🐐 Using Letters of Indemnity to Clear Old Mortgage Liens: A Guide for Title Agency Employees
A practical guide for title agents on Letters of Indemnity, including when an Letter of Indemnity is appropriate, how to request one, and key underwriting considerations.
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Every title agent eventually runs into the lien that should be gone but isn’t. The payoff happened years ago, the borrower swears it was handled, a prior policy insured over it—and yet the mortgage is still sitting in the public record. At that point, the question isn’t what should have happened, it’s what can be done now. Letters of Indemnity live in that narrow space between “we’ve tried everything” and “we still need to close.” In this guide, we break down when an LOI is appropriate, how underwriters actually evaluate these requests, and the practical steps to obtain one when clearing the lien any other way isn’t possible. Subscribers can unlock the full walkthrough, sample request language, and process tips below.
