Identity theft protection company seeks inroads to reverse mortgage industry

American Identity Group, an information security company that monitors and fixes security breaches and primarily operates in the wholesale lending space, has also become well established in the title and home warranty industries.

The company now aims to embed its services in forward and reverse mortgages. Representatives journeyed to San Diego last month to meet with lending professionals at the National Reverse Mortgage Lenders Association (NRMLA) Annual Meeting and Expo.

James Harkins, the company’s vice president of sales, recently sat down with HousingWire’s Reverse Mortgage Daily (RMD) to talk about the ambition the company has to connect with professionals in the reverse mortgage space.

What the company does

“We do two things: No. 1, monitor,” Harkins said. “We monitor the web and the dark web for someone’s information. No. 2, when someone is breached, we fix it. When we discover a breach, we fix it, no matter what the breach is.”

Harkins compared the company to LifeLock, which provides a similar kind of service but is more present in the retail lending space.

“We are in the title industry and are looking to get into the mortgage, reverse mortgage and home warranty spaces,” he said. “We sell or install our identity theft service within a home warranty. So when someone buys a new home, the electric is covered, the HVAC is covered and that consumer also gets identity theft protection.”

Selling the service on its own is less of an imperative due to rampant reports of security breaches and identity theft happening across the country. Children and adults are being victimized — and so are seniors.

Seeking out reverse

But forging stronger bonds with these industries is an increasing priority for the company, Harkins said.

“When we look at the mortgage industry in our office, we broad-brush it,” he said. “We don’t differentiate between a traditional mortgage, a first-time homebuyer, someone refinancing or a reverse mortgage. To us, that’s all part of the mortgage industry. So we’re dealing with consumers and everyone needs their identity protected.”

But that doesn’t diminish the potential need that seniors have for identity theft protection. And the company came away from its interactions at the NRMLA conference seeing great potential for industry partnerships.

“We came away excited,” Harkins said. “The reverse mortgage representatives that were there were totally bought into the general concept. Again, I’ll go back to my broad statement that every consumer needs identity theft protection. So the mortgage folks [that CEO Paul Smith] approached were very excited. He’s partnered with a law firm on the West Coast, and the partner there specializes in the reverse mortgage and mortgage industry.”

The broader involvement is only at the conceptual stage at the moment, but Harkins offered a glimpse into how it could work by describing the company’s relationship with title firms.

“In the title industry, we’re an add-on,” he said. “So when someone goes to close, it’s a consumer service that’s offered — it’s not embedded. It’s introduced through the process, and then at the closing table, the new homebuyer or the person refinancing either says [whether or not] they will take identity theft protection. They’ll know the price points at that point in the conversation or process.”

Industry potential

Harkins said that not only can the industry enhance the security of their customers by exploring add-on offerings like identity theft protection, but there is also potential to open up a new revenue stream in the process.

“The title industry, as an example, likes the idea of additional revenue, because once the closing occurs and that title organization collects its premium for a title policy, that’s a one-time transaction,” he said. “So identity theft protection offers a multiyear revenue stream for the title industry. So, No. 1, it’s about much needed protection for consumers, and No. 2, it’s an additional revenue source for any industry we operate in.”

Home title monitoring could be an important part of the overall equation, particularly for a demographic that bad actors often target for scams, he added. Not only are credit cards and other sensitive data being monitored, but so is a home’s title.

“Because I’m a homeowner here in New Jersey, my title is being monitored at the county level,” he explained. “If there’s any change in my title file at the county level — whether it’s HELOC paperwork being filed, a name change on my title, or a lien placed on my title — anything at all, American Identity Group pings me to verify: did you make this change? So, in the mortgage industry, one of our key components that’s especially relevant is home title monitoring.”