www.occ.gov/news-issuances/news-releases/2011/nr-occ-2011-47b.pdf

http://www.occ.gov/news-issuances/news-releases/2011/nr-occ-2011-47k.pdf

http://www.occ.gov/news-issuances/news-releases/2011/nr-occ-2011-47e.pdf

http://www.occ.gov/news-issuances/news-releases/2011/nr-occ-2011-47c.pdf

http://www.occ.gov/news-issuances/news-releases/2011/nr-occ-2011-47d.pdf

http://www.occ.gov/news-issuances/news-releases/2011/nr-occ-2011-47g.pdf

http://www.occ.gov/news-issuances/news-releases/2011/nr-occ-2011-47i.pdf

http://www.occ.gov/news-issuances/news-releases/2011/nr-occ-2011-47j.pdf

 

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