Bulletin: GA2022001

Dear Associates:

Stewart Title Guaranty Company has published a new "All Inclusive Schedule of Charges for Use in the State of Georgia effective September 16, 2022". An electronic version of the rate book can be found here for your convenience.

The rates in the new Schedule of Charges effective September 16, 2022, are the rates that all Issuing Offices are required to charge the consumer and upon which Issuing Offices must remit. Therefore, the quotation of rates and the premium charged for policies of title insurance sold by Stewart and our Issuing Offices shall be based only upon our "All Inclusive Schedule of Charges for Use in the State of Georgia" and any additional rates for endorsements. Any other rates must be separate and distinct from premium charges in a transaction. There should be no confusion by the party charged with paying the premium that the premium relates only to those rates for the title insurance policies.

Effective September 16, 2022, Stewart Title rates in Georgia will be revised to reflect the following new rates:

RESIDENTIAL RATE CHANGES:

A.  Increase standard owner’s title policy rates as follows:

• $0 to $100,000—from $4.15 per thousand to $4.70 per thousand
• Over $100,000 to $500,000, add—from $3.65 per thousand to $4.15 per thousand
• Over $500,000, add—from $3.10 per thousand to $3.40 per thousand

B.  Increase standard Loan Policy and Short Form Loan Policy rates as follows:

• $0 to $100,000—from $3.10 per thousand to $3.40 per thousand
• Over $100,000 to $500,000, add—from $2.65 per thousand to $2.85 per thousand
• Over $500,000, add—from $2.40 per thousand to $2.50 per thousand

C.  Revise second mortgage policy rates so that they are calculated at the same rates as first mortgages.

D.  Revise simultaneous issue fee from $150 to $200.

E.   When pricing an extension, date down or modification of an existing loan to use current rates when calculating the premium due on the outstanding balance and have a minimum charge of $100.00.

F.   Publish rates for Expanded Short Form and Expanded Long form Residential policies to be 110% of the cost of a standard loan policy.

G.  Revise the minimum fee for an ALTA Residential Limited Coverage Junior Loan Policy and Short Form Version from $50 to $100.00.

H.  Increase charges for a construction loan policy from $1.25 per thousand to $1.30 per thousand with a minimum charge being increased from $150 to $200.

When adding additional property to an existing builder construction loan credit line if the adding of the additional property causes additional premium to be due to use current rates when calculating the premium.

COMMERCIAL RATE CHANGES:

A.  Increase rate from policies that are between $0 to $5 million as follows:

• $0 to $2 million—from $2.00 per thousand to $2.10 per thousand
• $2 million to $5 million, add—from $1.85 per thousand to $1.95 per thousand
• No changes for policies over $5 million

B.  Revise simultaneous issue fee from $150.00 to $200.00.

C.  When pricing an extension, date down or modification of an existing loan to use current rates when calculating the premium due on the outstanding balance and have a minimum charge of $100.00.

D.  Eliminate construction loan rates for commercial transactions and just charge standard published rates for these transactions.

E.  When adding additional property to an existing builder construction loan credit line if the adding of the additional property causes additional premium to be due to use current rates when calculating the premium.

Agents must remit the percentage of the total title charges (policy premium and any rates charged for endorsements) to Stewart in accordance with their underwriting contract. Additionally, Stewart must pay premium tax on both the portion retained by the agent as well as the premium actually remitted to Stewart (see O.C.G.A. 33-8-2 and O.C.G.A. 33-8-8-4), so it is critical that the correct title charges are used to calculate the amount of the premium remitted to Stewart.

As a reminder, be sure to contact your third-party software provider or the Stewart Customer Care Center (888-526-3282) if you do not use a third-party software provider to get the new rates implemented into your system.

If you have any questions relating to this or other bulletins, please contact a Stewart Title Guaranty Company underwriter.

For on-line viewing of this and other bulletins, please log onto www.vuwriter.com.