Launched in 2018 by the American Land Title Association, the ALTA Registry is a national industry utility designed to help lenders more accurately and easily identify title and settlement agents involved with them in third party supplier relationships. In addition to detailed Underwriter confirmed information about the title agent, the ALTA Registry also assigns a unique identification number, the ALTA Registry ID, to the agent for precise identification.


Process Improvement
and Cost Reduction

In fast moving transactions, new title agents can quickly become engaged in lenders' business processes and with very short notice a new vendor can come under a lender's "umbrella of responsibility". As the transaction moves through production, the identification and confirmation that an agent is who they say they are can be a lengthy and resource intense process. The ALTA Registry can replace multiple phone call or email attempts to check, cross reference, and document information for final approvals, to release funds and to protect consumer NPI. The ALTA Registry offers, in one place, all the key information needed to accurately identify title and settlement providers.  Contact information is available for authorizations and transaction support.

Defense in Depth

Given this single source of detailed information, the ALTA Registry will bolster the third-party oversight and monitoring processes. It will provide further depth to its lines of defense and support regulatory compliance activities. The American Land Title Association is proud to offer its ALTA Registry: we feel for the first time ever, a single source of data and information about the key title participants in the mortgage lending industry is now readily available.



Risk Management and Controls Enhancement

Agents can only be listed in the ALTA Registry if they have a confirmed relationship with a Title Insurance Underwriter.

  • When business relationships are ended, Underwriters will promptly update the ALTA Registry. This plays a key part in managing some of the risks inherent in mortgage transactions. We all know that the demands of the business may cause accuracy to be compromised by speed, and risks elevated by the need to "get the deal closed and funded". It is the familiar tension between great customer service and speed: it is that sense of urgency that increases the risk of mistakes.
  • We see the ALTA Registry helping reduce some of these risks, by bringing together in a single place, key information that a lender can use to ensure their transaction is sound, before it closes and "money leaves the table".
  • The information in the ALTA Registry is available either as a transactional look-up or through a download of the entire registry in either Excel, XML, or JSON format. The download tool will facilitate reconciliation with a lenders own data. The combination of a download and reconciliation can be seen as a further enhancement of internal controls designed to monitor and report risk.