ARS UPDATES: COVID-19 (Coronavirus)

The safety and wellbeing of our people and those we work with is of the utmost importance. With the recent spreading of COVID-19/Coronavirus, guidelines and recommendations are changing from day to day. We have taken steps to implement our continuity plan and how we are communicating with our partners to help ease the concerns we all face.

Below are the updates as we all adapt.

  • 03-25-2020 – How notaries are adapting to COVID-2019 – Worried about conducting your closings in a safe and germ-free environment? We can help. Effective immediately, The Closing Exchange offers a Curbside Closing™ to keep our customers and their clients safe during the COVID-19 pandemic. Click here for details: CXC_Curbside_Closing_Flyer_V4
  • 03-19-2020 – County Office Closures and how they affect transactions.
    • A title update and the recording of documents are required to close a transaction.  Not all counties offer online e-recording and/or online recorded documents.
    • If a title update cannot be performed due to courthouse/county closures and there is no online access the transaction falls in Category 3.
    • As the status of each county is rapidly changing it is not possible to predict if your file will be affected or not.  Each transaction is case by case and will fall into one of these three categories.
    • Please contact your settlement officer for guidance & check with your lender for guideline updates.

  • 03-18-2020 County & Recording Status: Updates from ALTA and Simplifile
  • 03-17-2020 Notary Policy: Effective immediately we will be  scheduling all closings through signing service agencies.  If you have an independent notary that you wish to use, please direct them to an approved signing agency who can then request them for the closing. This is for the protection of the borrower, the notary and for any other involved parties during the COVID-19/Coronavirus outbreak. This protocol allows us to have more safeguards in place and accountability for all to ensure that our required measure are being met.
  • 03-13-2020  Protocol for FedEx

With our focus being solely on our seniors,  we contacted our approved notary panel/servicers to pass along our expectations as they enter the borrower’s homes.

ARS offices remain open with no current concerns of our ability to maintain service levels and expectations. Throughout the years we have built our company to have processes and safeguards in place to allow us to operate at full capacity when the need arises. Our technology ensures we can securely access our networks remotely with the full capabilities needed to provide our business partners the same great service you’ve come to expect. Should the situation become severe Allegiant Reverse Services and FNC Title Services, LLC are prepared to operate remotely without business interruption while maintaining clean desk policy and full privacy protections.

Over 10,000 Closings in 2019!

 

If the theory is true that it takes 10,000 hours of deliberate practice  to become world class … then we checked that box again for 2019. 

For the third year in a row we successfully closed over 10,000 reverse mortgage transactions. The number of hours put into each closing are far too many to track, easily soaring past 6 figures.  Each and every hour was needed to ensure they received the quality they deserved.

Thank you for your confidence in us. We appreciate your trust.

 

Sincerely,

Rob Awalt

Founder & President

 

The Benefits of Using Our Online Order Source System

ARS grants access to our online system for your convenience.  Order Source is available to you 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.  You have full control to place new orders, track existing files, send vital notes, securely upload documents and much more.  Accelerate the order process as our system automatically assigns an escrow number and notifies our Client Solutions department and your settlement team.

Security is our top priority and we always encourage to upload documents via Order Source.  At the point of entering your new transaction you will have the opportunity to send as many notes as necessary to your Settlement Team and attach all important documents,  keeping the Non-Public Information (NPI) safe.   Reduce the problems that come with email like size attachment limitation, email outages, delays, etc.   It permits you to centralize your interaction and processing through one protected portal.

Communication is key and Order Source lets you select the contacts for each transaction so no one is left in the dark.  Even after a file has closed, your Post Closing team will have the ability to download any approved documents anytime.

Order Source’s benefits are your to enjoy from start to finish and beyond.

Request access to Order Source by emailing Solutions@AllegiantReverse.com.

ALERT: Changes in New York

A new law will go into effect on March 5, 2020 in New York. It will require that a borrower on a HECM Reverse have their attorney present at the closing. Here are some links that your borrower’s may find helpful in the event they do not currently have an attorney.
New York State Bar Assoc.

