Releases & Title Services.

Think the front end of the mortgage business has been busy lately? Maybe you should talk to people on the back end. Record loan origination activity, most of it in the form of refinancing, has created a record amount of lien release, reconveyance and title activity as well. And unlike loan originations, lenders are not in a position to make much money doing this work. That's because in some cases lien release fees are limited by statute or regulation.

So the work adds up, lenders are reluctant to add staff to manage the heavy volume, and consumers start complaining when they find out (as increasingly they do, because of the fast past of refinancing and housing turnover) that a lien release hasn't been recorded on time or has been done incorrectly.

And with lenders already facing a variety of civil suits related to loan origination and servicing issues, the last thing most lenders want is heavy scrutiny of lien release and title reconveyance work.

To be sure, problems that have been reported often have nothing to do with the lender. County recorders, themselves overburdened by the number of real estate transactions taking place, often have a backlog of title recordation work sitting in their offices. The lender is generally ...