Preventing home title fraud

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
1

This latest scam is to used forged documents to file a title to your home and then use it to sell your house out from under you or take out a loan using it as collateral. It’s insidious because you don’t know it happened until it’s too late

I found out my county clerk (I’m in NY) has a service to prevent this. You give them your name and email. If anyone files a document in your name, you get an email alert

I’ve learned it’s also available in New Hampshire. You might want to contact your county clerk to see if they offer it.

2

What’s this service called (so I can ask the clerk for it by name)?

3

Check online (or phone) for your county under “Property Fraud Alert”.

4

I’ve heard of this, but don’t understand why such a sale is my loss. If someone fraudulently sells my house, or obtains a loan, it seems the party being defrauded is the purchaser or the lender. All I have to do is show my title and compare signatures, and a court should declare the sale or loan void.

Why is this my problem?

5

Because they get a notary in on it to make “your signature” a legal fact.

6

I put a freeze on my credit which should stop the loan in my name part.

7

Which “fact” is easily disproven by comparing signatures.

8

Even if it’s a cut and dried as you make it out to be, getting a court to do a quiet claim is probably going to run you $1-5k in expenses. And that’s best case, where the signature/documentation on the fraud is laughably fake. More likely, it’s just plausible enough that the loan company is going to pursue you in an effort to recover their money, because otherwise it’s a total loss. And while the title is in dispute, you’re going to have more credit issues, possible liens, and the like.

I mean, I’m in the middle of something less insidious but just as troublesome right now. I refinanced in 2003 with the same company, and despite having documentation of the refi, they DIDN’T document the release of the first when they opened the second. And that company voluntarily dissolved in 2007 after the housing loan bubble went up in flames. It made getting a HELOC for some home repairs/improvements (new electrical and roof) far more complicated than it should have been, and the main issue isn’t going to get resolved until I pay the $$$ for a lawyer to review the docs and get the county to clear it.

9

They would take one look at my toilet and give it back.

10

Thank you

11

They can take out a loan or second mortgage, using your home as collateral, then don’t pay it. The bank will go after you for the money and can foreclose on the property. Your credit score would be in the toilet.

You could fight it, but it could take ages and will cost you.

12

True, but you still need to waste time, money and energy to prove it.

13

Maybe - but it’s not like you can walk into a court tomorrow by yourself, show the judge the documents and it’s all fixed. You’ll have to get a lawyer and deal with the banks , etc for however long it takes to get the case in front of a judge. And you’ll also have to deal with the consequences of the impact on your credit score such as being unable to obtain loans.

14

I just did this and it for California, it happens not to be by County. It’s done through California Department of Real Estate. I am still trying to navigate their website to figure out how.

15

Very cool! I just registered with my county for free for this service. Thanks!

16

Georgia has a state-wide system called FANS that apparently lets you set up the notification criteria and receive an email if a “hit” occurs.

17

Then the law needs to be changed. This is bank fraud, not homeowner fraud. Homeowners should be indemnified against any consequences by default. Let the banks spend their time and money to prove otherwise.

18

You have a good point, but maybe take it to a new thread?
You seem to be taking a good informational thread into a hijack.

If you are responding to something in a thread that is basically off-topic or likely to lead to a hijack, try this:

How to Reply as a linked Topic:

Click Reply, in the upper left corner of the reply window is the reply type button, looks like a curving arrow point to the right.

Choose Reply as linked topic and it starts a new thread. As an example, you can choose GD, IMHO or The Pit for it.

That is actually the best method.

19

So, anyone have a cite about just how often this actually happens? Is it an epidemic, or something which happens a few times in a given state each year?

Edit: the linked article from RC above shows 9,500 complains nation-wide.

20

My county doesn’t offer it yet, although other nearby counties do. Googling brings up a link for https://www.propertyfraudalert.com/ , where anyone can register, but I have no idea if it’s legit or spammy, so I’ll pass for now.