Found At: www.statewidetitle.com
Issue
79
Article
153
Published:
2/1/2002
Beware - Missing Date of Note
Bonnie Windom, Eastern Operations Director
You may have noticed that some of the pre-printed deeds of trust that you have been receiving in your loan packages have a space that is easily overlooked for inserting the date of the note. It is typically on the second page, and it is not a blank to be filled in but rather a blank space. It is easy to overlook, and, therefore, oftentimes left blank, thereby creating a real problem. This is occurring more commonly on form deeds of trust from BB&T and Dover Mortgage. When discovered, it is usually after recording, and many times, the first instinct is to ask the title company to issue an endorsement giving affirmative coverage over the omission. This does not solve any problem; it only puts on a weak blow-out patch for the moment. If the matter should go into foreclosure, most of the Clerks of Court would consider the document defective and reject the document for lack of note date. Therefore, when this problem is discovered, the date should be inserted and the document initialed and re-recorded. For the protection of all parties, Statewide Title has made the business and underwriting decision NOT to give affirmative coverage over the omission of the date of the note and to require the re-recording of the deed of trust.