Consumer Alert
Home title lock insurance? Not a lock at all
If you’ve seen ads for home title lock insurance, they might have you worried. After all, the ads say thieves can steal the title to your home. But then the ads tell you to buy title lock insurance to supposedly prevent home title theft. Stop. Take a breath. It’s just a ploy to scare you.
First, know that “title lock insurance” is not title insurance. If you’re a homeowner, you might remember buying title insurance when you first bought your house. It protects you against challenges to the title, like a lien you didn’t know about. But “title lock insurance” is different — and it’s not insurance at all. Instead, it’s a service that claims to monitor your deed to protect you against title fraud. You’d only find out AFTER your title got transferred to someone else without your authorization. So much for the lock.
Title fraud is identity theft: someone pretends to be you and transfers your deed to someone else. Title lock insurance (again: not a lock, not insurance) wouldn’t stop that. And you can check your title for free with your state’s land records office, and some areas even have a free notification program that allows you to sign up for alerts about any legal changes, like ownership of a property.
Here are some other steps you can take to protect yourself from identity thieves:
- Check your credit report. Check your credit report for free through AnnualCreditReport.com. Each of the nationwide credit bureaus lets you get free weekly credit reports online.
- Monitor your bills. If you suddenly stop receiving utility bills, that may be a sign of identity theft. If you’re worried, contact your utility company directly.
- Get help. If you suspect identity theft, go to IdentityTheft.gov for a free, personalized recovery plan.
And if you spot a scam, tell the FTC.
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I keep getting messages that my information is on the dark web. What should I do. I've already changed my debit card twice this year. I went to SSA and put a code on my social security number. I lock all my credit cards until I'm ready to use them. What else can I do?
those commercials had my wife in a panic. spoke to 4 real estate lawyers , they all said they never heard of one case of this issue. i have my credit frozen , thats the best protection you cab get, and it free
Thank you. I was worried ! I pay for all the fraud protection and I'm not sure it helps much either.
In late 2023 I read an article about title identity theft and was very concerned. I approached a local company offering “title lock insurance” but wasn’t convinced that it really worked. Fortunately, I reached out to my “Manatee County Clerk of Circuit Court & Property Alerts” and discovered they offered a service whereby I would be notified if anything is filed related to my name, address, title, etc. It only required that I establish a “Property Alert Setup” with their organization. Within a month, I received a notification of a person with the same name but was not related in any way to my property.
In reply to In late 2023 I read an… by Michael Wolfe
So what did you do then? The County service only notifies you AFTER the fact, correct? So how is this really all that helpful, it sounds like you would still have major problems to deal with unless they actually stop the paperwork/forms from being filed, which a simple notification will not do. Am I missing something?
Thank you for the Title Lock report - the ads had me worried.
I appreciate you advising us - good work.
As someone who actually works in the State Land Records Office, we don't check people's titles, but we can direct them to the FREE service available in most counties in the state where people can sign up to be similarly notified if anything is filed in their name.
Thanks for this timely message.
Wow! I've been telling all of my home owner friends to get this after what happened to Graceland. They almost got away with it. What good does it do if it's after the fact? That's what they claim to avoid happening. Makes no sense and I'm sure it's not cheap. All states won't have ways to alert you and most people wouldn't pay this much attention to anything, as suggested in your article, because unfortunately people are lazy and want someone else to do the work for them. Arming themselves with knowledge is not even on their minds. Laziness and carelessness brought us identity theft. I know too many people that don't take care of their info and do whatever. The problem is people don't pay attention anymore to anything. That's why identity thieves exist. Easy prey. I'm more cautious thankfully and will remain so. But now if I buy I have to find a better way to protect my home title? Gees....
GREAT information; Thank you for these informational reports; it is great to be an informed citizen.
This might be of some help to take the worry away our Lee County Florida has documents alerts that tells you someone is trying to transfer or record any kind of change to your home or land it's a free service just sign up at your county tax collector and deed document records office if something is to be changed both parties must show in person with proper identification or police and sheriff will investigate the issue several criminals have been busted already in the last few years hope the entire united states goes to this policy it will combat fraudulent fraudsters put them away for good
How is it legally possible for the title theft to happen in the first place. There can be no rational reason for a US citizen being able to lose their life long work to a thief without legal culpability of the transferring entity and financial responsibility. I have never been able to understand this situation since I first heard of it. Our government allowing this situation to remain possible is a national travesty. Please forward this to Senators Scott and Rubio and Rep. Webster
What action will the FTC take against a business they identify in this article as using deceptive practices; Title lock insurance (again: not a lock, not insurance)?
If you sign up for Identity protection will this be a better option in cases of property theft?
these companies are scammers them selves
I get Real Estate Tax bills from the city four times per year. That tells me every three months that my house is still in my name!
In reply to I get Real Estate Tax bills… by Jack McGhee
Note that in most municipalities in New York tax bills are issued by the assessor's office which is typically separate from the document recording department. When a deed is recorded reflecting consideration the recording department notifies the assessor of that change in ownership for future tax bills. But for some reason when a deed has no consideration, many assessor's offices are not notified so the tax bill won't reflect the change and the theft can go undetected.
Great information. I was considering purchasing Title insurance based on the Life Lock commercials.
Thank you so very, very much!!!
Thank you. I was just about to buy Home Title Lock. Good reporting.
Thank You for this info. Everyone wants you to buy insurance for Everything and 99.9% are scammers !
Insurance is a legalized fraudulent "business" forced on all of us by the politicians we vote for. Folks sign off their contracts without studying line by line their "legal" fine prints which in a matter most of the time they are telling us they are going to deny us our claims. This is how they make their $-billions.
Excellent information. I appreciate the guidance on what to do if this becomes an issue.
They forgot to mention you can "Freeze" your Credit Report to keep thieves from opening any new accounts using your good credit record!
I recently purchased home title lock policy for one year. I will have to look for
paperwork and give you more details. So I have now likely been scammed by my bank, phone company and a home title lock company.
I, also, have policy with “O’ Connor Property Tax Reduction Experts” which is now sending me form to complete and mail back which I will not do because the terms and conditions for this “Binding Arbitration
Appointment of Agent” seem quite suspect to me, although I’m not an attorney. Their address is O’Connor & Associates 2200 North Loop W Ste 200, Houston TX 77018-8005. So that makes four
scams I have likely been subjected to unwittingly.
Our house and identities were both stolen by Thomas Shemuga
Great info, to prevent crime. Thank you