Habif, Arogeti & Wynne, LLP (HA&W), the largest Georgia-headquartered tax, accounting and business consulting firm, has partnered with Fidelity National Title Group (FNTG) as a preferred vendor for ALTA Best Practices compliance benchmarking and reporting services, providing CPA attestation for title agents to demonstrate to their lender clients that they are in compliance with ALTA Best Practices.
The new program is a direct result of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) mandate that lenders take full responsibility for the compliance of all third-party service providers. Now, title agents have a way to demonstrate their full compliance to their lender partners.
HA&W, through its ComplianceSuccess Program, is the first CPA in the nation to perform ALTA Best Practices compliance benchmarking, readiness and reporting services across all seven ALTA Best Practices Pillars. The program provides independent third-party assurance using CPA professional standards, which provide greater assurance to banks than a certification report. Just as banks historically have looked to CPA attestation to mitigate business risk, lenders now can be assured that independent title agents meet a certified level of compliance.
The ComplianceSuccess Program makes it easy and affordable for both large and small title agents to become compliant. Service offerings include:
- Compliance Benchmark & Remediation Plan - Assess your current level of compliance against ALTA Best Practices in less than one hour. Obtain a remediation plan with your road map to compliance in less than 10 days.
- Testing and reporting - Two levels of assurance are available. Receive either a review report that provides the base level of compliance and is ideal for small title agents with fewer than 10 employees, or an examination report that provides the highest level of compliance and is ideal for medium- to large-sized title agents.
- On-going monitoring - Keep updated on regulatory changes to ensure you stay compliant.
FNTG agents will receive a discount on all services offered by HA&W.
“Our goal is to become the trusted advisor and partner to FNTG agents for ALTA Best Practices,” said Kim McConkey, partner-in-charge of HA&W’s ComplianceSuccess Program. “ComplianceSuccess is a comprehensive program to assist title agents of all sizes at every stage of their compliance journey. We’ve structured our program so that every title agent can afford to become compliant with ALTA Best Practices."
“Federal regulators have made it clear that lenders are responsible for the compliance of third-party service providers in the closing process,” FNTG President of National Agency Operations Erika Meinhardt said. “Adopting ALTA’s Best Practices is the most effective way for our agents and our industry to demonstrate a higher level of transparency and instill greater confidence with consumers. HA&W’s ComplianceSuccess Program will provide our lender partners the assurance that FNTG agents have achieved a certified level of compliance with ALTA Best Practices.”