You may have noticed ads for services offering to protect homeowners from title fraud or deed theft.

These ads claim that anyone with forged signatures and fake IDs can file paperwork with the county’s register of deeds to transfer ownership of your property to themselves or a third party.  They then use your home as collateral against a large loan to steal your equity.  When you fail to make payments on the loan, the lender can place a lien on your home preventing you from selling, refinancing, or passing the home on to heirs.  As the ads state “Don’t lose your home or life savings.”

Home Title Lock is one of the services that says it will monitor your home’s deed 24/7 to prevent title fraud; it costs $15 a month ($150 annually).  But you can protect yourself for free.  Many Michigan counties now provide a consumer notification service.  You simply register and you will quickly receive an e-mail or text any time a document is recorded on your property.

Ingham County has a free deed fraud alert system in place.
https://rd.ingham.org/departments_and_officials/register_of_deeds/contact_us.php

Eaton County has a program called Fraud Sleuth.
https://countyfusion3.kofiletech.us/countyweb/loginDisplay.action?countyname=Eaton

Clinton County uses Fraud Guard.
https://www.clinton-county.org/777/Fraud-Guard

You don’t need to pay a company to protect you from criminals who put their names on your home title. You can protect your home for FREE.