Home Title Lock Insurance: Is It Really Protecting You?
If you’ve seen ads for home title lock insurance, they might have left you feeling concerned. The ads claim thieves can steal the title to your home, but then suggest you buy title lock insurance to supposedly prevent it. Before you start to panic, let’s take a closer look. Title Lock Insurance Isn’t What You Think First off, "title lock insurance" is not the same as title insurance. If you’ve bought a home, you might remember purchasing title insurance during the process. Title insurance protects you against challenges to your ownership, like an unknown lien on your property. However, "title lock insurance" is different—and here’s the catch: it’s not actually insurance at all. Instead, it’s a monitoring service that claims to watch your deed for any changes related to title fraud. The problem is, it doesn’t prevent title theft. You’d only find out after someone fraudulently transferred your title. So, despite the name, it’s not much of a "lock." What is ...