Settleware ‘No Brainer’ blog

It’s hard to believe that after more than a decade of the passage the Federal E-Sign Act (June 2000) we are still reeling from headlines like this:

More foreclosure irregularities alleged in Maryland

Former law firm employee says over 1,000 deeds were recorded with false signatures
(Read Full Article)

You have to wonder what else it would take for the Industry to adopt secure and compliant electronic signatures, records, contracts, agreements and processing? ‘Robo-Signing’,  backdating and manipulative notarizations, people falsely ‘wet’ paper signing as imposters, etc.-astounding!

Now is the time for all good lenders, servicers and investors to reduce the ‘human error’ factor and protect all parties involved in one of the largest transactions anyone will make in their lifetime. identity verification, authentication, Tamper sealing, document integrity, secure e-Vaulting, etc.  No longer an experiment – the time is now to stop the Madness!

After more than a decade of the passage of the e-Sign Act we’re pleased to announce that the Escrow/Settlement Industry is poised to adopt electronic signature technology into their paper intensive processes. In our recent Escrow Survey an overwhelming majority of respondents (67%) stated that they would be adding e-Signatures to their escrow workflow, contracts and agreements within the next 12 months.

Seems like the rapid acceptance and adoption of electronic signatures by real estate agents, buyers and sellers may be the primary cause for this recent change of priorities. Escrow officers and settlement/closing agents generally carry out the instructions from the principal parties and are not particularly known to be ‘early adopters’. Buyers/Sellers/Borrowers, who are becoming more comfortable with e-Signing upfront purchase and counter offers, instructions and agreements, will now be able to complete their transaction over the Internet (anytime, anyplace-even at the airport on their mobile phone) removing most, if not all, the friction associated with current paper-based processes. No paper, no faxing, no scanning, no expensive overnight FedEx or UPS shipping charges and most importantly, no more chasing down missing documents, pages or signatures!
Removing the stress for all parties, especially the overworked escrow officers and closing agents, will be very much appreciated!

“Prosecutors allege that corners may have been cut, signatures forged, documents backdated and/or lost……valuable Promissory notes missing, Robo Signers….” according to ‘Shredding the Dream‘ article appearing in Bloomberg  - You must be kidding , right?

Does this finally bring us to the tipping point to fully engage e-Mortgages?  As defined by the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) an “e-Mortgage is one that starts electronic and ends electronic”- read NO Human hands on a piece of paper. Settleware’s definition also includes ‘Compliance, Compliance, Compliance’! By integrating our secure e-Signature workflow into the mortgage process, including e-Disclosures, e-Notary, e-Recording, e-Vault and e-Notes, documents are prepared, reviewed and signed in a pure safe and secure environment. Once parties are authenticated documents are e-Signed , locked down/tamper proofed, and can no longer be manipulated. No missing documents, pages, signatures or initials and all information is 100% legible-No Faxing and No Scanning. Documents are then securely stored in an e-Vault along with a tamper resistant audit trail for safe harbor and accessible only to those with proper credentials and permissions.

Now is the time for all good men…..to remove the paper friction and eliminate these issues clouding the market – all parties would welcome this relevant technology, especially the courts!

Brought to you by: Settleware e-Signing

It all started with a vision to ‘streamline the escrow process, both real and personal property’ and as we celebrate our 10th Anniversary I thought it might be a refresher to define the exact purpose of Escrow.  Escrow is sometimes known in other parts of the US as Closing, Settlement, etc and the information presented here was taken from a pamphlet prepared by the Escrow Institute of California to be handed out by escrow companies to their clients. We decided to present it pretty much as written because escrow companies very rarely get to explain what goes on in escrow in their own words. Usually your lender or Realtor explains the function of escrow to you:

Prepared by the Escrow Institute of California

Escrow: What is it?

Very simply defined, an escrow is a deposit of funds, a deed or other instrument by one party for the delivery to another party upon completion of a particular condition or event. The California Escrow Law: Section 17003 of the Financial Code: provides the legal definition.

Why Do I Need an Escrow?

Whether you are the buyer, seller, lender or borrower, you want the assurance that no funds or property will change hands until ALL of the instructions in the transaction have been followed. The escrow holder has the obligation to safeguard the funds and/or documents while they are in the possession of the escrow holder, and to disburse funds and/or convey title only when all provisions of the escrow have been complied with.

Escrow: How Does it Work?

The principals to the escrow: buyer, seller, lender, And borrower: cause escrow instructions, most usually in writing, to be created, signed and delivered to the escrow officer. If a broker is involved, he will normally provide the escrow officer with the information necessary for the preparation of your escrow instructions and documents.

The escrow officer will process the escrow, in accordance with the escrow instructions, and when all conditions required in the escrow can be met or achieved, the escrow will be “closed.” Each escrow, although following a similar pattern, will be different in some respects, as it deals with your property and the transaction at hand.

The duties of an escrow holder include; following the instructions given by the principals and parties to the transaction in a timely manner; handling the funds and/or documents in accordance with the instruction; paying all bills as authorized; responding to authorized requests from the principals; closing the escrow only when all terms funds in accordance with instructions and provide an accounting for same: the Closing or Settlement Statement.

Over the past several years we have provided electronic escrow and e=Closing services and will continue to assist moving the Industry towards a complete electronic and paperless Real Estate escrow transactions – from Opening through Closing. We applaud our ‘early adapters’ customers for sharing our vision!

 Welcome to the 2nd Half-WOW!

Hard to believe that we are in July already-strange thing is that I’m hearing that from most people I come in contact with. Why is that? I believe we are in unique times with quite a bit of doubt and uncertainty and it seems everyone is scrambling to make heads or tails as to where we go from here. Plenty of mixed signals-Headlines saying things are great but if you read past the first paragraph you realize that was just misleading. For example.  read a story with a headline that stated ‘Company X beats Analyst Projections”-sounds good, right? Only to read that the analyst reduced the projection much lower than the year before and Company X beat the street by a penny. Also, went on to say it was the worst year the company had in their 87 year history. Point is to stay focused doing those little things correctly and when the market really turns you will be well positioned to capitalize.. Don’t worry about all the ‘Noise’ and ‘Vaporware’ !