Tickets to the game --

Tickets to the game -- and free access to our marketing software When Washington state officials wrapped up an 18-month investigation of 11 title insurers last year, they claimed all were using illegal incentives and inducements to win business. Investigators said First American Title was spending more than $120,000 a month on giveaways, but chose to focus on future compliance rather than punishing any of the companies.

Today Inman News reports that First American has agreed to pay $10 million to settle similar accusations by the California Department of Insurance (without admitting liability or wrongdoing).

What's interesting about the state's accusations in this case is that not only did First American's San Bernardino County office allegedly engage in the usual "wine 'em and dine 'em" routines -- tickets to rock concerts and NFL games, riverboat dinner cruises, and trips to racetracks and casinos -- but offered real estate agents and brokers another, more practical perk: free access to marketing software.

According to the Department of Insurance, First American spent $77,690 on consulting, licensing and training fees to provide Realty DataLink and DailyContact to real estate agents and brokers. The programs are "completely unrelated to the business of title insurance," a Department of Insurance attorney told Inman News, and were set up to provide a free service to agents and brokers.

According to DailyContact.com, the direct mail program is a partnership between Eudicor Consulting and First American. Realty DataLink developer Web DataLink lists First American as one of 11 partners. Neither company returned calls today. Although both will be permitted to continue providing their services to the real estate industry, First American has agreed to "cease and desist statewide its marketing, operation and/or maintenance" of both programs.
--Matt Carter, Inman News

Update: the reference to First American as a Web DataLink partner cited above has been removed from the company's site.

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