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Article, January 2003
Courtesy: Stewart Title from their online publication Agent Automation

LandTitleEscrow.com Offers Solution for Managing Escrow Collections and Fulfillment

Does your agency turn away seller-finance business? Or do you take on that business, but contract the servicing part out to other companies, possibly even competitors?

LandTitleEscrow.com offers a long-term servicing solution for seller finance business. They are structured to interact with and service only title companies.

"Some agencies have to take these types of files to competitors or banks for servicing, which takes relationship management out of the agent's hands. The agent can lose its identity," said Ann Rupe, president, LandTitleEscrow.com. "We like agents to look at us as their collection and escrow back office, allowing their title staff to concentrate on other things."

Using LandTitleEscrow.com, agents maintain their own identities and relationships, while LandTitleEscrow handles the servicing and fulfillment of the contract.

"We let title companies receive the payments and maintain their relationships," said Rupe. "This is great for return customer business. When those sellers decide to sell outright, they will likely come back to the title agent already handling the servicing contract."

Solution for Stewart Agents
"Some Stewart agents use this Web-based service today," said Gregg Humphries, agent technology director, Stewart. "They don't want to give up the seller/owner finance business, but don't have the resources to manage payments internally. For a small percentage of the fee, LandTitleEscrow.com will manage and service these escrow accounts through the life of the contract."

LandTitleEscrow.com maintains files and documents just as a title company would. Robin Cox, senior escrow officer with Stewart Title of Nampa, Idaho, was one of the first customers of the company. The office was using another local provider for its seller finance accounts, but elected to go with LandTitleEscrow.com because it was Web-based, professional and offered a solution that eliminated typing and faxing documents.

"It's convenient and saves a lot of time because it's online. I have access to them 24/7 by Internet and e-mail," Cox said. "The first time I used the service, it took me just four minutes to get a full long-term packet of documents. The documents are so professional – they look like loan documents."

In addition, Stewart Title of Nampa wanted to offer customers the option of mailing payments to their office, which LandTitleEscrow.com easily allows them to do.

"My customers don't even realize that it's handled elsewhere, which allows me to maintain my own relationships with them," Cox said.

Title Expertise Means Good Customer Service
The founders of LandTitleEscrow.com come from a title background, allowing them to provide thorough customer service to their title agent customers.

"Our primary focus is not just payment processing – we contract on the fulfillment side," Rupe said. "We have familiarity with various legal types of sales and if my customers need help, we have the experience to back it up."

It takes less than 10 minutes to prepare most documents, which can be ready for signing at closing. "Everything is complete at the time the sale is closed. This is a tool that can increase the agent's market share and bottom line," Rupe said.

Though the service is mostly used for seller finance deals, it can be used for other types of transactions as well. "We've done almost every type of installment payment transaction out there," Rupe said.

"Land Title is entrusted with the accounting, servicing and safekeeping of original documentation for several hundred of our mortgage investment files," said S. R. Taylor, president and chief operating officer, Investors Financial Corporation. "Based on our experience with more than one hundred servicing companies nationwide, we find Land Title to be one of the most professional, cooperative and technically advanced companies in their industry today."

Private-Label Program
LandTitleEscrow.com also offers a private-label program that can be co-branded for your office on your Web site using your logo. Although LandTitleEscrow.com handles all of the processing, your customers won't see that another company is handling the back-end.