How to Request State Guidelines

Request copies of the ARS State Guidelines and other educational flyers through the Allegiant Reverse Services website. Follow the steps below to learn how to request state guidelines and other documents from our growing library.

  1. Go to AllegiantReverse.com.
  2. Select Contact > Documents, Flyer & Forms at the top of your screen.
  3. Follow the prompts and select the flyers you would like to receive. 
  4. Continue down the screen and fill in the requested contact information.
  5. Once completed select Submit at the bottom of the screen. 
  6. A member of the ARS Solutions Team will respond within 24 hours with the requested documents.

March Webinars

Ins and Out of Title and Settlement in Texas

Wednesday, March 11,  2020- 10:00am PST/1:00pm EST 

Join us for a webinar dedicated to walking you through a Texas closing from start to finish, with an emphasis on Texas guidelines. We will review vesting tips and hits, required forms and documents, state specific fees, trusts and so much more.

Click here to register.

 

Introduction to Powers of Attorney

Wednesday, March 18,  2020 – 10:00am PST/1:00pm EST 

Please join us for our upcoming webinar entitled: Introduction to Powers of Attorney (POA). Reverse mortgages are complex and being prepared is key to a successful closing. Powers of Attorney are very common in the Reverse Mortgage industry. We are happy to share our experience and knowledge with you and together we can make the borrower’s experience a pleasant one.

Click here to register.

Technology Tip: Clearing Cache & Cookies

Unknown website errors can be common if you haven’t recently cleared the cache and cookies from your browser. We recommend starting with this action to see if the website issue resolves. Email Solutions@AllegiantReverse.com if the issue persists. Follow the steps below for how to clear cache and cookies from a Google Chrome browser.

  1. Click the three dots in the top right corner of the window page.

 

 

  1. Click History and then History

 

 

 

  1. Select Clear Browsing Data.

 

 

  1. Unclick Browsing History and select Clear Data.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

5. When finished, close your browser and try again.

 

Download the PDF below for future reference.

How to Clear Cache and Cookies

REiSource/ListSource Searches in California

Due to changes in the California Consumer Privacy Act the age filter is no longer an option when customizing a marketing list in ListSource. Click here to read the Assembly Bill No. 375. Even though these updates cause some difficulty for the user, there are still a number of filters available to help you target your demographic. 

CA Special Alert: Potential Fraud and Phishing Attempt

NATIC released the following alert on January 28, 2020 advising to be aware of potential fraud and phishing schemes. Read below or download the PDF at the bottom of the post.

NATIC has been advised of a potential fraud and phishing scheme involving attempts to impersonate Patrick L. Henry (Patric or Patrick Henry) who is affiliated with Real Estate Investors Network, which is an owner of multi-family properties in California. The alleged fraud involves targeted emails with an incorrect URL that are allegedly from OS National Title Agency (OSN), and specifically Patrick L. Henry. The correct URL for OSN is osnational.com, while the falsified URL includes an additional letter “s” as follows: osnationals.com.

Should you receive a similar email originating from Patrick L. Henry, Real Estate Investor Network, or OSN, do not open the email. Instead, work with your agency’s technical support team to quarantine this email and increase the protections in place to ward off these threats.
Additionally, please notify your NATIC California underwriting counsel via email, CAunderwriting@natic.com, regarding any such potentially fraudulent activity.

NATIC Alert – Fraud and Phishing Attempt

Upgrade Needed for TitleFlex Users

Effective January 3, 2020 the TitleFlex application was updated to comply with the latest TLS internet security protocol. TLS (transport layer security) allows computers to communicate over the internet securely without the transmissions being vulnerable to hackers. There are several know weaknesses in TLS 1.0, the current protocol, and as a results over the last year the computer services industry including most application providers have already moved or prepared for a 2020 move to the improved TLS version 1.2.

How will you be impacted?

If you are using an older, unsupported version of any of the browsers below your TitleFlex application will no longer function beginning January 3rd. TLS 1.2 is not compatible with many older browsers. Depending on the version of browser installed on your system you may need to update to the latest version. If you are already using the supported browser no action is required.

Click here For help understanding how to check your internet browser version and to review the official TitleFlex notice.