Our Underwriter

Wayne County Title Agency, Inc. prides itself on the working relationship with our national underwriter, Fidelity National Title Insurance Company

 FIDELITY NATIONAL TITLE INSURANCE COMPANY

Fidelity National Title Insurance Company is one of the nation's largest providers of title insurance. With origins that can be traced back 150 years, Fidelity National Title Insurance Company, through its underwriting subsidiaries, is one of the nation's premier real estate service companies, providing title insurance and other real estate-related products and services.

History of Fidelity National Title Insurance Company

1847-1848:   Fidelity National and Chicago Title trace their roots to this time period through V. Gillespie in California and Edward Rucker in Illinois, respectively

1871:  Three predecessor companies of Chicago Title saved land records from the Great Chicago Fire. These records became the basis for Cook County ’s land record system.

1888:  The Title Guarantee and Trust Co. (later Chicago Title and Trust – CT&T) issued the first guarantee policy in Illinois.

1906:  At the time of the San Francisco earthquake and fire, employees of Western Title Insurance Co. (now Fidelity National Title) and their wives were credited with saving the title plant and other valuable records of the company.

1920:  The original Western Title Insurance Co. was formed.

1961:  Fidelity National Title Insurance Co. (FNTIC), a Nebraska corporation, received a certificate of authority and began doing business in Nebraska. Chicago Title Insurance Co. was formed and chartered to conduct national business.

1980:  FNTIC acquired the assets of a small underwriter in Tucson, Ariz. It was at this time that the company’s current principals were first affiliated with FNTIC.

1981: FNTIC, with agency operations in the Arizona counties of Maricopa and Pima, was purchased from CIGNA. FNTIC was ranked 48th in the country among title insurance companies with revenue of $6.2 million.

1984:  Controlling interest of FNTIC was sold to Fidelity National Financial Inc. (Fidelity), its present holding company. William Foley became president and chairman of the board.

1985:  The Securities and Exchange Commission approved the sale of Fidelity ’s stock to the employees of its various subsidiaries. Fidelity became the nation ’s first and only employee-owned title insurance underwriter.

1987:  Fidelity began trading on the American Stock Exchange under the symbol FNF. Fidelity acquired Western Title Insurance Co. Fidelity moved its corporate headquarters from Scottsdale, Ariz., to Irvine, CA. Safeco Title (now Security Union) was acquired by CT&T.

1989:  Fidelity acquired Western Title in Portland, OR.Fidelity purchased an El Paso, Texas-based title agency, which represented Fidelity ’s first direct title operation within the state of Texas which became Alamo Title.

1991:  Fidelity established Premier Lenders, a concept unique to the title industry. Through Premier Lenders, all title work for lenders in the California counties of Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside, San Bernardino and San Diego was performed out of one regional office.Ticor Title Insurance Co. was acquired by CT&T.

1992:  Fidelity began trading on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol FNF. Fidelity acquired Meridian Title Insurance Co. and Security Title and Guarantee Co., expanding Fidelity ’s direct operations base to include Florida, Michigan, Missouri, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina and Pennsylvania.

1993:  Fidelity completed its acquisition of Agency Sales and Posting, Arizona Sales and Posting Inc. and Pente Enterprises Inc.

1994:  Fidelity acquired ACS Systems Inc., a computer software development company, to enhance FNTIC’s electronic data interchange through the development and marketing of its trust, escrow and title-related software.

1995:  Fidelity acquired Western Title Company of Washington, creating the opportunity to expand direct operations into Washington. Fidelity acquired the accounts receivable and the book of business of World Title Co., formerly in conservatorship. Fidelity acquired 100 percent of the stock of World Tax Service, further enhancing its market position in California.

1996:  ACS unveiled ExpressNet (now FlexNET ), an integrated solution for electronic commerce between back-office systems and external service providers, real estate agents and lenders. Fidelity acquired Nations Title Inc., the eighth largest title underwriter in the United States, making FNTIC the fourth largest title underwriter in the United States and doubling its existing agency base.

1997:   Flex NET, Fidelity’s National Lender Express Network, was established as the single source through one interface for bundled services to include title and escrow, tax, credit, flood, foreclosure appraisal, document recording and electronic commerce services. Fidelity acquired First Title Corp., a title company with offices throughout the southeastern United States. Fidelity acquired three credit reporting companies: Ifland Credit Services, Credit Reports Inc. and Classified Credit Data Inc. All three have been merged and operate as Fidelity National Credit Services Inc. Fidelity acquired Bron Research Inc., a flood certification company headquartered in Austin, Texas, which now operates as Fidelity National Flood Inc. Fidelity acquired Express Network Inc., a provider of attorney services such as courier, messenger, courthouse filing, process serving, investigation and reprographics.

1998:  Fidelity acquired Granite Financial Inc., an industry consolidator in the small-ticket lease financing market. Fidelity sold its wholly owned subsidiary ACS to Micro General Inc. ACS provides software, systems integration &  telecommunication services to small to medium-sized businesses in the real estate industry. FNTIC merged with Alamo Title, the ninth largest title insurer in the United States. As a result of the merger, FNTIC became the second largest underwriter in Texas.Fidelity formed RealEC.com, the first multiple title underwriter alliance for electronic commerce. Fidelity and Stewart Title were the founding and initial members of RealEC.com, which was designed to be an open electronic commerce network to order and deliver essential real estate information services in the real estate transaction process.

1999:  Fidelity, through Micro General, sponsored and financed a new interest transaction intermediary company called Escrow.com. Fidelity announced its plan to acquire Chicago Title Corp. and its title insurance subsidiaries – Chicago Title, Ticor Title and Security Union.

2000:  Fidelity completed its acquisition of Chicago Title Corp., creating the largest title insurance organization in the world. Fidelity moved to its new corporate headquarters in Santa Barbara, CA. Flex NET and Chicago Title’s Castle Link operation were merged to form Fidelity National Lender Solutions – the single solution for mortgage products and services.

2001:  FNIS (Fidelity National Information Solutions) was formed, creating the premier services provider of real estate-related information and technical solutions. FNIS has been profitable since its inception. FNF and Micro General began beta tests of Net Global Solutions (NGS). NGS is designed to streamline and enhance the real estate-purchase cycle production system. By combining opening orders, preparing documents and accessing loans, closing transactions will become faster and more efficient. At the end of 2001, FNF’s revenue reached $3.9 billion – a historical first for the company.

2002:  FNF was named a Fortune 500 company, listed among Fortune magazine’s America’s Most Admired Companies and was also listed on the Forbes Super 500 list. For the second consecutive year, FNF is on the Forbes Platinum 400 list of companies. FNF launched Property Insight to provide real estate property information services to all title companies, creating a nationwide capability to standardize and automate title research. FNIS and Micro General are combined into a single organization. The merger consolidates the data, technology and solutions services of both, increasing the efficiency and strategic position of FNIS. FNF launched a new insurance program that covers loans governed by the Uniform Commercial Code (UCC). UCCPlus Insurance Protection™ provides lenders with attachment, perfection and priority insurance and the opportunity to insure loans secured by non-real estate assets.