Don’t Pay $100 Or More For A Certified Copy Of Your Deed: That’s Not A Thing

Are you a property owner? If someone sends you a solicitation or a bill asking for money in exchange for a copy of your deed, throw it away. That isn’t a thing.

The letters might come on fancy letterhead from a place called “Record Retrieval Department” or “National Deed Service,” and explain that you need a “certified” copy of your deed for some kind of important purpose. The solicitations are barely worth the paper they’re printed on.

In Vermont, for example, homeowners received letters claiming that the “State Record Regulation Department” recommended that people have a copy of their grant deed on hand. The problem: a fancy “grant deed” that costs at least $83 isn’t a thing, and there is no “State Record Regulation Department” in Vermont. The company behind the solicitations settled with the state attorney general.

Of course, if you get such a solicitation and you aren’t a property owner, that’s a definite indication that it’s some kind of scam.
Don’t be scammed into paying for a copy of your property deed [Consumer Reports]

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