The American Land Title Association has graduated the first class of its new National Title Professional program amid a growing mortgage industry trend to provide more education to its workforce.
According to ALTA, the National Title Professional (NTP) designation is designed to recognize land title professionals who demonstrate the knowledge, experience, and dedication essential to the safe and efficient transfer of real property.
The designation comes at a time when the mortgage industry is working to meet the new servicing and origination requirements from the National Mortgage Settlement and the Consumer Finance Protection Bureau (CFPB). The National Title Professional (NTP) designation has several elements, including industry and compliance prerequisites and training requirements. The first group of NTPs included title agents from Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Ohio and Indiana.
Apart from the ALTA program, the Mortgage Bankers Association earlier this year joined with the Conference of State Bank Supervisors to push for a plan to create a Uniform State Test that could become required for all state-licensed mortgage loan originators. In 2008, Congress required states to license all mortgage originators — a process that includes background checks, education and testing. But states were left to establish their own systems.
The trend also is beginning to affect Notary Signing Agents, with lenders and loan servicers expecting more in terms of training and professionalism at the signing table. In a rare interview in the May edition of The National Notary, Robert A. Camerota, Sr., Chief Operating Officer of the Origination and Valuations Divisions of First American Mortgage Services, discusses these growing expectations in detail. Camerota also will be attending NNA 2013 Conference in June along with executives from nearly a dozen major lenders and title companies to speak directly to NSAs.
Michael Lewis is Managing Editor at the National Notary Association.