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Illinois Public Act 96-1454 changes the Title Insurance Act, effective January 1, 2011, to require all closing protection letters be issued by the underwriter, not the title insurance agent. It further requires that CPLs be issued to all parties in refinance transactions (lenders, buyers, sellers, and owners). The letters must be issued when either the title insurance agent or the title underwriter conducts the closing.

The change is intended to make sure all parties to closings have a remedy against a financially-solvent entity for loss of the closing funds or documents, as specified in the letter. It covers agents' actions as well as those of their staff from fraud or negligence if they are unwittingly caught up in others' fraud (read the Act).

ATG Members: This new change in the law necessitates changes in our procedures and in REsource. Read the article in our November ATG Casenotes and Underwriters Bulletin: New Closing Protection Letters and Procedures Coming in January 2011 for details.

Tania M. S. Stori
Senior Underwriting Attorney

 

 

Mortgage Rescue Fraud — ATG has received numerous claims involving alleged mortgage rescue scams resulting when we insure the transaction between the party in distress and the rescuer. Closings that involve mortgage rescue fraud can be difficult to spot... read more (see also PA 94-0822)

 

 

ATG Holiday Reception Thursday, December 16, 2010 The Great Hall at Union Station Chicago, Illinois | 6:30 - 10:30 p.m.   Details/Member RSVP   NEW - Register and Pay Online! Registration Closes December 7!

 

 

The Home Repair and Remodeling Act — The Act has caused a significant headache for the courts of Illinois due to certain ambiguities in its language. The Illinois General Assembly passed a bill replacing it with language creating a private cause of action for violations that directly lead to damages for the homeowner... read more

 

 

November 2010 Outlooks — The U.S. economy grew at a 2.0 percent annual rate in the third quarter of 2010, slightly faster than the second quarter's 1.7 percent growth. Consumers did their part during the quarter as personal consumption expenditures rose slightly more than they had during the second quarter... read more

 

 

Bohne v LaSalle Nat Bank — A man-made body of water can be treated as natural for the purpose of riparian rights if it has been subject to continuous and uncontested use as though it were natural... read more

 

Citizens States Bank of New Castle v Countrywide Home Loans, Inc — If a mortgagee forecloses on a property that subsequently remains subject to a junior lien from an entity not party to the original foreclosure, the mortgagee retains a mortgage in a superior position. However, the right to foreclose this mortgage does not pass to a third party transferee... read more

 

Sweeney v Petska — A mortgagee who foreclosed on only one of three parties who signed a mortgage could not add the other parties to the complaint over one year later solely to recover more money for the deficiency... read more

 

 

ATG Honors Top Producers ATG honored its top-producing members for 2009 by hosting three baseball games during August and September 2010... read more/see more photos     ATG President Peter Birnbaum (Chicago, Ill.) with the party from ATG top member firm Strang & Parish (Jerseyville, Ill.) in the skybox. From left: Bill Strang, Gloria Strang, Peter Birnbaum, and Todd Parish.