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