United Notary Association of America

A one-time millionaire with a house on a golf course, Barber was sentenced in October to 12 years in prison for masterminding the largest mortgage fraud ever prosecuted in Missouri, and most other states too, the FBI says. He pleaded guilty to a five-year scam that involved nearly 300 properties in Kansas City, Mo., and victimized more than 80 people. Nationally, mortgage fraud has spread in the past few years, with losses totaling around $1 billion last year, the FBI says. The real estate boom, along with looser lending standards, built an ideal breeding ground for smooth-talking con artists like Barber. Those hurt by fraud are not only lenders, but also the thousands of other homeowners who pay higher interest rates as a result, and the neighborhoods where foreclosures depress property values, invite crime and drain city resources.

Recently, Forbes Magazine ran an article which could only be taken as a negative indictment of the title industry. Referring at different times to research, interviews and the findings of an 18-month investigation conducted by the state of Washington’s insurance commissioner, the article’s author, Scott Woolley, contends that the title industry has enriched itself for decades and “bilked home buyers out of billions of dollars.” Additionally, Woolley asserts that automated land records will eliminate the need for title insurance and the title profession. (If you haven’t read “Inside America’s Richest Insurance Racket,” do so before reading any further. The article itself is followed by several pages of spirited, sometimes heated, comments, including a rebuttal by the American Land Title Association.) Read More............