Settleware ‘No Brainer’ blog

With over 30 years of domain experience, more than a decade ago we set out to Master the electronic real estate and mortgage eco-system.  What began as a simple journey to streamline the transaction for our customers turned into what seems like a lifetime commitment. Thank goodness we received some very early and salient advice ”Eliminating the stress and associated friction around the antiquated systems, mounds of paper, faxes, scanners and overnight couriers seems like a no brainer but this will take you longer than you can ever imagine……it only took us 17 years to get broad adoption for the ATM machine”, said an ATM entrepreneur, visionary and adviser to Settleware®.

Good news – bad news. The real estate and mortgage transaction is one of the most complicated and highest liability transactions that a consumer will ever participate in. We understood that many different companies and agencies ‘touched’ the transaction and we needed to meticulously secure ‘buy-in’ from each one in order for the industry as a whole to move forward with a pure paperless and digital transaction-electronic signatures was the glue to connect all parties, documents and vendors over the Internet. (US e-Sign Act passed June, 2000). Good news – the electronic transaction would become the defacto standard – in every Industry across the Globe!

We engaged industry experts and pioneers and by summer of 2007, with Fannie Mae and MERS e-Registry final certification, we achieved kismet-the first electronic and digital end to end transaction over the Internet-without a single piece of paper. County Recorders/Registrars, title, escrow settlement, lenders and Secretaries of State (notaries) on board. We were able to identify and change all the initial ‘red flags’ to ‘green’. Soon thereafter, the market imploded and technological advances took a back seat to survival – overnight most lenders changed from ‘green’ back to ‘yellow’. The primary objection was that nearly 100% of their transactions required a professional notarization and until every Secretary of State was on board they could not scale nationally – ‘let’s just wait it out’. Although we processed thousands of successful electronic notarizations since 2004 from California to North Carolina, today, only 17 US States are actually on board – still presenting a monumental challenge and barrier.  So we continued to innovate and devoted resources to build out IP protections (Int’l and US Patents #7,127,406, #8,204,807 and patents pending) as we firmly believed that it just made too much sense that, at some point, all parties would not want to be tethered to paper and all the inherent stress/friction.

In 2010, robo-signing hit the headlines so we knew we needed to change the tools to allow for a digital ‘face to face’ meeting with the signer and notary and ‘leapfrog’ over the obstinate status quo. We also needed 100% assurance  that the signer and notary were who they said they were and not have to go to court with a ‘he said-she said’ type of argument that is so prevalent today. In addition, absolute verification as to the originality and integrity of the document guaranteeing that there would be no manipulation once electronically signed was paramount and our highest priority.

We were fortunate that the Commonwealth of Virginia shared the same insight and vision and on July 1, 2012 video notarizations became legal, regardless of where the signer is located. Hence, the birth of NotaryCam-the first patented process that connects all parties in the real estate/mortgage/escrow settlement process in a virtual signing room. Further, NotaryCam also provides a secure, verifiable and independent witnessing service for high valued business transactions, notary not required, providing irrefutable evidence to any oral or written contract or agreement.

We have successfully completed transactions around the sale of a franchise business, health care directives, living wills and mobile notaries. We’re seeking partners and licensees to join us us with this game changing service and look forward to working together well into the future – now available in all 50 States and over 60 Countries – Tomorrow’s Future Today! Take a look at this 90 second video: https://notarycam.com/how-it-works/

We’re proud to announce that our pioneering e-Signature solution to the real estate and mortgage Industry is compliant with Bank of America rules and guidelines. For more specifics please review BOA’s guidelines:

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Settleware Secure Services, Inc., a pioneer of the e-signing industry, was recently awarded a patent for its paperless real estate and mortgage transaction technology.

NEWPORT BEACH, CA, June 25, 2012—On June 19, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office expanded Settleware Secure Services, Inc’s. Patent portfolio by awarding the company patent No. 8,204,807 relating to its innovative e-signing technology.

Settleware’s e-signing technology is the first and only end-to-end real estate solution that enables any party involved in a transaction to use electronic and digital signatures to sign documents seamlessly and securely at any time online. It is also the only commercial solution certified by the real estate and mortgage industry, including lenders, secretaries of state, county recorders, MERS eRegistry and Fannie Mae.

Settleware’s technology continues the advancement of paperless technology and transactions throughout various market segments including the real estate and mortgage industries.

With Settleware’s e-signing technology, users do not have to chase down signatures or worry about missing pages. Documents protected by Settleware are 100 percent compliant and tamper sealed to guarantee integrity and confidentiality.

Service providers such as mortgage lenders, real estate agents, escrow settlement agents, and notaries save time and money with the help of Settleware’s e-signing process. They will not misfile, need to re-key or have to track down missing signatures, initials or pages.

“After working in the real estate industry for three decades, I saw that there was a need to streamline real estate and mortgage transactions,” said Rick Triola, founder and CEO of Settleware. “I knew there had to be a better way to conduct business, and Settleware is proud to provide that solution.  This announcement is proof of the novelty of Settlware’s e-signing technology. It is a game-changer because it solves the problem of paper and eliminates the associated stress inherent with typically the largest purchase most consumers would ever make in their lifetime. ‘Pen on paper’ will soon be a thing of the past.”

About Settleware Secure Services, Inc.

Settleware has been known as the pioneer and expert e-signing business for the real estate and mortgage industries for more than a decade. Its multi-patented technology enables paperless transactions between numerous parties and protects all documents involved in the electronic process, ensuring security and confidentiality. For more information, call 888-632-3833 or visit www.settleware.com.

