By Jeff Lender
During any real estate transaction, it is important that the identities of all parties involved are confirmed. If you are buying real estate, you will want to ensure the person selling the property is the actual owner so you don’t fall victim to a seller impersonation scam. If you are selling, you will want to know the person buying your property isn’t misrepresenting themselves. If you are lending money for a real estate transaction, you will want to be absolutely certain the borrower is who they say they are.
Title insurance companies can accomplish all these goals with a statement of information, and if you’re currently involved in a real estate transaction, you will likely be asked to provide one. So, how are statements of information used in the title insurance industry? What information will you be asked to provide? Will your sensitive information be protected? Read on to find the answers to these questions and more straight from the team at World Wide Land Transfer.
Simply put, a statement of information provides a title insurance company with all the data needed to verify the identity of the buyer, seller, and borrower in a real estate transaction. The information provided will be compared to any documents found during the title search that are identified with the same name as any party involved in the transaction.
That way, the title company can determine which documents apply to the involved parties and which ones can be disregarded. For example, suppose a lien was recorded against a person with the same name as the seller of the property. In that case, the information contained in the statement of information can help the title company determine if that lien will need to be resolved before the transaction can go through, or if it actually applies to a different property owned by someone with the same or similar name.
The main information you – and if you are married, your spouse – will be asked to provide in a statement of information includes:
-Full name
-Social Security number
-Birth year
-Place of birth
-Citizenship information
-Current residence
-Employment information
-Information on any previous marriages
-Date and location of your marriage
You may be asked to provide additional or more specific information if necessary, but these are the basic questions that will allow a title company to verify your identity.
If you are concerned about providing this type of information to your title insurance company, don’t be. Any information contained in the statement of information is strictly confidential and will be used only to verify your identity in relation to providing title insurance for the insured property.
How Does a Statement of Information Protect You? Because of the large amounts of money involved and the sensitive data being shared, real estate transactions are a frequent target of scammers. Verifying the identity of all parties involved is a great way to identify and prevent some common types of real estate fraud. As a lender, it’s smart to verify the identity of your borrower to ensure the information they provide is accurate. As a buyer, you will want to ensure the seller is who they say they are and that they are the actual owners of the property.
Title insurance companies in PA and other areas are on the front lines of fighting real estate fraud, and professionals in our industry are frequently able to identify fraud and forged documents during a title search. Statements of information are a great resource that allows us to do that. We can compare data like addresses, birth dates, and Social Security numbers to those found on publicly available documents to ensure they are consistent. The information provided by you and the seller can easily save you from becoming a victim of seller impersonation or other types of fraud.
Suppose you are concerned about the possibility of fraud during your next real estate transaction and you want the valuable data on your statement of information to be protected. In that case, it is crucial that you work with a trusted title insurance company. As a leader in the title insurance industry, World Wide Land Transfer has been trusted by buyers, sellers, lenders, real estate agents, and more for over 2 decades. Our team can help you find title insurance in Allentown, PA, or in other communities around the country and our diligent work during the title search process can potentially protect you from becoming a victim of fraud.
World Wide Land Transfer is a service-oriented PA title company with offices in Philadelphia, New York, and Washington, D.C. With a record of going above and beyond, we are trusted to close everything from complex commercial transactions to residential refinance and purchase transactions.
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