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LEGAL PROFESSIONAL
LENDERS & BROKERS
Frequently Asked Questions
Title insurance FAQ
The word “title” is a legal term that means you have ownership rights to a property. When you buy a home or other property, the title is transferred to you as the new owner. The new title is then registered in the government’s land registration system.
Title insurance is a unique form of insurance. Unlike home insurance where you’re insuring the structure and contents, title insurance protects you against actual loss as a result of challenges to the title and other defects relating to your property, like an incorrect survey or a non-existent permit. Fixing these issues or legally defending your ownership can be very costly and stressful—title insurance helps pay for those costs.
FCT’s title insurance covers a range of issues, including:
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Unforeseen defects on your title.
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Negligence or errors made by your lawyer or notary while registering the title of your property.
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Liens on your property such as: unpaid utilities, mortgages, taxes or condo/strata maintenance fees from previous owners.
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Survey or record errors relating to your title.
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Removal of pre-existing outbuildings due to encroachment onto neighbouring properties.
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Complications during the gap period between when a property purchase is finalized and when the title is officially registered with the government.
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Removal or remedy of pre-existing home improvements that happened without municipal permits.
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Title fraud.
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Other title-related issues that can affect your ability to sell, mortgage, or lease your property in the future.
Real estate title fraud happens when a fraudster steals your identity and forges documents to remortgage your home and take the proceeds, or to sell your home right out from under you.
Once a claim is filed, you can receive the following benefits:
If you need a lawyer to help protect and restore your title, FCT will pay for the legal fees and associated costs (as outlined in your policy).
You’ll have our years of expertise on your side. We can help restore your title so you won’t have to spend your own time or money.
An title insurance policy from FCT contains an increased policy amount clause for residential owners, which increases the amount insured based upon the increase of fair market value, up to a maximum of 200%.
Although residential title insurance is usually purchased by your lawyer or notary when you buy or refinance your property, you can get it at any time while you own the property. Reach out to FCT if you want coverage on your current home.
Comprehensive protection: Title insurance doesn’t just protect you when you first purchase a property, it protects you as long as you Have an interest in it.
Peace of mind: You can be confident knowing that defects in the title of the property can be covered by your policy.
Faster closing: Title insurance from FCT simplifies the process for legal professionals and lenders by reducing the number of searches and reducing risk, allowing your deal to close quickly.
Cost savings: With its one-time premium, title insurance can save you the expense of getting a new survey done at the time of purchase and the cost of legal fees for title related problems.
All of FCT's title insurance policies and home warranties include a no-fault claims process. To make a claim, simply submit the claim and the required supporting documents online, or contact us by phone or email.
Submit your claim online here.
E&O FAQ
A. First, you should sign up for your E&O ExtraⓇ policy here. Once you complete the online application and declaration form, we’ll email your E&O Extra™ base policy. Your policy will remain active for the rest of the calendar year.
Your E&O ExtraⓇ policy comes into effect on the day you complete the online application and declaration form.
An E&O Complete policy can be purchased at any time. After you have placed your order online, we’ll send you an invoice for the pro-rated premium plus applicable taxes. For any questions about your payment or payment options, please contact our finance department at 1.800.307.0370, or email customeraccounts@fct.ca.
The coverage comes into effect on the day you order the policy and will be issued once payment has been received.
Yes, you have coverage on all your purchase and refinance transactions title insured with us, residential and commercial.
Each of your E&O policies expire on an annual basis, and the policy period runs the calendar year from January 1—December 31. We’ll email you about a month before with instructions on how to renew your E&O Extra® policy.
Your E&O Complete policy will renew automatically every year. Your payment details will be kept on file, unless you contact us to cancel your policy or remove your information. Before your E&O Complete policy expires, you’ll get an email to remind you of your upcoming renewal. You’ll also have a chance to opt-out of renewing your policy before your credit card is charged.
For any questions regarding your payment, or payment options, please contact our finance department at 1.800.307.0370 or email customeraccounts@fct.ca.
If you had FCT’s E&O policy in place at the time of the qualifying real estate transaction, your coverage will remain in effect forever on that deal. However, your E&O Extra® and E&O Complete policies both expire annually on December 31, and you’ll need to renew those policies to continue to receive coverage on future qualifying real estate transactions.
No, you’re charged a small annual premium, and applicable coverage is in effect for the calendar year.
Yes, you can cancel your policy at any time. Even if you cancel, your coverage for transactions done while insured will remain. Policies cannot be cancelled by any person other than the insured or FCT. Please see the “cancellation” section of the policy for more details.
Mail:
Attention: claims department
2235 Sheridan Garden Drive
Oakville, ON
L6J 7Y5
Fax: 905.287.1006
Email: claims@fct.ca
https://fct.ca/claims/
Debt recovery FAQ
No, our full-service recovery management is available to any business looking to recover delinquent funds.
Regardless of the collection type, our team follows a general process. We'll start by triaging new accounts to identify the correct work stream. Then, we assign you a dedicated account manager to closely monitor the collection process.
You'll gain access to an in-depth and secure reporting system for any insights on the progress. Lastly, we offer extensive debt recovery data analysis to help you understand where you’re having success and where you’re yielding the highest returns.
FCT offers a number of tools to assist with debt recovery. CollectLink allows automation for financial transactions that improves recovery rates. InsolvencyLink creates a secure and fast way to process bankruptcies, consumer proposals, credit counselling, and dépôt volontaire files. Our Mortgage Enforcement solution allows you to handle the entire recovery process through an online portal.
FCT offers two solutions to manage the debt recovery cycle:
First is our SaaS solution, where we provide the tools to manage the assignment and oversight of your collections and recovery accounts, while you manage the oversight of your vendors and their performance.
Our second solution is a full outsourcing program where we manage the vendors and all the associated processes.
FCT provides an in-depth and secure reporting system to keep you informed of the details and progress of your accounts through the collections or recovery cycle, as well as your overall results.
Our debt recovery tools and services are all built to surpass compliance by maintaining our Payment Card Industry (PCI) security certification. This ensures our document processing portal is the safest way to share files.
Our network of partners and industry experience is what drives our success. We work with mortgage insurers, insolvency trustees, realtors, law firms, collection agencies and bailiffs to provide you with positive returns on your delinquent accounts. Both our people and partners leverage our advanced systems for outstanding results.