ALTA Unveils Assessment Readiness Guide

July 10, 2014

With guidance from its Best Practices Task Force, ALTA has developed an Assessment Readiness Guide to help members determine if they are prepared to undergo an assessment to determine compliance with ALTA’s “Title Insurance and Settlement Company Best Practices.” The Assessment Readiness Guide is available exclusively to ALTA members. The first guide released today is for pillar No. 1 of the Best Practices, which addresses establishing and maintaining the required licenses to conduct business.

A separate guide should be completed for each licensed entity a company owns.

“ALTA members are encouraged to use this Assessment Readiness Guide to internally assess how their practices and procedures match up to the Best Practices,” said Frank Pellegrini, ALTA past president and chair of the Best Practices Task Force. “We believe the guide will be a helpful tool as ALTA members evaluate their company’s practices and procedures and strive to implement practices that will help them succeed in the market place."

The first page of the guide asks for basic company information, including whether your company uses any third party for services, such as title plants, search companies and notaries. The Assessment Readiness Guide is comprised of a series of questions corresponding to the Best Practices. Questions related to each pillar of the ALTA Best Practices are contained in separate sections. Along with the questions, the guide includes suggested testing and reviews for a company to conduct to help verify whether an operation follows the Best Practices.

In addition to the Assessment Readiness Guides, ALTA is working with lenders to develop a standard format to communicate compliance. This will be a tool ALTA members can use to respond to lender questionnaires or other inquiries. Additional resources on ALTA’s Best Practices are available at www.alta.org/bestpractices. Questions about the Assessment Readiness Guide may be sent to bestpractices@alta.org.


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