Multi-State Study Manual for Closing Agents

SKU: MSM-CA
Avail: 3 Days
Mfg: National Title Insurance Academy

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The inspiration for this manual came from the enormous success of our most popular jobskills training manual, Closing Concepts: A Title Training Manual for Settlement/Escrow Professionals coupled with more than 20 years of teaching industry prelicensing courses. Most state exams for title agent licensure touch lightly, if at all, on the settlement/escrow side of the industry. Following more than a decade of unparalleled levels of fraud — mortgage fraud, securities fraud, foreclosure fraud, foreclosure-rescue fraud, and short-sale fraud — state regulators and industry professionals are awakening to the fact that those who work as closing and escrow agents are our last line of defense in preventing future fraud and forgery.

Originally written as a self-study course, the textbook translates easily to the classroom. The author, Karen Koogler, began teaching a 16-Hour Course from this textbook in August 2012, and will open up the course to a national audience in 2014, by expanding classroom offerings to title insurers, state land title associations and others who want to sponsor the course in their state. Plans are already in place to create a 16-Hour Online Course which we hope to complete by Fall/Winter 2014.

The accompanying single-load Interactive CD for Closing Agents [located inside the back cover of the Study Manual] provides links to state regulators and online statutes, as well as a 47-page industry glossary. The CD also provides an interactive test component that delivers unlimited multi-topic simulated exams. The test component may be set to flashcard mode, enabling test-takers to concentrate on improving their knowledge, one topic at a time.

Written by Karen Koogler, the nation’s leading author of comprehensive title insurance textbooks and study materials, this study manual adds to her series of licensing and certification textbooks. In addition to assisting those independently studying for exams, the Study Manual and Interactive CD provides a meaningful educational foundation for the following:

Formal Prelicensing Programs
Industry Certification Programs
State Title Association CE/CLE Programs
Insurer Pre-Appointment Testing for Newly Licensed Agents
Agency New Hire Testing
Internal Employee Training Programs
Regulator Training for Industry Investigators

Optional Secured Protocol Online Exam

Due to the federal [CFPB] regulatory emphasis on ensuring that all “service providers” [which includes title (closing) agents] are fully trained on federal regulations and risk management protocols, The Koogler Group offers an optional 100 question multi-topic multiple-choice secured protocol online exam delivered via our Training Portal. An important feature of the online exam is that it is proctored by The Koogler Group, as a third-party, thereby alleviating regulatory concern of employers falsifying test results to pass a regulatory audit. In addition, we maintain all exams by test-taker name and, upon written permission from the test-taker, will release the results to those who may request same as part of a vetting or audit process.

Study Manual Covered Topics

The Multi-State Study Manual for Closing Agents contains 640 pages of text and includes 697 sample test questions as well as a single-load CD with Interactive Test Component. The CD contains links to state regulators and online statutes as well as a comprehensive 47-page Industry Glossary. The Study Manual contains over 100 pages of sample forms and audit checklists, and provides indepth, certification-level instruction on the following topics:

INTRODUCTION
STATE REGULATION OF THE TITLE INDUSTRY
THE GAO REPORT
RESPA
AFFILIATED BUSINESS ARRANGEMENTS
HUD SOP 1996-4 // INSURER-AGENT REMUNERATION PRACTICES
GRAMM-LEACH-BLILEY ACT
OTHER REGULATORY ISSUES
MORTGAGE FRAUD AND FIDUCIARY DUTY
ESCROW ACCOUNTABILITY
RISK MANAGEMENT
TITLE INSURANCE COMMITMENT
OWNERS TITLE POLICY
LOAN TITLE POLICY
SOURCES OF TITLE
LIENS AND ENCUMBRANCES
THE SETTLEMENT PROCESS
HUD-1 SETTLEMENT STATEMENT
HUD-1 LINE ITEM REVIEW
U.S. FALSE CLAIMS ACT
UNAUTHORIZED PRACTICE OF LAW [UPL]
CLOSING COMPLIANCE ISSUES
REAL ESTATE CONTRACTS
LOAN CLOSING INSTRUCTIONS
OPENING THE FILE
PROCESSING THE FILE
SETTLEMENT STATEMENT BASICS
CLOSING THE FILE
POST-CLOSING THE FILE
INDUSTRY GLOSSARY
PARTING THOUGHTS