Saturday's Scheduled Sessions at ALTA Annual

October 23, 2009

The final day of the 102nd ALTA Annual Convention will open the day with four professional development sessions, followed by a general session with featured speakers incoming President Mark Winter and Doug Duncan, vice president and chief economist for Fannie Mae.

During the general session, Winter will share his vision on how the industry can seize the challenges of reform and harness benefits to make the future work for the title industry. His program for the coming year includes a “personalized” education initiative to enhance the prospects of state and federal policymakers to truly understand the important and vital role of the industry. Following Winter, Duncan, will provide an economic analysis of what’s occurred in 2009 and what to expect in 2010 and beyond.

In the professional development session titled “Using Data and Analytics to Mitigate Losses and Improve Profitability,” Carmelo Bramante, CDB Consultancy; John Jones, Arion Zoe Corp.; David E. Ewan, vice president and state counsel of New Jersey Title Insurance Co.; and William Kelvie, CEO of Overture Technologies Corp. will outline the current title business environment and the critical risks and challenges, and discuss relevant data and technology trends toward analytics solutions.

Providing details on how title agents can provide “Magnificent Customer Service,” Natalie Lancaster, of Stewart Title, will cover basic guidelines to providing exceptional customer service. “It's imperative that we remember that customer service not only includes our external customer but our customers within the company,” Lancaster said.

Robert Philo, of Title Experts and Management Services; Paul McConnell, of DeLange, Hudspeth, McConnell & Tibbets; and defense attorney Roland Love will help prepare agents for being sues and how to respond when first notified. The session will provide practical answers from real cases.

Silvia Rojas, with Attorneys’ Title Fund Services, will discuss “Toxic Asset Cleanup: Avoiding Criminal Contagion in Mortgage Rescues & Modifications.” According to Rojas, as a result of the current housing crisis, the volume of mortgagors late in their mortgage payments has risen substantially.

In order to keep the mortgagors in their homes or at least salvaging their credit rating and to avoid the problems associated with foreclosures, maintaining and placing the properties for sale, many lenders are working with the defaulting mortgagors or their representatives to modify mortgages, refinance loans, or conveying mortgaged properties at a discount. Foreclosure rescues have spawned new and creative ways to modify or refinance mortgages and/or to convey properties at a discount so that the lender is paid at least a portion of the monies owed. Due to the possibility of fraud and to protect both the mortgagor and mortgagee, federal and state governments have passed new laws or creatively used older laws to criminalize questionable activities of lenders, mortgage brokers, mortgagors, title agents, attorneys, rescue consultants and others involved in foreclosure rescues. This seminar will provide information on some of the federal and state investigative agencies, laws, and court cases relating to fraud associated with foreclosure rescues and mortgage modifications so that the closing agent becomes aware and can avoid circumstances that could lead to a criminal investigation.


Contact ALTA at 202-296-3671 or communications@alta.org.