Consumer complaint received 2021-07-25
Company: Long & Foster Financial Services, Inc.
State: MD
Product: Mortgage
Sub-product: Other type of mortgage
Issue: Closing on a mortgage

Complaint:
On XX/XX/2021, I was provided pricing information from Sage Title Group in XXXX, Maryland ( XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX, XXXX XXXX, XXXX, MD XXXX ) for settlement services. XXXX XXXX, the Managing Attorney provided me the pricing information via email. The email did not state that purchasing an owners title insurance policy was required in order to rely upon Sage 's settlement services and specifically stated " There are no other hidden charges. '' The email also represented that I could rely upon Sage 's website for the pricing of an owners title policy. The email attached a " XXXX XXXX XXXX '' which stated, in part, " nothing mandates the prospective homebuyer to purchase an XXXX XXXX XXXX policy '' ( see page numbered 16 ). Neither the XXXX XXXX XXXX nor any other information provided to me by Sage at this time indicated that I would be forced to purchase an owners title policy or that I would not be able to place reliance on other professional services procured from Sage. 

On XX/XX/2021, I ratified a contract to purchase a property in the District of Columbia and chose Sage Title Group as the settlement agent. 

On XX/XX/2021, XXXX week before the closing date of XX/XX/XXXX approached, I informed Sage Title Group that I did not wish to acquire an owners ' title insurance policy. In response to that, Sage provided what appeared to me to be misleading information about title insurance ( e.g., a decade plus old article and misleading statistics about title insurance claims ) and informed me that if I did not purchase title insurance, then I would be required to " execute a hold harmless agreement absolving Sage Title Group, LLC of any liability arising out of our role as the settlement agent. '' Upon objecting to this new requirement on the basis that it was unfair inasmuch as it required me to either 1. ) purchase an expensive insurance product with a usuriously low payout ratio and on which Sage would likely earn a significant commission or 2. ) no longer be able to rely in good faith on the settlement services Sage represented to be the core of their business and experts in performing, I was told that Sage would not perform my closing unless I agreed to either 1 or 2 above ( also an untenable situation inasmuch as I would likely then not be able to close on time, potentially be in default on the contract, and potentially forfeit my earnest money deposit to the seller of the property ). This happened during a phone call on the evening of XX/XX/2021 - After which I emailed Sage stating that I would purchase the standard owners title policy because I did not believe I had a choice given the prior conversation with XXXX XXXX. 

As I attempted to work through this issue with Sage I was told I could rely on their website to provide me an accurate owners ' title insurance quote. Upon speaking to XXXX XXXX on XX/XX/2021 and attempting to confirm that the quote being generated from Sage 's website, which showed the cost of the owners ' title policy to be only a XXXX XXXXXXXX dollars, I was told that the quote was not correct and that I must be inputting data incorrectly. XXXX XXXX told me that he'd have his team send me a proper quote in due course. On Wednesday, XX/XX/2021, I received quotes from Sage Title ( XXXX XXXX ) stating that the cost of an enhanced owners ' title policy would be {$920.00} and that the cost of a standard owners policy would be {$570.00}. 

The day prior to closing ( XX/XX/2021 ), I received the XXXX stating that the cost of the standard owners title insurance policy would be {$820.00} ( not the {$570.00} previously disclosed ) When I questioned why the cost had increased from the quote provided just one day before, on XX/XX/2021, I was told that it was because I had changed the amount of my loan, which was not true as the loan amount did not change at any point after contract ratification. At closing, I was charged {$820.00} for the standard owners policy I was forced to buy by Sage ( by virtue of being given untenable other even less tenable options by Sage ). 

In short, I believe that Sage engaged in deceptive marketing practices by hiding the requirement that I purchase title insurance from them in order to rely on their other services AND FURTHER that Sage hid and/or misrepresented the cost of the owners title insurance policy from me until just one day prior to closing.

Company public response: Company believes the complaint is the result of a misunderstanding
Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation