Dear Associates:
The Title Insurance Rating Bureau of Pennsylvania (“TIRBOP”) submitted to the Pennsylvania Insurance Department a proposal to increase the charge for the issuance of a Closing Service Letter from $75.00 to $125.00. This proposed increase was approved by the Pennsylvania Insurance Department effective September 1, 2014. In accordance therewith, Section 3.5 of the TIRBOP Rate Manual has been revised to read as follows:
“3.5 CLOSING SERVICE LETTER - TRANSACTION SPECIFIC
This letter, which is limited to a specific transaction, when requested provides (i) a lender secured by a mortgage of an interest in land, its assignees or a warehouse lender, (ii) a purchaser of an interest in land, or (iii) a lessee of an interest in land with certain protection against fraud, misapplication of funds or failure to follow written closing instructions by the Agent or Approved Attorney, subject to the provisions contained herein. The Charge for the issuance of the letter(s) shall be $125.00 per transaction, regardless of the number of letters issued for a specific transaction. The Charge shall be remitted in its entirety to the Insurer (which for purposes of this Section does not include Agent or Approved Attorney). (See Supplemental Form Closing Service Letter - TIRBOP PA CSL (09/14/09))”
Therefore, as of September 1, 2014, please be certain that you are charging $125.00 for any Closing Service Letter that is issued.
Closing Protection Coverage documents may be issued ONLY by use of the Stewart ICL Website: https://www.stewarticl.com. Closing Protection Coverage documents may not be (1) modified, (2) prepared by an Issuing Agent on its Letterhead or in any other format, or (3) typed, computer generated, or signed by an Issuing Agent.
The Stewart ICL Website has the most recent Closing Protection Coverage documents approved for issuance and maintains a record of the Closing Protection Coverage documents issued.
The Stewart ICL Website generates the Closing Protection Coverage documents only for current authorized Issuing Agents (or Approved Attorneys, where allowed and customary). The Closing Protection Coverage document is generated in HTML format, which is to be printed and then sent to the requesting lender.
The Rate Manual is available under the “Forms and Policy Information” index on our website: http://www.stewart.com/pennsylvania.
Agents using Aim for Windows (AFW) or Aim for Windows Plus (AFW+) should contact PropertyInfo Customer Care to have the changes and new rate(s) implemented into the AFW or AFW+ system.
If you have any questions relating to this or other bulletins, please contact a Stewart Title Guaranty Company underwriter.
For on-line viewing of this and other bulletins, please log onto www.vuwriter.com.