Can they steal the title to your home if there is a mortgage on it

Whitney: Yes, can they still steal your home if you have a mortgage on it or if you're making payments on a piece of property or any real estate because you fully don't really own it because you're still making payments?

Attorney Tom Olsen: Thieves are really looking for two things. Number one, they're looking for vacant residential buildable lots or they're looking for a piece of property that's free and clear of all liens and mortgages. Whitney, I already told you that if you own a home, they're not going to steal your title, but if you own a home that's got a mortgage on it, they're really, really not going to steal your title.

What's happening sometimes is that you own your home free and clear. Somebody signs loan documents and borrows money against it. They're not stealing your title. They're just trying to put a lien against it. Can they pull it off? The answer is yes. Will that lender have a valid mortgage lien against your home? Absolutely, positively not. Fraud is not going to be able to give them a good lien against your home Whitney.

Whitney: Okay. Thank you very much.

Tom: Okay Whitney, thank you for calling. I appreciate that. I don't want to confuse people out there and I don't want to scare people out there. There's enough television commercials out there already that are scaring people into getting this title fraud insurance.

Attorney Chris Merrill: We want to give people the accurate facts and what we don't want to do is scare them. However, just like with anything, be vigilant and also two, we encourage people to use the free services with the property appraiser. That's really important. I want to make one other important point because we have our clients that come back and they get frustrated that when we record a deed for them, that now they're in a situation where they have to give information or the property appraiser is saying we need more information, we need up to date and they get frustrated.

I'm sharing with people the reason why you want to give them updated information is because they're confirming you are you. They're trying to help you to avoid the current, any fraud, or future potential by making sure their records are updated. I say please just comply with them. Give them what they need because, in the turn, it's to help you to prevent any issues.

Tom: Check in with your title appraiser's office, whatever county you happen to be in. More than likely they have a service where they will notify you if anybody has done any kind of deeds or mortgages on properties that you own and just Google it for your property appraiser's website. That's a typical free service. One thing I want to say about title fraud is this, is that this was an easy way to make money for the crooks.

Doors are being closed, loopholes are being closed, title companies have been made aware of it. It's gotten much, much harder. They're going to move on to the next easy thing here soon. Who knows what that will be? Then we'll have to worry about that.

Chris: Correct.

Tom: Hey folks, we want to thank you so much for all your--

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