The Benefits of E-Recording

In 2018, the U.S. Treasury offered several recommendations to improve the electronic closing and recording process. Among them, the Treasury said that recording jurisdictions that don’t recognize and accept electronic records should implement the necessary technology updates to process and record these documents and pursue digitization of existing property records

In drafting the report, Treasury consulted many stakeholders—including ALTA leadership—focused on consumer financial data aggregation, lending, payments, credit servicing, financial technology and innovation. The Treasury said its recommendations should enable U.S. firms to more rapidly adopt competitive technologies, safeguard consumer data and operate with greater regulatory efficiency.

There are many reasons why title and settlement companies should consider e-recording, including:

• Speed, same-day recording:
• Lowers costs
• Lower chance of document loss
• Security, document integrity, encryption, secure network and less fraud
• Faster problem resolution
• No fee rejections
• Streamlined payment
• Improved customer service
• Regulatory and lender compliance
• ALTA Best Practices Pillar No. 4
• Eco-friendly

Here’s a look at the operational processes and the time that can be saved by e-recording versus paper when recording:

There are also benefits on the county side as well, including:

• Faster processing and turnaround time
• No need to scan documents
• Documents remain pristine
• Less mail, fewer paper cuts
• Incorrect fee rejections eliminated
•  Quicker rejection resolution
• Document control/tracking
• Lowers document loss
• Reduced cost on postage
• Better customer service

“It can reduce steps by county recorders from 14 to about seven or eight,” said Bob Grohol of E-recording Partners Network.