CFPB/ALTA Compliance

Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and ALTA Best Practices Statement

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) has set forth new mortgage lending regulations to better protect consumers. In response, The American Land Title Association (ALTA) has created "Title Insurance and Settlement Company Best Practices" as a guide.

Guardian Title & Guaranty Agency, Inc., and its affiliates have adopted the ALTA Best Practices as its guide in establishing policies and procedures to comply with the CFPB obligations established for lending institutions and their vendors. Copies of some or all of these policies may be distributed on a case by case basis as authorized by the executive management of the company.

The purpose for the information contained within this page is to assure you and your customers that Guardian Title has taken the necessary required steps to continue to close real estate transactions. To comply with those best practices commonly referred to as the 7 Pillars Guardian Title & Guaranty Agency and its affiliates have:
  1. Established and maintained licenses as required to conduct the business of title insurance and settlement services in Ohio and all markets of operation.
  2. Adopted and maintained written procedures and controls for Escrow Trust Accounts including electronic verification of reconciliation utilizing 3 way procedures.
  3. Adopted and maintained a written privacy and information security plan to protect Non-public Personal Information as required by local, state and federal law. Including regular employee training on privacy protection & security, network security practices, information encryption for both locally stored and transmitted information, and physical document protection policies.
  4. Adopted standard real estate settlement procedures and policies that ensure compliance with Federal and State Consumer Financial Laws as applicable. Estimated cost tools provided online for customer convenience.
  5. Adopted and maintained written procedures related to title policy production, delivery, reporting and premium remittance.
  6. Maintained professional liability insurance, and Surety Coverage (required in Ohio) coverage.
  7. Established a user friendly consumer complaint intake system reviewed independent of production.

Guardian Title & Guaranty Agency and its affiliates maintain an assigned Compliance Risk Manager to review compliance every 6 months, as well as ongoing internal controls.