Don’t Buy The So-Called Official Deed Copies
Fri Dec 19, 2008, 12:03 am | Leave Comment
Recently, I received a letter from National Deed Service Inc., in US Postal Service mail. The name has National word in it so I thought, probably, it was an official letter from the state where I live in. I usually get mail in the evening, our neighborhood being the last leg on the route. The letter had a warning: “The U.S. Government Federal Citizen Information Center website recommends that property owners should have an official or certified copy of their deed. This document provides evidence that your property was transferred to you.” The letter then offered to provide a copy of the document for $79.95.
I was overseas when my wife bought the house almost two years ago. So I asked her if we had the deed. She didn’t remember so we checked our house papers and there it was.
My wife and I thought, maybe we needed another copy, or perhaps something had changed. So I called the town clerk, who said, “This is wrong. I can get you a certified deed for $5.”
Letters like ours and perhaps phone calls to consumers have prompted official warnings about National Deed Service and similar companies. These outfits pull homeowners’ names and addresses from public records of real estate transactions and send them letters offering deed copies from $59.95 to $89.95.
These private companies are charging homeowners – many of them senior citizens – more than 500% markup for deed copies that most city and town halls charge as low as $2.
All these companies do is contact the respective town halls for these deed copies – just as any resident could do.
While the pitch that these companies do may not be entirely illegal, it is a clever attempt to exploit consumers. We have to be careful how we handle it.
Several chapters of the Better Business Bureau have given unsatisfactory ratings to National Deed Service because of unanswered complaints about its practices.
Don’t let these letters fool you. As a property owner, you should have received a deed soon after the property closing. If not, or if you want another copy, contact your town clerk’s office.
If you have paid the fee that National Deed Service or another company asked you to pay, you can file a complaint with your state attorney general’s office or consumer protection agency. To find local offices, go to the government consumer action website.
National Deed Service Inc website..
No related posts.
Click on the left to read more similar articles.
