Throughout the rulemaking process, thousands of ALTA members expressed their concerns that HUD's draft rule for RESPA would not help the consumer as intended and would harm small businesses in an already hurting real estate market. More than 240 Members of Congress shared similar concerns and were ready to lend a hand to homebuyers in this process through the letters they sent to HUD and Congressional hearings that were held.

The new settlement sheet looks exactly the same except for an extra page that compares the numbers from the Good Faith Estimate to the actual charges. The new sheets will be required after January 1, 2010.

The next version of Title Innovations will include the new forms. There will be a new screen for Good Faith Estimate information and an extra page will print at the end.

To view the new Settlement Sheet go to http://www.alphaadv.net/ti/newhud1.pdf

HUD originally proposed that settlement agents read a closing script at the closing table and that a copy be provided to borrowers. HUD ultimately discarded the script in favor of a new page on the settlement sheet that allows consumers to easily compare their final loan terms and closing costs with those listed on their Good Faith Estimate.

Most industry commenters said HUD's proposed four-page GFE was too long. HUD shortened the GFE form to three pages including an instructional page to help borrowers understand their loan offer. To facilitate comparison between the HUD-1 and the GFE, each designated line on the final settlement sheet will now include a reference to the relevant line from the GFE.

• HUD will require lender payments to mortgage brokers (often called Yield Spread Premiums) to be disclosed in a more meaningful way. These payments are directly dependent on the interest rates that consumers agree to. To ensure that HUD's new requirement will not create a consumer bias against brokers, the Department did rigorous consumer testing and found the new Good Faith Estimate helped consumers to select the lowest cost loan nine-out-of-10 times, regardless of whether the loan was originated by a lender or a broker.

• Loan originators will be required to provide borrowers their Good Faith Estimate three days after the loan originator's receipt of all necessary information. To facilitate shopping, loan originators could not require verification of GFE information (tax returns etc.) until after the applicant makes the decision to proceed.

• HUD will allow lenders and settlement service providers to correct potential violations of RESPA's new disclosure and tolerance requirements. Lenders and settlement service providers will now have 30 days from the date of closing to correct errors or violations and repay consumers any overcharges.

To view the new Good Faith Estimate go to http://www.alphaadv.net/ti/newgfe.pdf

Fidelity National Financial Inc. will acquire rival LandAmerica for about $125 million in stock in a deal it claims would reduce the combined debt of the two companies by $250 million and create a title insurance giant controlling nearly half of the market. The all-stock deal is valued at about $125 million, in which LandAmerica shareholders will receive 0.993 shares of Fidelity National stock, according to a joint statement by the firms.

The merger of the two rival companies will create the country's largest title insurance agency, giving the combined company about half of the total market share. In 2007, the two firms together owned approximately 46 percent of the title insurance market.

"We are very excited to join forces with LandAmerica," said Fidelity National's chairman, William P. Foley II. "We are confident that the combination of our two companies will create the strongest and most financially sound title insurer in the country, with an unrivaled geographic and commercial footprint." Foley said that based on preliminary estimates, Fidelity will realize at least $150 million in operational cost synergies from the combined operations of the two companies.

The news comes amid speculation that LandAmerica was teetering on the verge of bankruptcy. Following the announcement of its deal with Fidelity, LandAmerica reported a third quarter loss of $600 million, or $39.45 per share.

The new policies contain gap coverage for the time period from settlement to recording for both the owner's and loan policies. Accordingly the policy date should be the settlement date and not the recording date as before.

Title Innovations™ as of the October 17, 2007 update adjusts the policy dates on the policy window.

Policy forms need field names to be adjusted if your menu does not show a date after October 17, 2007.

Forms that are locked need to be un-locked before changes and then locked after the changes.

TIRBOP has approved two new endorsements:

    1300 (ALTA Endorsement 21-06) Creditors' Rights for Loan Policies
    1301 (ALTA Endorsement 21-06) Creditors' Rights for Owner's Policies

These are errors found in the Pennsylvania rate tables. They can be changed from rates setup or I can send a rate table to be imported.

90% Reissue
   45,000 -   100,000      428.3       ->      428.2875      1.25  cents low
  100,000 -   500,000      695.6       ->      695.5875      1.25  cents low
  500,000 - 1,000,000    2,315.2575    ->    2,315.5875     53     cents low
1,000,000 - 2,000,000    3,834.24875   ->    3,834.3375      8.875 cents low
2,000,000 - 7,000,000    6,061.84875   ->    6,061.8375      1.125 cents high
7,000,000 +             15,061.85      ->   15,061.8375      1.125 cents high

60% Reissue
  500,000 - 1,000,000    1,543.73      ->    1,543.725       0.5   cents high
1,000,000 - 2,000,000    2,556.23      ->    2,556.225       0.5   cents high
7,000,000 +             10,041.22      ->   10,041.225       0.5   cents low

50% Reissue
7,000,000 +              8,367.69      ->    8,367.6875      1.25  cents high

90% Approved Attorney
30,000.01 - 100,000          2.925 $ per thousand  112.5 base rate  new line needs to be added

60% Approved Attorney
1,000,000 - 2,000,000        0.75      ->        1.35
2,000,000 - 7,000,000    2,317.5       ->    2,917.5       600 dollars low
7,000,000 +              9,317.5       ->    9,917.5       600 dollars low