Federal Government Deems Title Insurance Too Costly

During the latter part of 2007, the United States Government – through the Accountability Office – spent a great deal of time and energy examining the title insurance industry. Unfortunately, with this close examination was completed, the government determined without a doubt that the title insurance industry had serious problems and defects that were effecting consumers in a negative manner. Most particularly, this in depth governmental examination revealed that the cost of title insurance premiums were far higher than the needed to be in this day and age.

In issuing its important report, the U.S. Government Accountability Office made four specific and very troublesome findings about the title insurance industry:

• There isn’t much competition in the business, suggesting that prices could be too high.

• Local title agents keep up to 90 percent of the premiums paid by homebuyers and refinancers at closing and only about 5 percent is paid out in claims.

• Besides charging what appears to be an inflated amount for the title insurance, many title agents also tack on extra charges for research fees, analysis and a variety of administrative charges.

• Affiliated business arrangements lock out lower-cost competitors and provide incentive for real estate practitioners to steer customers to title companies in which they have a financial stake.

Even though the results of this particular study and report can be considered grim, consumers are not helpless when it comes to title insurance in this day and age. Consumers simply do not have to accept the status quo.

The first step that consumers can take to protect themselves against bad deals and related problems when it comes to title insurance is to educated themselves. In this regard, consumers should make use of a website like http://freetitlequote.com/, a website which provides a vast array of useful resources when it comes to the area of title insurance.

Second, consumers need to take the time to shop around for different premium quotes from different title insurance companies. Long gone are the days when consumers can simply and intelligently accept recommendations from individuals that are involved in a particular real estate transaction. The fact is that real estate agents, real estate brokers, mortgage lenders and mortgage brokers oftentimes have a clearly vested interest in recommending a particular title insurance company. And, that vested interest has nothing to do with the best interests of the consumer in need of title insurance.

With this in mind, a consumer can also utilize the resources at http://freetitlequote.com/ to obtain up to five quotes from different title insurance companies. Moreover, obtaining these quotes will take only a matter of minutes.

Third, when it comes to ensuring that a consumer really does get the best deal on the costs associated with title insurance, it is crucial that the consumer begin looking at different title insurance company and policy options very early on. This is not something that can be rushed and saved for the last minute if a consumer really is intent on getting the best deal when it comes to title insurance.