All members who have an order above one million dollars should contact ATG’s Commercial Department for a lower rate bid on these transactions. The Commercial Department can assist members by helping to prepare commercial title commitments and policies, and offering competitive pricing. 

On transactions above one million dollars, ATG obtains reinsurance through First American Title Insurance Company (First American) under an automatic reinsurance agreement. For the last few years, ATG's costs under that agreement have increased. Under this automatic reinsurance agreement, ATG members have difficulty bidding competitively on transactions above one million dollars, considering the required remittance rate.

To mitigate this problem, ATG has become a direct agent of First American and members are able to write the title insurance on First American paper. ATG is the agent and our members are the subagent. The ATG Commercial Department handles all of these First American transactions.  In this manner, ATG can almost always reduce its expenses and improve the rate to the consumer and the split to the agent. Further, the ATG Commercial Department  can negotiate a reduced fee from First American on a facultative basis.

The ATG Commercial Department will assist the member in preparing the title commitment, title clearance, creation of the settlement statement, and distribution of closing funds. The transaction closes in your office and usually disburses by wire through the First American account of ATG. The process is simple, efficient, and more profitable for our ATG members. The ATG Commercial Department assigns an attorney underwriter who handles the transaction from start to finish. That underwriter facilitates the transaction and becomes familiar with the property and the parties in the deal.

Therefore, all members who have an order above one million dollars should contact Donna Kogut in ATG’s Commercial Department for a lower rate bid on these transactions. Please contact Donna or her staff at 800.252.0402 or commercial@atgf.com.