A wave of recent legislation and regulatory initiatives are focused squarely on the security of non-public personal information. Under particular scrutiny are title and settlement companies that come under the privacy mandates of the Gramm-Leach Bliley Act, Federal Trade Commission safeguards and other rules, leaving them struggling to adapt and ensure that their customer’s critical information is secure. This security is especially critical in light of the recent Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) April 2012 bulletin that re-emphasizes to the lenders that they are responsible for the compliance of their service providers. Lenders have identified data security as their No. 1 concern in connection with their service providers.

Title agents and closing attorneys are a focal point for these initiatives, as they are primarily responsible for the processing, execution, distribution and long term storage of massive amounts of sensitive information. In addition to property records, every closing typically involves handling and storing specifics on bank accounts, credit lines, tax records and other vital records, most of which are also accompanied by client signatures.

Now, two companies with expertise in real estate security are providing their shared knowledge to assist title agencies and real estate companies in protecting secure information — from the very start of the transaction, at the point of signature, and for years after the closing itself takes place.

As title companies manage critical data with every closing, Real Estate Data Shield, through its Compliance Management Platform provides industry-specific compliance solutions including: (i) written information security and related policy templates; (ii) a double award winning staff training e-courseware; and (iii) a security self-assessment tool to identify gaps in security and prepare for lender/regulator audits. The American Land Title Association’s (ALTA) certification process specifically identifies these security measures as mandatory for certification of its third pillar for best practices.

Pioneer Technology Group, through its YourDox platform, provides secure document delivery, access and storage to all parties to the transaction. One significant example is at the time of closing itself. Typically, buyers and sellers have walked away from closings with a single set paper documents that are not secure in any way — originals which contain critical personal and financial information. Now, closing agents utilizing the YourDox secure platform provide parties with password protected, encrypted document delivery and long term storage for these sensitive documents, greatly reducing the risk of loss, destruction and identity theft.

The joint initiative between the companies includes advising title agencies on how to strengthen security measures and comply with recent legislation such as the Dodd-Frank and Gramm-Leach-Bliley Acts, as well as upcoming directives from the CFPB. Title companies and agents will also receive discounted rates when combining services and products from the two companies.

“YourDox technology provides title agents and consumers with a unique solution to a critical issue facing the title industry” said Peter Johnson, vice president of Pioneer Technology Group. “By partnering with Real Estate Data Shield, we’re proud to bring title agents a simple, comprehensive solution to help ensure compliance and adherence to industry best practices. This also enables agents to satisfy new lender requirements, and most importantly, protect the consumer throughout the closing process.”

“Local title and settlement agents provide a critical service for consumers and lenders. But as an industry, we’re behind in terms of data security compliance and now that the regulators have put increasing pressure on the lenders to ensure that their service providers are in fact compliant, we can anticipate lender/regulator audits and increased requirements in new vendor agreements. Now is the time to prepare for this increase in compliance and because data security is the lender’s number one concern, if your company cannot evidence actual compliance, your lender relationships are at risk” Christopher Gulotta, founder of Real Estate Data Shield, said. “Compliance is the new marketing and has to now be a core competency that all title and settlement companies fully embrace.”