Chicago Title Settles With Feds, Texas

The Chicago Title Insurance Co. subsidiary of Fidelity National Financial Inc., Jacksonville, Fla., has entered into an agreement with the Department of Housing and Urban Development, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, the Office of Thrift Supervision, and the Texas Department of Insurance totaling $6.2 million.The regulators alleged that Chicago Title violated Section 4 of the Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act by providing inaccurate HUD-1 settlement statements. HUD also alleged that Chicago Title's conduct was part of an agreement for referrals in violation of Section 8 of RESPA. In addition, the Texas agency says Chicago Title-Houston was allegedly engaged in "land flip" transactions. The agreement requires Chicago Title to revamp the manner in which it conducts real estate settlements nationwide. HUD, the OTS, and the OCC said the company is cooperating with the regulators and has already begun addressing their concerns. A Fidelity spokesman echoed this point. Chicago Title will pay $5 million to the U.S. Treasury and $1.2 million to Texas.