$3.28 Surcharge on Florida Title Insurance Policies
As previously reported to you, the Florida Office of Insurance Regulation (“OIR”), required all Florida title insurance underwriters to pay assessments for two failed title insurance underwriters, National Title Insurance Company and K.E.L. Title Insurance Group. The Department of Financial Services (“DFS”), as receiver, requested the assessments to pay the claims and administrative costs for both failed underwriters.
Florida law requires that each title insurer pay a pro rata portion (based on market share) of the assessments, and that each title insurer shall recoup its payment by collecting a surcharge on future policies. The OIR has ordered that a surcharge of $3.28 be collected on each title insurance policy with an effective date of September 2, 2014, or later.
We understand the additional cost and inconvenience to your agency of collecting the surcharge, and we want to make this as easy for you as possible. We appreciate your assistance in complying with Florida law and the orders of the OIR and DFS.
Disclosure of Surcharge on Closing Statement
1. The surcharge should be shown as a separate line item on the closing statement as, for example, “Government Surcharge”, “Statutory Surcharge” or other similar label. On a HUD-1 settlement statement form, we suggest you use a blank line in the 1300 series, or if requested by the lender, a line in the 1100 series.
2. The closing statement may indicate that the surcharge is being paid to the underwriter of the title insurance policy.
3. It is to be charged to the party responsible for payment of the title insurance premium, unless otherwise agreed upon between the parties. If an owner’s policy and a simultaneous loan policy are being issued, the $3.28 is charged to the party responsible for payment of the owner’s policy.
Remitting the Surcharge – Payment Form
How the surcharge is then remitted to us will depend on your closing software (if any) and your
accounting process. You have several options:
Option A Generate one check per file for the $3.28 surcharge. You may need to code the charge so the check prints separately from the premium check.
Option B Generate one check per file which includes the premium and the surcharge in the same check. Remember, the surcharge is not premium and is shown as a separate line item on the closing statement.
Option C Group the surcharges from several files and generate a single check for the total surcharges collected. Surcharges may be grouped as often as desired at whatever frequency works best from time to time, such as weekly or monthly.
Option D Use whatever guidelines your other underwriters instruct you to follow. We want to make it as easy on you as possible, and therefore, we are willing to abide by guidelines that your other underwriters may require if that works best for you.
You do not have to use the same method every month, just do what works best for your operation from time to time.
The surcharges can either be sent to us separately as you collect them or they can be sent to us with your premium remittance, either as separate checks or in the same check with the policy premium, or lumped together with surcharges/premiums from several files. Just remember that Florida law requires the surcharge be sent to the underwriter within 60 days of the effective date of the policy for which it was collected.
Where/How to Send the Surcharge
For those of you who send your policies and premium directly to our agency accounting department, the address for the surcharge payments is the same as the address for remitting premium:
FNTG Agency Accounting
1431 Opus Place, Suite 635
Downers Grove, IL 60515
For those of you who pay your remittance from the monthly account statement, the statement will reflect the $3.28 surcharge for each policy (excluding simultaneous issue policies) with an effective date of September 2, 2014, or later. Please do not include the surcharges in any check for title searches.
#FNTG |From Niggas to Gods | An Afro-Futurism Performance/Art Exhibition
Posted on 02 April 2014.
This past Saturday I stopped by the Afro-Futurism Performance/Arts Exhibition From Niggas To Gods event hosted by radio personality and “Hip Hop Advocate”, Civ Jones at the Art By Cleatress studio in Baltimore. The event posed an interesting question, why doesn’t the African American community acknowledge or celebrate it’s presence in the sci-fi world? #FNTG also touched on a few themes presented in the infamous book “From Niggas To Gods” by Andre Akil, such as the discovery of the “God-self”.
Host Civ Jones says this outfit was inspired through meditation where she found her “God-self” illumined in all blue.
A little live painting action from Art by Cleatress.
“Do we not see ourselves in the future?”, asked Rasheedah Phillips, creative director of The Afro Futurist Affair, and author of Recurrence Plot (and Other Time Travel Tales) to be released April 5th. It’s definitely food for thought, considering the limited images of black people in mainstream sci-fi. There’s been the unforgettable Sun-Ra, Georgle Clinton and Parliament and Funkadelic, and more recently “Cindi Mayweather” the alter ego and protaganist of Janelle Monae’s Metropolis: The Chase Suite andThe ArchAndroid albums. But aside from these more well known examples, black people and sci-fi generally aren’t associated with eachother. Many tend to think of a token trapped on a spaceship with colleagues. Before attending #FNTG I can admit to having a very limited knowledge base on this creative sub-culture myself.
#FNTG started off with a beat showcase by Moor Mother Goddess, followed by live performances from Eze Jackson, Greenspan, Voice, Yo Slick, Jamal Lovington aka Blaqstarr, Lotus Song & The Black Light Asylum. Usually music is my reason for wanting to attend anywhere, but my highlights of the evening ended up being the visual arts selections by Cleatress and the Black Shesus art installation. Each guest was given a wooden block with one word inscribed and asked to insert into the art installation to create a new statement.
A portion of the art installation by Black Shesus.
Black Shesus forming a new statement.
The awesomeness of #FNTG was the fact that the displays and performances could’ve been appreciated by anyone because it wasn’t a matter of race, it represented ascension, going beyond the norm for the sake of creativity, or as Civ Jones put it, “elevating from the lower to the higher, from Niggas to Gods”.
Percy Park, Georgia native Daetrius Craig debuts his video "FNTG (FromNiggazToGods)" as the first release off his project "Percy 101". The song features vocals by the legendary Ellis Hall and the genius cinematography of Kennedy Rothchild to produce a musical experience that is as visually engaging, as it is thought provoking. The project is being released by Standard Music Group.
Produced by: Epikh Pro with co-production from Ellis Hall, Daetrius Craig and K.O
Directed & Filmed by: Kennedy Rothchild
