Recently, NYSLTA offered CE webinars on the regulations that control title agents and the security standards required by the federal and state government.

There are many resources for title agents to acquire the information necessary for compliance. (Such as this very web site you are visiting right now.)

There may be no better place to start than the FAQ page of the DFS.

http://www.dfs.ny.gov/insurance/agbrok/title_licfaqs.htm

The Honorable Maureen O'Connell, Nassau County Clerk has informed us:

"... the Clerk's online database via US Land Records now gives access to uncertified images of all land documents in our database, free of charge.  This should alleviate stress and overcrowding in our search area

... Not only can a computer in an office or home now search for everything in the County Clerk land database, but the cost for doing so would be identical as doing the search in the Clerk’s office....

Also, ...  please include a reminder about the Assessment TMV letter not necessarily having an SBL that is consistent with the official County Clerk SBL.  This inconsistency is leading to submitters changing the SBL on instruments to match the Assessment letter (not the County Clerks) and creates rejections before the submission even reaches our internal system."

Signed-in Members can view the agenda for the March EC meeting on the Executive Committee page of this site.

Select COMMITTEES from the top navigation and click EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE from the drop down.

Approved minutes of past meetings can be viewed in the archive library, also on the EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE page.

CFPB corrected a typo (hey, these things happen) in the TILA-RESPA Integrated Disclosure Rule.

See it here - https://federalregister.gov/a/2016-02630

The CFPB Regulatory Implementation Team said, " Today we published a notice in the Federal Register to correct a typo regarding tolerances for property taxes and certain other property-related costs that was found in the “Supplementary Information” to the TILA-RESPA Integrated Disclosure rule."

A Member inquired about the US Treasury's jurisdiction over NY State licensed title agents.

This question may have occurred to you, as well.

Here is the response as issued by ALTA:

FinCEN’s authority comes from the Currency and Financial Transactions Reporting Act of 1970, as amended by Title III of the USA PATRIOT Act of 2001 and other legislation. This legislative framework is commonly referred to as the "Bank Secrecy Act" (BSA).

The Bank Secrecy Act (BSA) is the primary U.S. anti-money laundering (AML) law and tool for detecting, deterring and disrupting terrorist financing networks. The BSA authorizes the Secretary of the Treasury to issue regulations requiring banks and other financial institutions to take a number of precautions against financial crime, including the establishment of anti money laundering programs and the filing of reports that have been determined to have a high degree of usefulness in criminal, tax, and regulatory investigations and proceedings, and certain intelligence and counter-terrorism matters. See 31 U.S.C. 310 .

Information necessary for completing a form 8300, Suspicious Activity Report or other Bank Secrecy Act reporting requirement cannot be withheld from the government due to attorney-client privilege. See United States v. Goldberger & Dublin, P.C., 935 F.2d 501 (2nd Cir. 1991), holding that absent special circumstances, attorneys were required to disclose client information on Forms 8300. See also United States v. Leventhal, 961 F.2d 936 (11th Cir. 1992) state bar ethical rules do not constitute a “special circumstance” that would protect this clients names and fee arrangements from disclosure.