Introducing...
ORT Wire Verification Tool

Wire fraud is a huge issue in our industry.  Verifying the wire instructions for seller funds, mortgage payoffs and other disbursements is a critical aspect of your job as a title agent. Making sure you have reliable information to start with and the time involved in verifying this information with the recipient bank are both challenging.

But it has to be done. Old Republic has developed a wire information verification tool that we want to pilot with a small group of Fund Members.  I think your firm/agency is a good candidate for this pilot and I hope you will participate.

First, a little bit about the pilot. 

• It will run for the months of February and March, 2023.  We will absorb the normal per transaction fee charged by ORT so your cost will be the time to train one or two staff members and giving us the feedback we will request from you.
• Training and use would be limited to 1 or 2 identified staff people.  Exactly who in your office should be trained depends on your workflow.  If your bookkeeper handles all wires out, then he/she should be trained.  If each paralegal initiates wires on the closings they are handling, then please designate only 1 or 2 of your closers to participate.
• Prior to your final commitment to participate, we will host two demos of the tool (you will be able to pick the one most convenient).  The staff persons you identify should participate in this demo (you are welcome, too).  This will be done in January prior to the commencement of the pilot.

Second, a little bit about the tool.

• It's very user friendly.  I've seen a couple of demos.
• The account information, routing number and account owner name are entered and submitted for analysis.  There are three possible responses:  green, yellow and red.
  • Red is bad.  Information cannot be verified.
  • Yellow means they found inconsistencies and would need more information to complete the analysis.  This would require consumer permission to dig into why the info could not be verified.
  • Green is good.  Means the system believes the information is all correct and valid.
• Green is NOT, however, a 100% guarantee that all is wonderful.  The wire verification tool is nothing more than another, or additional “information source”– ONLY for the agent/closer (alone) to determine as to whether to go forward with the disbursement, or not.  It certainly isn’t any form of “guarantee, warranty, or prediction.” Our recommendation is to still verify the wire information with the recipient bank (or seller) in a way that makes you very comfortable about sending the money.
  • That being said, this is an additional level of comfort that you are wiring the money to the right place.
  • Additionally, getting a RED or YELLOW response is an early warning of an issue.  You should do this early in the process with the wire information you are given and not wait until the moment you need to disburse.  This could avoid delays in trying to send wires because someone transposed a number, etc. 

The purpose of this exercise is to see if this tool helps you be more efficient and identifies problems early on, whether the user experience is good and generally whether you think further development of this tool is a valuable thing for us to do.

If you have any questions, please reach out to Melissa Murphy, Executive Vice President, Chief Legal Officer and General Counsel at mmurphy@thefund.com.

Thank you for your support of The Fund.

Melissa Jay Murphy
Executive Vice President, Chief Legal Officer,
and General Counsel