Each day I come into the office, sit and my desk and do a simple Google News search of, “Title Insurance.” It used to be that I would get some quarterly profit statement news from some underwriter, or news of some small agent defalcation in a market I’ve never heard of. Now, the news is Wall Street Journal story’s about exorbitant title fee’s and Consumer Protection stories from Local Evening news segments. We also have articles about the ever present threats from D.C. talking about regulation.
Is regulation a bad thing? I don’t really know. I work in one of the most title rate depressed regions in the country. I would think that if the federal government decided to regulate rates, I would benefit. I suppose that’s not really the point though, the question isn’t whether we are going to be regulated, it’s how much and by whom. Are we an Insurance Industry or a Financial Service Industry?
If we are poorly classified, I think regulation can be a terrible thing for us. Repeat after me… TITLE INSURANCE ISN’T A PART OF THE INSURANCE INDUSTRY. As the GAO Report of 2006 correctly noted, we pay out about 5% of rates charged towards claims, when a typical Home, Auto, Life Insurance Agency pays out upwards of 75%. If we allow ourselves to be classified as an Insurance Company we are doomed by further regulation.
The Obama Administration seems to understand this, but at what cost? We are being lumped into the Consumer Protection legislation of the Financial Services Industry. Our lobby, the American Land Title Association (ALTA) is working hard to blunt unnecessary regulation, but I fear that they are fighting a loosing battle. How do you argue against consumer protection? You don’t, especially when public sentiment is being swayed so heavily against us by the clueless and sensationalist media.
So, a hearty thank you goes out to Google News for keeping me up on things, but I sure long for the days when I didn’t fear my morning ritual.
Thursday, July 30, 2009
Monday, July 27, 2009
Introduction...
Hello teeming, blogging masses. To the world at large, this may be the most boring blog ever conceived. Then again, who knows? For people in the peculiar Title Insurance industry, maybe some of you will find my thoughts interesting, but it’s hard to imagine who would. Haha.
For a little background, I’m about to celebrate my 30th birthday, but I have been in the Title Insurance industry since I was 17 years old. I started off working for a small title agent in the Chicago Suburbs. I was working after school and weekends doing order entry, recording, office work and basically every low skill job that exists in our industry. When I turned 18 I got my Notary and became a closer. I don’t know how I would have felt if an 18 year old kid walked in to do my closing, but it all worked itself out.
I worked my way through college at three different title agencies, and after school, I found that nothing thrilled me quite like title insurance. Thrilled might be an odd choice of words, but I think it fits. After college I took a position with a National Title Insurance agency and moved from the Chicago area down to St. Louis to take over operations for Missouri, Kansas and Southern Illinois. It was fun while it lasted, but like many companies, we got caught in the subprime meltdown and my operation imploded. Oh well.
I am now the Director of Business Development for a large title agent in the Chicago market and I couldn’t be happier. I sit on a several committees within my state title association and I am an active advocate for our industry. I’ve been in this business for almost 13 years and it has been very good to me, but where are we headed now? National Regulation? National Rates? I’ll explore my thoughts on where we are going in future posts… As for now, back to work!
For a little background, I’m about to celebrate my 30th birthday, but I have been in the Title Insurance industry since I was 17 years old. I started off working for a small title agent in the Chicago Suburbs. I was working after school and weekends doing order entry, recording, office work and basically every low skill job that exists in our industry. When I turned 18 I got my Notary and became a closer. I don’t know how I would have felt if an 18 year old kid walked in to do my closing, but it all worked itself out.
I worked my way through college at three different title agencies, and after school, I found that nothing thrilled me quite like title insurance. Thrilled might be an odd choice of words, but I think it fits. After college I took a position with a National Title Insurance agency and moved from the Chicago area down to St. Louis to take over operations for Missouri, Kansas and Southern Illinois. It was fun while it lasted, but like many companies, we got caught in the subprime meltdown and my operation imploded. Oh well.
I am now the Director of Business Development for a large title agent in the Chicago market and I couldn’t be happier. I sit on a several committees within my state title association and I am an active advocate for our industry. I’ve been in this business for almost 13 years and it has been very good to me, but where are we headed now? National Regulation? National Rates? I’ll explore my thoughts on where we are going in future posts… As for now, back to work!
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