From today’s Philadelphia Inquirer:
Suit alleges title insurance fraud in New Jersey | Philadelphia Inquirer | 02/04/2009
For example, Deborah M. Bonanni paid a $120 deed-recording fee and a $300 mortgage-recording fee for the Princeton house she bought for $418,000 in 2006.
Mary Ann Kenny Pidgeon, the settlement agent hired for the closing, paid fees of $80 for the deed and $210 for the mortgage at the county office, according to court documents. Pidgeon did not respond today to e-mail and phone requests for comment.
State law sets the recording fees at $30 for the first page and $10 for each additional page.
The lawsuit, which named 13 corporations as defendants, covers consumers who have bought residential real estate in New Jersey since Jan. 22, 2003.
Representatives of defendants Fidelity National Title Insurance Co., First American Title Insurance Co., and LandAmerica Financial Group Inc. said they would not comment on pending litigation.
I had heard of this happening, but never seen it in action. Easily preventable by Title Insurance Underwriters if they really cared to stop it.
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Absolutely, Dave. Most of what’s wrong with the title biz would be easily remedied by underwriters that gave even a half hearted effort at training and policing agents. The whole mess is an evil joke on the public and those of us who figured out how to be responsible in spite of our trade associations and underwriters.