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 Settleware Expands Electronic Notary Platform

Pioneering electronic signature and e-Notary leader partners with Christopher Bryan Company to streamline cumbersome paper-based process. NC Contractor can now electronically sign and notarize contracts and agreements in Real Time.

NEWPORT BEACH, CA—June 19, 2012— Settleware Secure Services, Inc., the visionary electronic and digital signature leader announced today that Christopher Bryan Company (CBC) processed their first electronic Notary in Charlotte, N.C. through the use of Settleware’s trusted electronic notary solution.  “Our focus is to make it easier for our customers to do business with their clients and are thrilled to partner with Christopher Bryan. We have been delivering a digital and paperless alternative to traditional notarization offerings since 2004 and we’re excited that CBC is now offering  this ‘game changing’ service”, stated Settleware founder, C. Richard Triola.“ the Contractors Lien Waver was electronically notarized without any hitches”  Triola continued.

The contractor notarized, e-Signed and processed the Lien Waiver in real-time-without a single piece of paper. “We are excited about participating in cutting-edge technology that is destined to change the ‘normal operational procedures’ for businesses of all sizes.  The benefits we can now offer to all of clients are tremendous. Our productivity has dramatically improved and we look forward to a long and prosperous partnership with Settleware”, stated President Christopher Bryan

“As electronic signatures and notarizations go mainstream more and more business will move e-Commerce to the next level – secure and streamlined efficiencies realized by all stakeholders. We have been certified by the NC Secretary of State since 2007 and pleased to see e-Notary adoption begin to percolate,” says Kyle Stephenson, Settleware’s VP Southeast Regional representative. “We’re happy that Christopher Bryan Company has shared our vision and now providing the ‘Holy Grail’ of e-Commerce – e-Signing and e-Notarization“,  Stephenson added.

Featured in the best seller ‘Game Changers- Leading Entrepreneurs and How they are Changing the Game..’, (Amazon rated #1,  November 2010),  founder Triola continued to describe how e-Signatures and e-Notarizations affixed to any/all contracts and agreements are quickly becoming the standard, eliminating all the associated ‘friction’ with paper, faxing, scanning and expensive overnight deliveries of time sensitive agreements and applications. Companies of all sizes are urged to explore not only the immediate benefits for all clients and stakeholders but to also become good stewards and drivers of Corporate Social Responsibility.

About Settleware

Settleware Secure Services, Inc. has been spearheading the initiative to facilitate complete electronic and paperless transactions over the Internet for more than a decade. The Settleware patented platform provides benefits to the lone entrepreneur or to large enterprises and offers e-Notarization in the Cloud with an affordable subscription-based pricing.

If you would like to learn how Settleware can partner to take your business to the next level, call 888.632.3833 or send an email to info@settleware.com. Join the discussion by subscribing to the Settleware’s blog at www.settleware/blog and become a Friend on Facebook.

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If you bought or sold a home within the past year you certainly understand the challenges around the implementation, processing and closing this high-valued transaction. You also might have concluded that in this day and age ‘there must be a better way’? You may not have realized that there was and is  a ‘better way’ - which would have eliminated most, if not all, the stress and friction you just experienced with this paper-intensive process.

Less than 5% of the today’s real estate agents (most responsible for getting the deal started) have taken their business to the next level and have incorporated electronic signatures into their workflow, contracts and agreements. An E-signature is the ‘glue’ that connects all parties and documents over the Internet-100% paperless with secure real-time execution. There is no longer the need to drive all around town to chase down signatures or to find a fax machine (95% of consumers have Internet access and only 5% have fax machines at home) or to pay for expensive overnight deliveries. As a long time real estate veteran I can recall those calls late on a Wed aftrenoon that all parties must meet at 10:30am Friday in some office typically 20 miles away from no where in order to close the deal (on the East Coast still deploys face-to-face sit down closings-which in reality become a long winded 11^th hour art of negotiation session). Buyers, Sellers, their agents and all the ‘suits’ –personal attorneys plus the banks attorneys and title attorneys had to re-arrange all their schedules – crazy. Talk about stress – last minute day off at work for principals, running around finding  last minute baby sitters, running to banks to get cashier’s checks, etc..

Imagine if all you had to do was open your email, type in your name on contracts, click consent and submit? I think we would all agree that this would definitely be the ‘better way’. Although the E-Sign Act was signed into law by President Clinton back in June, 2000 it has taken many years of collaboration and ‘buy-in’ for all the Industry participants to get on board with a complete electronic and paperless transaction: Agents, Title, Escrow/Settlement/Closing agents, County Recorders/Registrars, Lenders, Attorney Generals, District Attorneys, Secondary Investors, MERS e-Registry, Desktop Title Lien Search and Secretaries of State. The sense of those of us that were  trying to solve ‘the pain’ in this high-liability transaction is that we needed to sit down with all these folks and get them to agree to accept these legally binding documents. As you can imagine, this was not an easy chore and has taken twice as much time than we expected.

As the Industry continues to ramp adoption it is important to understand most vendors were started by ‘technologists’ in search of an opportunity while others, solving the pain, compliance issues, garnering Industry wide certification, brought to the table extensive domain expertise, know-how and collaboration skills to have all parties to raise their hand  - “I’m In”. Welcome to the future – the all digital real estate transaction.