Bulletin: CA2014003

Dear Associates:

On June 18, 2014, various amendments, additions and corrections to the California Rate Manual became effective. 

Section 1.4    was amended to limit its applicability to employees of STG and its affiliates.

Section 1.6    was amended to make 40% the minimum charge rather than the required charge under government contracts.

Section 1.18   was amended to clarify that the volume pricing rates shall not be less than the rates stated in this section.

Section 1.21   was added to clarify that the terms Applicable Rate or Applicable Charge refer to the Residential Rate or the Basic Rate as defined.

Section 1.22   was added to prohibit stacking or combining multiple discounts, only the discount providing the largest discount shall apply.

Section 2.20   Paragraph 4 was amended to lower its applicability from $10,000,000 to $5,000,000. There was a lot of discussion regarding the applicability of this section, especially regarding the breadth of the term “aggregation”. Of great importance is the committee’s interpretation of its applicability; that being that aggregation basically deals with a transaction with multiple phases or different interests. It is not volume pricing – it is pricing that is part of the same deal.

Section 3.6    was amended to clarify the applicability of the Refinance Rate to both residential and basic pricing.

Section 3.15   was amended to clarify that the short form loan policy referred to in this section is not the ALTA Short Form Residential Loan Policy (6/16/07).

Section 3.19   was amended to clarify that it was intended for Home Office issue only and to lower the fees for liabilities over $500,000.

Section 7       was amended to delete the exclusion as to deeds of trust or mortgages from Litigation Guarantees.

Section 9.17   was added to provide pricing for the Property Owners Notice Guarantee.

Section 10     was amended to add pricing for various ALTA Endorsements adopted by the CLTA.

Section 11.3   was amended to correct typographical errors.

The actual changes are attached.

Please note that any agent using AFW or AIM+ should contact PropertyInfo Customer Care to get the new rate changes implemented in their system. 

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