If you listen to certain commentators or opinion people on the radio, you will have heard of a product called “Home Title Lock”. The cost per month is something like $20.00 and it is supposed to alert a property owner if someone has transferred their real estate title, which could tell you that fraud is being committed. Apparently, this is a big problem, especially in some areas of the United States.

Even if someone has transferred your title by committing a fraud, it is likely that if you have title insurance purchased when you first bought your real property, you would have protection down the road. However, it is likely the problem will be solved over time, BUT it will have been solved only after legal steps have been taken at expense and stress to prove you are the rightful owner.

In Saginaw County, the Register of Deeds Katie A. Kelly and her County department have offered the ability for residents to register and be notified of a potential fraud alert. The website is www.propertyfraudalert.com. There is no cost to register that I am aware of. You can also call their hotline at 1-800-728-3858. Even if not in Saginaw County, you should go to the website to see if your County offers the same service.

A disclaimer on the website states that “All information entered into the Property Fraud Alert site is used exclusively for the tracking and notification of recording activity. The owner of this website (Fidlar Technologies in partnership with our county partners) agrees to never resell this information to any individual or company.”

You can certainly pay $20.00 per month to have a private entity contracted, but in my opinion, it is unwarranted with the service provided by the Register of Deeds and after all, you have paid taxes, so why not use the service paid for by you.